Tour de France

My Tour de France is officially over (I flew back to London this afternoon), and I should get the yellow jersey for five days of touring in record speed.

As you can tell, I have been nowhere near a computer terminal for days...

Paris metro
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I did manage to JUST -- with Manu's help -- make my 17:05 train to Le Touquet, but not without some major darting and dashing. Rather crazy few moments there. Then it was north to Le Touquet, where Jerome picked me up at the station in his suit -- typical Jerome to still be working at 7:30 in the evening. I got the quick tour of Le Touquet, although it's a pretty small place, so I don't think a long tour is possible. The place reminds me of the Sunshine Coast, put it that way, so I won't get all long-winded about Tuesday night, as Jerome and I spent pretty much the entire evening nattering.

on a French train
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I took the 11:00 train back to Paris, and picked up my ticket at Montparnasse station, but I had to take my bags to Gare d'Austerlitz (a smaller station, where I dropped off Claire on Monday night when she returned to Orleans), because they don't allow luggage storage at Montparnasse. I tried to meet up with Philippe, but he was in an all-day meeting an hour away from me, and there just wasn't enough time, so all we could manage was a couple of quick conversations... he told me not to book a hotel next time, so I think my next trip to Paris I'm going to take him up on that offer.

So, I spent the afternoon in Paris shopping on the Champs d'Elysee instead, then raced back to Gare d'Austerlitz to pick up my bags, then took a cab to Montparnasse to catch the TGV to Rennes...

... made it to Montparnasse only 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE TRAIN LEFT!! Talk about cutting it close... arrived in Rennes and stood in the plaza in front of the train station, looking for Gilles or Nolwenn... a few minutes later Nolwenn came running towards me, and I recognized her immediately. I hadn't seen her for more than 11 years!!

maternity
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Boyere family
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Nolwen and Gilles
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After that little reunion at the train station we had to stop by the hospital, where Gilles and Nolwenn's sister were with baby Chanelle, who has a dislocated hip. Chanelle was winched up in this spread-eagled position with weights off a pulley system, poor baby. Apparently this hip dislocation is common in two regions in France, amongst girls, and one of those regions is Brittany -- medical people have no idea why.

From the hospital in Rennes Gilles and Nolwenn and I went back to her parent's house in Combourg (this little village with an enormous castle), and spent the rest of the evening chatting.

Yesterday was a big tour, that included Mont St. Michel and St. Malo... my meter is ticking here, so I'll post the photos later. My friend George is waiting for a phone call from me so we can meet for dinner and drinks -- I haven't seen him for a couple of years!

This morning Nolwenn took me to the airport in Dinard, where I experienced my first painful sting of an excess baggage fee... Nolwenn tried her best to talk the agent out of it, but my bags were 12kgs over Ryanair's limit of 15kgs, so my fee, which was 78 euros, was well over and above my actual fare, which was 20 euros... you win some, you lose some... I've been flying all over Europe and have been accumulating ridiculous amounts of stuff, but it feels like I've just been carrying around a pile of dirty laundry.

OK, time to meet George! Next post will be from Vancouver!!