Monday 5th April

It was another bright and sunny morning with a beautiful view of the river and town from the window of our B and B. Today we would be driving more than 400km to Paris where we would leave the hire car and catch the EuroStar train back to London.

At breakfast, our B and B hosts asked us about our visit yesterday to Mont St Michel. Peter said he wasn't surprised that it was crowded because it is the second most popular tourist site in France (after the Eiffel Tower). He said the authorities plan to move the car park to the mainland and replace the causeway with a bridge for access to the island. A train will carry visitors from the new carpark to the monument over the new bridge.

We drove out of the B and B just before 9:30am. Today is a public holiday and we wondered whether this would make the traffic better or worse. As it turned out we didn't have any problems with traffic until we got to Paris. It was an easy run on the motorways. We stopped a couple of times for a break at service centres on the motorway.

Suzy had been apprehensive about the traffic in Paris. It did turn out to be nerve wracking and it was a relief when we made it to the Gare du Nord station without a scratch (on the car).

The TomTom successfully found a petrol station a block or two away from the railway station so we could fill the tank before returning the car. The petrol station consisted of a single pump on the edge of the footpath kerb with an associated small shop within the buildings on the other side of the footpath. In other words, there was no driveway - you just parked in the street next the pump and the man filled the tank. Initially he remarked about the Belgian number plate but he was then amazed when I said we were from Australia rather than from Belgium.

The rental car return was in an underground carpark next to the railway station - six levels down on a narrow circular ramp. The boom gate was closed for the Eurocar area because it was full and when he caught the lift up to the Eurocar office, their computer system was down. We just hope they manage to sort it all out when they are back online.

The EuroStar terminal here is pretty average compared with the nice new terminal we saw in London St Pancras. After getting through security and UK customs, we found our seats and managed to find somewhere to put our luggage. The train was completely full which is probably not surprising for the end of a long weekend holiday. I had pushed my large suitcase into the gap between two seats and wondered whether I would be able to pull it out again when we got to London. The train left on time at exactly 4:13pm.

Next to us there was a family from Ecuador most of whom now live in London. There was a mother, father, two angelic daughters (2 and 4 years old), one son (7) plus an uncle and his daughter. They were good company on the trip. When Suzy started to knit, the girls were fascinated.  Suzy spent most of the trip giving the 4-year-old a knitting lesson.

The train arrived on time about 2hours 30 minutes later. We decided to catch the underground train back to our B and B. We were going well with our bags because there were lifts and escalators until the very last descent to the platform where there were only stairs. Luckily, a man offered to carry Suzy's bag for her. We were back at the B and B before 6:30pm.

As usual, we caught the bus to Nicky and John's place. Amelia was awake.

Nicky and John showed us the new chair they had bought to sooth Amelia. It rotates back and forward while it plays a selection of music. You can even plug in your MP3 player. They said it helps to get her to sleep and saves their sanity.

John also proudly showed me his new Macintosh computer. It has a huge 27-inch screen. He had been very pleased with the amount he had managed to get on eBay for his old Macintosh.

Nicky and John had cooked a nice fish dinner for us all. We caught the bus back to the B and B. I was exhausted after all the travelling today and I was out like a light as soon as I got into bed. The bottle of red we had with dinner probably helped.