France ...

Much of Europe is in transport chaos (seems that up to 600,000 people have been trying to get out of Heathrow, some of whom have been directed to tents set up outside the major terminal!), but we managed to slip through somehow. Our flight out of Japan was delayed 5 hours, but there are worse places (like Heathrow) to be stuck, and in the event things went smoothly enough. Turns out it's easier to get from Kyoto to Paris than from London/Antwerp/Frankfurt to Paris ...

We arrived at our hotel - next to Gare de Lyon - at 1 am, slept through 'til 8 am, then took the TGV to Grenoble at 11 am. In between times, there was just enough time to fit in a quick walk around the quartier. The differences between NZ and Europe are always striking: homeless people sleeping in bags on the snow; the endless hum of a big city (trains, cars, trucks, the human traffic ...); the juxtaposition of a corner 7/11 sitting alongside a 500 year old Natural History Museum; and everywhere people on the move.

The trip down to Grenoble went in a flash, which, given the train moves at speeds of up to 350 kms/hr, wasn't surprising. Here in Grenoble there is the smell of snow in the air (which makes all of those songs etc we have of Christmas seem much more sensible). The streets around the flat we are staying in (which is smack in the centre of the city) are all pedestrian zones, and at this time of the year are full of people selling festive foods - different types of brioches, nougat and what have you. I am already well on the way to resembling a well-rounded object, and am now off to do more sterling work on the food front!