Back to Germany! We decided to catch a taxi from our hotel, to where we picked up the car, which was at Porte de St Cloud. The taxi driver was great. Not only in getting us through morning Parisian traffic, but when we got to the address, he jumped out and checked in the shop front that we were at the correct address and where we had to go. We appreciated his efforts, otherwise we would have wandered around trying to find our way. Picked up our Citroën C4 diesel -very nice! Cruises very well at European freeway speeds (well not at the speed of so many Audis, Mercs etc). It will be interesting to see its economy after a few tank fulls. We have done over 700 kms so far, and the system is telling me I have over 500 left before refill required. We'll see how accurate it is.
Out of Paris we stayed at a tiny village called Oger in the Champagne region. It seemed every second
 building in town related in some way to the production of champagne. We went to Epernay, the primary town for the region and walked along Avenue de Champagne - what else! It is the home of Pol Roger, Moet & Chandon, including a statue of the monk Dom Perignon. Oger was quaint, only 1 shop/café/bar etc. The B&B was quite nice, and at breakfast we met the other guests, a wine importer from Vancouver Canada with his French guide. Also a couple from Ypres Belgium, who were having a long weekend in the region. A very enjoyable time swapping stories and information.
Then it was time to head off to Bammental. I made the mistake of telling the GPS to avoid tolls. It did so, and took us on a loop through Belgium and Luxembourg before entering Germany. It worked, but I think a false economy! But a very nice tour through the country side, seeing much more of the country than would have otherwise.
One interesting feature along the way was where we stopped for lunch. It was at a freeway stop - petrol station, café etc. However this one had fuel on both sides and the café was built over the  freeway with access from both sides. Quite brilliant, I thought!
We got to Bammental just after 4pm and had a great evening with Suse, Winfried, Yannick, Julian and his girlfriend Eva. The weather was balmy and we had a BBQ and ate outside. A very pleasant way to end the day.