To Rotterdam

Friday 1 August

Sorry to leave Tours and Hotel Mirabeau. Off to Tours station for the train trips ahead.  Tours is not a transit station for the TGV, so it is necessary to shuttle to St Pierre de Corp about 5 minutes away.  Shuttle packed with people and luggage, as is station - with many TGV trains travelling through.

On time into Paris Montparnasse after travelling through km after km of cropping - almost all harvested in the week since we arrived.  Taxi across Paris to Gare de Nord with a taxi driver who had been a donor for a personality transplant - perhaps not helped by my obviously unwelcome attempts to sit in the front passenger seat.

Within 2 minutes in Gare de Nord, confronted by 2 young "petition" scammers but quickly found the refuge of the Grand Voyageurs Lounge (a benefit of THALYS first class membership).  On time out of Paris and 3 course meal served within 10 minutes of departure - main course rabbit, plus red wine.  Stops only at Brussels and Antwerp before Rotterdam - and more food and drink between.  It is still amazing that you can cover 3 countries in the space of less than 3 hours on these great trains.

Problems when we got off however, with incorrect exit of rebuilt station leading me the wrong way and the need to backtrack for our tram to the hotel.  Having sold me the tickets, about 4 stops later the conductor said we would need to get off 2 stops short because of ongoing track work - in fact there are no trams running past us (normally 3 lines) and lots of closed roads - so it looks like a complicated but very short taxi ride to our berth tomorrow.

Good walk around Rotterdam, which has to be one of the world's most multi cultural, multi ethnic cities.  It was apparent two year's ago, and even more so today.

(Sorry, one wrong photo below - trying to find how to get rid of it!)