Yesterday was a travel day. We went down to Lyon on the slow train at 7:37 and had 5 hours in a luxurious compartment, for most of the journey entirely to ourselves. Our brief gap between trains allowed us to see Le Parc D'Or, for a whole 15 minutes. There was so much we didn't get to see, including the flamingos apparently. We were both so tired from our early starts that on our next journey we both needed waking up when the train reached its final stop. Fortunately, that was where we wanted to get off, and we met Sam, a friend from uni, in Grenoble.

He and his family are our hosts this weekend in the gorgeous village of Allevard which is deep in the mountains. This morning was a relaxed affair and I enjoyed not being awake at 5am. In the afternoon we went up the funicular railway to the top of a small mountain. We walked down with his family (7, 4 and 18 months) and played a number of games to keep the children distracted from the fact we couldn't eat yet. While playing Cheddar Gorge, where everyone adds one word to an ever-growing story, we heard about Mrs Hedgehog getting jealous of Mr Hedgehog for kissing a tree, but the tree loving Mrs Hedgehog for her tasty cookies.

It's been lovely to see old friends again and although we're not often in touch, when we get together it's like we've never been apart.