Tuesday 25th

24 hours hanging in the air is a long time! But quite a few hours of sleep helped pass the time from Hong Kong to Paris. What a delight to see everyone at the airport. After they had left we hung around the airport train station, a little disturbed by the soldiers with machine guns, and the slightly suss looking ‘security’ guys who seemed a little too interested in our bags – that is, taking one of them. The train trip was very pleasant. Very smooth and very fast. High speed and no stops meant it was quicker from Paris to Brussels than from Richmond to the city back home!

After settling into our accomodation and a quick trip to the supermarket for supplies, we headed off for dinner with Shaun’s college friend James Hely Hutchinson. Poor transport directions from google and getting lost several times made it a long trip, but the kids soldiered on. Perhaps the strangest part of the journey was not the buskers on the tram, but the guy who hopped on, made  a short speech to those who would listen, clearly expecting some donation, to which one man obliged. It was great to catch up with James again after 14 years, and he and his wife Myriam were incredibly hospitable. Their daughter Clara was very cute and seemed to love the koala we gave her – now named Clara koala. Back at our apartment, we all collapsed into bed. Shaun