France
September 5 2023 Leaving our house to begin the adventure Northern France is tearing past at enormous speed as our Eurostar heads to Paris beneath a cloudless sky. Just about everyone we know have told us "you do know the Rugby World Cup is on in France, don't you?". I come from Twickenham, the most rugbyest place in the world, I think I can easily avoid the fans in Paris , like I have for the past thirty six years in my home town. There are four fans sat across the carriage and they are all perfectly civilised and haven't opened a single can of beer - yet. Paris is the first leg of our big European adventure by rail, and the exciting thing is we don't know exactly where we are doing. If there is rain in Austria, we won't go there. A revolution in Slovenia? That can be bypassed. Outbreak of Black Death in Budapest? We will cross it off our list and take our trolley bags somewhere else. The cafe on the train sold Metro tickets, so I bought ten of them for t...