Friday, October 1, 2010
Sunshine is Besancon
Friday, October 1
Dole to Besancon (70k)
Quote of the day: "She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life." Frances E. Willard
I (McKayla) think this weather has been making us sleepy. Last night we read ourselves to sleep before 10pm, and we didn't wake up until 8am this morning. The fog was thick when we started riding, but by mid-morning it burned off, and we were able to better appreciate the beauty of the surrounding area.
Finding our way out of Dole was a sinche compared to our ride out of Dijon yesterday. Ten minutes after departing our hostel, we were following a paved bike trail along the Doubs river. The narrow bike path was fairly quite except for the occasional jogger, recreational day cyclist, old fisherman, or lazy unleashed dog that lay alongside the trail. Several sections of the path paralleled rows of small canal-front cottages, but most of the time we were riding between cornfields and the Doubs.
Around noon, I happened to get a flat tire right next to a perfect lunch spot. We enjoyed apples and cheese before tackling the flat. We determined that the flat was caused by a split in the tire itself, so we decided to patch the tire (neither Erin nor I had actually done this for real before). I pulled out the handy, 1960's-era tire patch that my Dad gave me right before we left, and Erin attempted to cut off a small piece of it while I examined the tire. Unfortunately, her knife wasn't sharp enough, so she ended up pulling off a tiny unusable corner piece. We resored to the spare dollar bill trick, aka Amie's favorite tire patching techinique! It worked perfectly, and we made it another 20k to Besancon without any mechanical malfunctions.
So far, we have had nothing but pleasant interactions with locals in Besancon. Everyone has been so helpful. A kind man on a mountain bike, gave us directions to the tourism office, and the woman at the office helped us plan our entire route to Switzerland. Besancon happens to be incredibly bike friendly too! They have a bike rental program, called velocite, with bike routes/lanes/signs/maps throughout the city.
Tonight we're staying at "Le Centre International de Sejour de Besancon", another wonderful Ethic Etapes hostel. For only 15 euro/person, we get a newly rennovated room with 2 beds, a toilet, shower, and a television...one of our best deals yet. We walked to the nearby supermarket to pick up food for dinner (tuna on salad), and on our way home we met a group of 10 little boys, one of which was so excited to tell us that he, "speak english much very well." It was adorable. He even showed us a shortcut to get back to our hostel. We are now having another relaxing evening watching tv, reading, and mentally preparing for the mountains we will climb tomorrow!
Dole to Besancon (70k)
Quote of the day: "She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life." Frances E. Willard
I (McKayla) think this weather has been making us sleepy. Last night we read ourselves to sleep before 10pm, and we didn't wake up until 8am this morning. The fog was thick when we started riding, but by mid-morning it burned off, and we were able to better appreciate the beauty of the surrounding area.
Finding our way out of Dole was a sinche compared to our ride out of Dijon yesterday. Ten minutes after departing our hostel, we were following a paved bike trail along the Doubs river. The narrow bike path was fairly quite except for the occasional jogger, recreational day cyclist, old fisherman, or lazy unleashed dog that lay alongside the trail. Several sections of the path paralleled rows of small canal-front cottages, but most of the time we were riding between cornfields and the Doubs.
Around noon, I happened to get a flat tire right next to a perfect lunch spot. We enjoyed apples and cheese before tackling the flat. We determined that the flat was caused by a split in the tire itself, so we decided to patch the tire (neither Erin nor I had actually done this for real before). I pulled out the handy, 1960's-era tire patch that my Dad gave me right before we left, and Erin attempted to cut off a small piece of it while I examined the tire. Unfortunately, her knife wasn't sharp enough, so she ended up pulling off a tiny unusable corner piece. We resored to the spare dollar bill trick, aka Amie's favorite tire patching techinique! It worked perfectly, and we made it another 20k to Besancon without any mechanical malfunctions.
So far, we have had nothing but pleasant interactions with locals in Besancon. Everyone has been so helpful. A kind man on a mountain bike, gave us directions to the tourism office, and the woman at the office helped us plan our entire route to Switzerland. Besancon happens to be incredibly bike friendly too! They have a bike rental program, called velocite, with bike routes/lanes/signs/maps throughout the city.
Tonight we're staying at "Le Centre International de Sejour de Besancon", another wonderful Ethic Etapes hostel. For only 15 euro/person, we get a newly rennovated room with 2 beds, a toilet, shower, and a television...one of our best deals yet. We walked to the nearby supermarket to pick up food for dinner (tuna on salad), and on our way home we met a group of 10 little boys, one of which was so excited to tell us that he, "speak english much very well." It was adorable. He even showed us a shortcut to get back to our hostel. We are now having another relaxing evening watching tv, reading, and mentally preparing for the mountains we will climb tomorrow!
Let's follow this road and see where it takes us
Thursday September, 30
Dijon to Dole 70km
Quote of the day: "I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying."
Greg LeMond
Another dreary day here in France. We haven't seen the sun in the morning for about a week now. Despite this, we woke up early (it was practically still dark out) in order to maximize our day, well really in order to maximize our time spent sitting at breakfast. We realized one of the tires on McKayla's bike had gone flat overnight so after repairs and whatnot, we didn't actually end up leaving the hostel until almost 11am. Amie set off to run some errands before her train, while McKayla and I (Erin) headed northeast out of Dijon towards Besancon (pronounced bess-an-sawn). However, we soon found out the road we wanted to take was impossible to reach without first travelling on a major turnpike. We made several attempts to find alternate routes, but every attempt resulted with us standing on an on-ramp to either A31 or A29 (not good) while cars wizzed by us, honking their horns. It was not a very pleasant experience, and I was feeling really anxious the entire time. About 2 hours and 12km later, we found ourselves riding on a bike path along the Bourgogne canal heading south-east. At this point, we were simply happy to be off of the heavily trafficked roads, and figured we'd just bike until we hit a town with a train station (which is not too difficult to do around here). Soon enough, we found a road that was also marked on our big France map and followed it towards St.-Jean-de-Losne. At this point it was raining and we were on a major road again; we were so glad we both have flourescent jackets!
In St.-Jean-de-Losne we stopped in at the Office de Tourisme to ask where the train station was and if we could get a train to Besancon (we had a hostel room already reserved for the night). The woman, Marie, who worked at the tourism office was a ray of sunshine on our stormy day. As McKayla put it when we were leaving, "she was the nicest person we've met so far." She first gave us directions to the train station and stated that it's very easy to get to Besancon, we just have to go to Dijon first! McKayla and I chuckled and then explained to Marie that we just spent 3 hours trying to get out of Dijon and we couldn't bring ourselves to take a train right back. We then decided to go with our alternative plan, and asked Marie if she knew of a good cycling route to Dole. Marie gave us a detailed regional map (much better than our large France map), printed off directions to Dole from Mappy.fr, called the Besancon hostel and switched our reservation to tomorrow night, then called the Dole hostel and made a reservation for tonight, looked up specific directions to the Dole hostel, called the Dole hostel again to find out the precise address, and finally wrote out these directions for us as well. We were so incredibly grateful, and our moods lifted immensely, despite the rain still falling outside. We quickly cruised the 20km to Dole, stopped in at the grocery store, and then found our hostel within 5 minutes! We would never have found it that quickly if Marie hadn't done all the research for us in St.-Jean-de-Losne. It felt so good to have a happy, successful ending to our not-so-hot morning.
To top our day off, after taking hot showers, we indulged in Fromage Blanc (basically greek yogurt, aka McKayla's most favorite thing in the whole world) with apple and pear sauce, pineapple chunks, honey puff cereal, and cinnamon. It was delicious and nutritious, don't knock it until you've tried it (Amie). We specifically left the pot and stove with Amie so we would have to eat food like this for dinner for the next few nights. After dinner we got really excited looking at maps for the next few days. We are pretty certain now that we will continue to Besancon tomorrow, from there we will be in the Jura region and will head through Ornans and stay at the youth hostel in Pontarlier, then head into Switzerland to Lausanne. We will need to buy some maps and do some research in Besancon tomorrow, in order to figure out how big the mountains are and what roads are best for biking.
Today we reached the 1000 kilometer mark for this trip!
Dijon to Dole 70km
Quote of the day: "I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying."
Greg LeMond
Another dreary day here in France. We haven't seen the sun in the morning for about a week now. Despite this, we woke up early (it was practically still dark out) in order to maximize our day, well really in order to maximize our time spent sitting at breakfast. We realized one of the tires on McKayla's bike had gone flat overnight so after repairs and whatnot, we didn't actually end up leaving the hostel until almost 11am. Amie set off to run some errands before her train, while McKayla and I (Erin) headed northeast out of Dijon towards Besancon (pronounced bess-an-sawn). However, we soon found out the road we wanted to take was impossible to reach without first travelling on a major turnpike. We made several attempts to find alternate routes, but every attempt resulted with us standing on an on-ramp to either A31 or A29 (not good) while cars wizzed by us, honking their horns. It was not a very pleasant experience, and I was feeling really anxious the entire time. About 2 hours and 12km later, we found ourselves riding on a bike path along the Bourgogne canal heading south-east. At this point, we were simply happy to be off of the heavily trafficked roads, and figured we'd just bike until we hit a town with a train station (which is not too difficult to do around here). Soon enough, we found a road that was also marked on our big France map and followed it towards St.-Jean-de-Losne. At this point it was raining and we were on a major road again; we were so glad we both have flourescent jackets!
In St.-Jean-de-Losne we stopped in at the Office de Tourisme to ask where the train station was and if we could get a train to Besancon (we had a hostel room already reserved for the night). The woman, Marie, who worked at the tourism office was a ray of sunshine on our stormy day. As McKayla put it when we were leaving, "she was the nicest person we've met so far." She first gave us directions to the train station and stated that it's very easy to get to Besancon, we just have to go to Dijon first! McKayla and I chuckled and then explained to Marie that we just spent 3 hours trying to get out of Dijon and we couldn't bring ourselves to take a train right back. We then decided to go with our alternative plan, and asked Marie if she knew of a good cycling route to Dole. Marie gave us a detailed regional map (much better than our large France map), printed off directions to Dole from Mappy.fr, called the Besancon hostel and switched our reservation to tomorrow night, then called the Dole hostel and made a reservation for tonight, looked up specific directions to the Dole hostel, called the Dole hostel again to find out the precise address, and finally wrote out these directions for us as well. We were so incredibly grateful, and our moods lifted immensely, despite the rain still falling outside. We quickly cruised the 20km to Dole, stopped in at the grocery store, and then found our hostel within 5 minutes! We would never have found it that quickly if Marie hadn't done all the research for us in St.-Jean-de-Losne. It felt so good to have a happy, successful ending to our not-so-hot morning.
To top our day off, after taking hot showers, we indulged in Fromage Blanc (basically greek yogurt, aka McKayla's most favorite thing in the whole world) with apple and pear sauce, pineapple chunks, honey puff cereal, and cinnamon. It was delicious and nutritious, don't knock it until you've tried it (Amie). We specifically left the pot and stove with Amie so we would have to eat food like this for dinner for the next few nights. After dinner we got really excited looking at maps for the next few days. We are pretty certain now that we will continue to Besancon tomorrow, from there we will be in the Jura region and will head through Ornans and stay at the youth hostel in Pontarlier, then head into Switzerland to Lausanne. We will need to buy some maps and do some research in Besancon tomorrow, in order to figure out how big the mountains are and what roads are best for biking.
Today we reached the 1000 kilometer mark for this trip!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
A Day in Dijon
Thursday, September 29th
FINALLY le petite dejeuner was COMPRIS at our current Dijon hostel. A long gap in central France without many hostelling opportunities has left us staying mostly in cheap little hotels for the past couple of days, and breakfast at these places is usually a guilty extra 5-10 euro! (For a croissant, baguette, butter, jam, and a drink.... I have no idea how the French stay so thin). So anyway, we kicked the day off with breakfast at the hostel (included, but not our preferred buffet-style which we are so talented at abusing). We spent a long breakfast relishing our tiny to-do list and anticipating our excursion into Dijon. Our hostel is about a 20 minute walk from the downtown area, so we cruised into the city and did some window-shopping. In a bookstore we all snatched up some English magazines and tried to remember how to read things that aren't maps or street signs (at least I, Amie, did). We also perused the Gap (which I'm pretty sure has the same fashions as the Gap in the US, though don't quote me on that because I've been missing from the face of the Earth for a little while) and spent some time feeling sorry for our frumpy-selves in our tired jeans and smelly workout jackets.... So sorry, in fact, that we almost bought a bunch of pastries at the first patisserie we could find, and instead wound up sipping coffee in McDonalds and sucking the free WiFi while we wrote some postcards. Dijon really is a beautiful city. There's a lot of metro-building road work going on right now, but the streets are classically windy, narrow, cobblestoned...medieval. We didn't bother going to any monuments or museums, which has been a bit of a theme this trip. As McKayla's pointed out - This is more like..."grocery shopping in France 101" than it is a crash course in European history. Around 2 we headed back to the hostel to check into our new room (had to switch rooms to stay another night here). We got pumped up and did our beloved "insanity" workout for an hour or so. We then walked down to the store, and spent our usual eternity perusing the groceries. For dinner we bought an AMAZINGLY delicious rotisserie chicken, a pot of veggies, some fruit and cheese, and some cider to top it all off. We even did our homework after dinner (bank phone calls, clothes washing, etc.) and finished off the night giggling on our beds while we complimented each other (thanks for that idea, Erin... :).
Tomorrow, we're going to change things up a little bit. Erin and McKayla will continue heading east toward Besancon and ultimately Lausanne, Switzerland. I am going to take a brief excursion to Munich for the weekend to attend the final three days of Oktoberfest and hopefully meet a friend or two in Germany, before returing to Erin and McKayla in Lausanne for our grandparent-homestay! So maybe look out for a separate blog post from me in the next couple of days.
FINALLY le petite dejeuner was COMPRIS at our current Dijon hostel. A long gap in central France without many hostelling opportunities has left us staying mostly in cheap little hotels for the past couple of days, and breakfast at these places is usually a guilty extra 5-10 euro! (For a croissant, baguette, butter, jam, and a drink.... I have no idea how the French stay so thin). So anyway, we kicked the day off with breakfast at the hostel (included, but not our preferred buffet-style which we are so talented at abusing). We spent a long breakfast relishing our tiny to-do list and anticipating our excursion into Dijon. Our hostel is about a 20 minute walk from the downtown area, so we cruised into the city and did some window-shopping. In a bookstore we all snatched up some English magazines and tried to remember how to read things that aren't maps or street signs (at least I, Amie, did). We also perused the Gap (which I'm pretty sure has the same fashions as the Gap in the US, though don't quote me on that because I've been missing from the face of the Earth for a little while) and spent some time feeling sorry for our frumpy-selves in our tired jeans and smelly workout jackets.... So sorry, in fact, that we almost bought a bunch of pastries at the first patisserie we could find, and instead wound up sipping coffee in McDonalds and sucking the free WiFi while we wrote some postcards. Dijon really is a beautiful city. There's a lot of metro-building road work going on right now, but the streets are classically windy, narrow, cobblestoned...medieval. We didn't bother going to any monuments or museums, which has been a bit of a theme this trip. As McKayla's pointed out - This is more like..."grocery shopping in France 101" than it is a crash course in European history. Around 2 we headed back to the hostel to check into our new room (had to switch rooms to stay another night here). We got pumped up and did our beloved "insanity" workout for an hour or so. We then walked down to the store, and spent our usual eternity perusing the groceries. For dinner we bought an AMAZINGLY delicious rotisserie chicken, a pot of veggies, some fruit and cheese, and some cider to top it all off. We even did our homework after dinner (bank phone calls, clothes washing, etc.) and finished off the night giggling on our beds while we complimented each other (thanks for that idea, Erin... :).
Tomorrow, we're going to change things up a little bit. Erin and McKayla will continue heading east toward Besancon and ultimately Lausanne, Switzerland. I am going to take a brief excursion to Munich for the weekend to attend the final three days of Oktoberfest and hopefully meet a friend or two in Germany, before returing to Erin and McKayla in Lausanne for our grandparent-homestay! So maybe look out for a separate blog post from me in the next couple of days.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
If you are chilly, here take my socks...
Tuesday, September 28
Autun to Dijon 96km
Yesterday we took a train from Nevers to Autun because 1) it was too rainy and cold outside to ride (we didn't want to press our luck) and 2) there were no hotel rooms left anywhere in Nevers! So we spent most of the day in sitting in McDonalds because of number 1, realizing number 2. We arrived in Autun, with only a slight hitch. I (Erin) was unable to get my bike off the train before the doors closed (despite having gotten my bike ready before the train stopped, by the time Amie and McKayla got off, the door was closing and the train took off to the next stop). Now, when I previously almost got separated from the group we made the rule that if the group is split, then the lone sailor would stay put and the pair would come to the rescue. We all laughed at the irony of finding ourselves at the seemingly only exception to our rule, what do you do when the single person is stuck on a moving object? Luckily we all came to the same, separate conclusion that I would hopefully be able to take a train back to Etang (where we were supposed to make the connection to Autun). I was able to get off the train about fifteen minutes later, I stepped off onto this tiny, rinky dink platform of a train station in the middle of no where. Luckily, there was a train heading back to Etang in about twenty minutes. I caught the train and was fully relieved to see Amie and McKayla waiting for me in Etang! It was the first time I realized how vulnerable we are without any way of contacting each other. I'm grateful everything worked out. That night we watched a movie on Amie's ipod thanks to our new ipod speaker purchase.
This morning we woke up to a thick, cold fog, clinging to the air and almost looking like snow, brrr. We rallied for our ride to Dijon, but after about 15 minutes I had to stop because my hands were numb. I was so grateful when McKayla loaned me a pair of her wool socks to use as mittens, they made the rest of the ride much more enjoyable. However, Amie (who is quite sick of biking, even in the sunshine, after her summer adventure) opted to take a train and meet us in Dijon.
Now, when McKayla and I workout together, we build off of each other and tend to get intense. So, after a few minutes of riding, I said to McKayla, "let's go faster." She agreed, told me to take the lead, and we decided we'd switch off breaking the wind every ten minutes or so. As soon as I took the lead, we started heading uphill. After a few minutes I immediately regretted that I wanted to push the pace. My legs started to tire and I began to slow down, so McKayla passed me, and, characteristically, she kicked up the pace another notch. This was our first day of riding on extended periods of hills. Some were so steep that even riding in my lowest chain ring, my legs were burning badly and my lungs were screaming at me to slow down, but I couldn't or else I'd lose my upward momentum and keel over (either McKayla or I am reminded just about everyday that it's very dificult to get your foot out of the pedal when you have no forward momentum...).
Riding flat roads, as we've been doing, is tiring because your legs are moving in a constant, unrelentless motion, but your heart rate never gets up high. The hills today were magnificent. I remembered how great it is to feel my heart pounding in my throat and to feel the lactic acid building up in my legs. I started feeling even better as we hit long descents where we'd cruise above 50km per hour (max speed of the day was 53.7km/hr).
We took a rest in Beaune, where I bought a delicious, cheesy, eggy pastry for lunch (photo coming soon). It was so cold however, I started shivering violently, so we cut our break short and hit the road again. We followed a larger road to Dijon, so the hills were of more gradual gradients. The sun came out, warming our toes, filling our hearts, and illuminating the hills and vineyards we were passing through. It's nice to be out of the Loire valley and see some new terrain. As we reached Dijon, McKayla spotted a bicycle shop and I purchased full-length bike gloves and a new handlebar bag (mine was getting dangerously saggy). It took a while to navigate through the city of Dijon because they are putting in a new tram system, leaving the entire city under construction. We met Amie at the hostel, and cooked a fantastic one-pot dinner (another, lentil and bean stew with onions, peppers, and tomato topped with cheese and tortilla chips). Tonight we are doing our laundry!!
Autun to Dijon 96km
Yesterday we took a train from Nevers to Autun because 1) it was too rainy and cold outside to ride (we didn't want to press our luck) and 2) there were no hotel rooms left anywhere in Nevers! So we spent most of the day in sitting in McDonalds because of number 1, realizing number 2. We arrived in Autun, with only a slight hitch. I (Erin) was unable to get my bike off the train before the doors closed (despite having gotten my bike ready before the train stopped, by the time Amie and McKayla got off, the door was closing and the train took off to the next stop). Now, when I previously almost got separated from the group we made the rule that if the group is split, then the lone sailor would stay put and the pair would come to the rescue. We all laughed at the irony of finding ourselves at the seemingly only exception to our rule, what do you do when the single person is stuck on a moving object? Luckily we all came to the same, separate conclusion that I would hopefully be able to take a train back to Etang (where we were supposed to make the connection to Autun). I was able to get off the train about fifteen minutes later, I stepped off onto this tiny, rinky dink platform of a train station in the middle of no where. Luckily, there was a train heading back to Etang in about twenty minutes. I caught the train and was fully relieved to see Amie and McKayla waiting for me in Etang! It was the first time I realized how vulnerable we are without any way of contacting each other. I'm grateful everything worked out. That night we watched a movie on Amie's ipod thanks to our new ipod speaker purchase.
This morning we woke up to a thick, cold fog, clinging to the air and almost looking like snow, brrr. We rallied for our ride to Dijon, but after about 15 minutes I had to stop because my hands were numb. I was so grateful when McKayla loaned me a pair of her wool socks to use as mittens, they made the rest of the ride much more enjoyable. However, Amie (who is quite sick of biking, even in the sunshine, after her summer adventure) opted to take a train and meet us in Dijon.
Now, when McKayla and I workout together, we build off of each other and tend to get intense. So, after a few minutes of riding, I said to McKayla, "let's go faster." She agreed, told me to take the lead, and we decided we'd switch off breaking the wind every ten minutes or so. As soon as I took the lead, we started heading uphill. After a few minutes I immediately regretted that I wanted to push the pace. My legs started to tire and I began to slow down, so McKayla passed me, and, characteristically, she kicked up the pace another notch. This was our first day of riding on extended periods of hills. Some were so steep that even riding in my lowest chain ring, my legs were burning badly and my lungs were screaming at me to slow down, but I couldn't or else I'd lose my upward momentum and keel over (either McKayla or I am reminded just about everyday that it's very dificult to get your foot out of the pedal when you have no forward momentum...).
Riding flat roads, as we've been doing, is tiring because your legs are moving in a constant, unrelentless motion, but your heart rate never gets up high. The hills today were magnificent. I remembered how great it is to feel my heart pounding in my throat and to feel the lactic acid building up in my legs. I started feeling even better as we hit long descents where we'd cruise above 50km per hour (max speed of the day was 53.7km/hr).
We took a rest in Beaune, where I bought a delicious, cheesy, eggy pastry for lunch (photo coming soon). It was so cold however, I started shivering violently, so we cut our break short and hit the road again. We followed a larger road to Dijon, so the hills were of more gradual gradients. The sun came out, warming our toes, filling our hearts, and illuminating the hills and vineyards we were passing through. It's nice to be out of the Loire valley and see some new terrain. As we reached Dijon, McKayla spotted a bicycle shop and I purchased full-length bike gloves and a new handlebar bag (mine was getting dangerously saggy). It took a while to navigate through the city of Dijon because they are putting in a new tram system, leaving the entire city under construction. We met Amie at the hostel, and cooked a fantastic one-pot dinner (another, lentil and bean stew with onions, peppers, and tomato topped with cheese and tortilla chips). Tonight we are doing our laundry!!
Photo Update
Here are pictures from Blois, Orleans, Briar, and Nevers:
http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/Orleans?feat=directlink
We are currently in Autun and are making our way towards Dijon today. It's about 10 degrees celcius outside, we're hoping we don't freeze!! We'll update in Dijon.
http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/Orleans?feat=directlink
We are currently in Autun and are making our way towards Dijon today. It's about 10 degrees celcius outside, we're hoping we don't freeze!! We'll update in Dijon.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Orleans, Briare, and Nevers
Sunday, September 26
Today was eventful, enjoyable, cold, tiring, song-filled, laughable, and buttery.
We fueled up with pasteries, fruit, yougurt, nutella, etc.., and headed out of Orleans for a 80k ride to Briare. The ride was fast due to flat roads, a strong tail-wind, and simple directions. It's really starting to feel like fall here. We've finally broken out the neck warmers and wind-proof shoe covers (aka stylish patent-leather evening boots in Erin's case). Upon our arrival in Briare, we quickly learned that it's not easy to find food and lodging in a small town on a Sunday. We biked up to several hotels that all looked like they had closed down for good. We biked 2k out of Briare center to the Carrefour supermaket only to discover that it's not open on Sunday...we should have known.
We then decided it would be best to get out of this sleeply little town and head towards Nevers. We found our way to the Briare train station where one lonely SNCF employee kindly informed us that a trian was leaving for Nevers at 7:36pm.
We had 3 hours to kill before our train ride, so we headed back into town to warm up and grab a bite to eat. We found the most delicious gourmet (and most importantly, OPEN) patisserie, and bought some quiches and palmiers. We sat outside on a park bench, savored our treats, and eventually broke out in song. We were getting a bit cold sitting outside, so we found an open cafe, sipped some coffee and tea, and before no time at all we were boarding our train to Nevers. Right across from the train station in Nevers, we checked into an inexpensive Comfort hotel, and fell fast asleep!
Amie's quote du jour: "Sunday IS a day. People are actually alive"
As we were riding, I (McKayla) wrote a song to the tune of Ingrid Michaelson's, "The Way I Am." I'll post a sound clip soon. Enjoy...
The Way we Ride
If you are chilly, here take my jacket
It's quite flourescent, so we'll be seen
CHORUS:
And everyone will know we're not Parisians on the Metro
We're just tourists from aux etats-unis
-----
If dehydration is your dilemma
I've filled my nalgene, right from the tap
------
CHORUS:
Et si tu dois aller pisser later tonight
I-I-I-I'll help you find the light
--------
If you are "hangry"
or your eyes tell you that you are
we'll go to cafes
eat palmiers
------
then we'll go to the exotic isle of the Carrefour
and buy our fill of buerre de arachideeeee
"......"
Today was eventful, enjoyable, cold, tiring, song-filled, laughable, and buttery.
We fueled up with pasteries, fruit, yougurt, nutella, etc.., and headed out of Orleans for a 80k ride to Briare. The ride was fast due to flat roads, a strong tail-wind, and simple directions. It's really starting to feel like fall here. We've finally broken out the neck warmers and wind-proof shoe covers (aka stylish patent-leather evening boots in Erin's case). Upon our arrival in Briare, we quickly learned that it's not easy to find food and lodging in a small town on a Sunday. We biked up to several hotels that all looked like they had closed down for good. We biked 2k out of Briare center to the Carrefour supermaket only to discover that it's not open on Sunday...we should have known.
We then decided it would be best to get out of this sleeply little town and head towards Nevers. We found our way to the Briare train station where one lonely SNCF employee kindly informed us that a trian was leaving for Nevers at 7:36pm.
We had 3 hours to kill before our train ride, so we headed back into town to warm up and grab a bite to eat. We found the most delicious gourmet (and most importantly, OPEN) patisserie, and bought some quiches and palmiers. We sat outside on a park bench, savored our treats, and eventually broke out in song. We were getting a bit cold sitting outside, so we found an open cafe, sipped some coffee and tea, and before no time at all we were boarding our train to Nevers. Right across from the train station in Nevers, we checked into an inexpensive Comfort hotel, and fell fast asleep!
Amie's quote du jour: "Sunday IS a day. People are actually alive"
As we were riding, I (McKayla) wrote a song to the tune of Ingrid Michaelson's, "The Way I Am." I'll post a sound clip soon. Enjoy...
The Way we Ride
If you are chilly, here take my jacket
It's quite flourescent, so we'll be seen
CHORUS:
And everyone will know we're not Parisians on the Metro
We're just tourists from aux etats-unis
-----
If dehydration is your dilemma
I've filled my nalgene, right from the tap
------
CHORUS:
Et si tu dois aller pisser later tonight
I-I-I-I'll help you find the light
--------
If you are "hangry"
or your eyes tell you that you are
we'll go to cafes
eat palmiers
------
then we'll go to the exotic isle of the Carrefour
and buy our fill of buerre de arachideeeee
"......"
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