This morning we collected a rental car from Charleroi airport and will spend a couple of days with it exploring a little bit of France. First stop was href="http://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/visitgb.htm">Monet's Garden in the little town of Giverny. The drive from Charleroi initially was mostly motorway, fast and relatively crowded. But eventually it turned into a nice sunny meander through beautiful countryside. It was a good thing we enjoyed the drive and the countryside generally because to be honest Monet's Garden itself was a bit of a disappointment with the experience being further diminished by the crowds and the general feeling of tourist exploitation (Euro 4.0 for a coke). But the good news is that we have ticked that box for Nina.

The pleasant country drive continued as we found our way to the small French town of Beauvais where we had arranged an AirBnB for the night. Neither the town nor the accommodation were noteworthy.