Saturday, Sept. 25th
Hi everyone! I (Erin) have compiled another list of everything we've been learning here. We are currently in Orleans, France. A cute little town, where we've treated ourselves to two nights in a hotel right downtown, complete with our own bathroom, shower, sheets, free wifi, and TV!
Here goes, I started compiling this list in Paris:
1) "Un cafe" is an espresso. Regular, American, coffee does not exist in France. You have to order a "cafe au lait" (and the size will still be quite small).
2) everyone wants money in Paris. Be firm and confident in saying "non"
3) All southbound trains leave Paris from Monparnasse Station
4) How to live in the moment, when you don't have any plans for the next few days, you can't worry about them!
5) Use every bit of information around you to find your way around. Signs, buildings, landmarks, bus station maps, monuments, etc. can be extremely informative. Also moving around is helpful, more information is usually just around the corner. People also can usually identify for you where you are on a map.
6) Holland and Belgium use square pillows. France uses round bolsters.
7) The stop signs in France say "Stop" not "Arretez"
8) Take pleasure in all the small things. For instance, this morning the second we woke up McKayla sat up in bed and said, "je suis pret" ("I am ready [for breakfast]) and Amie and I died laughing because she was complaining how full she was when we went to sleep.
9) payphones work
10) how a person's seemingly justified view of something can be completely different/false from the truth (i.e. the hotel owner in Tours thought we were really irresponsible, messy, slobs. When we checked out, we left the room very clean and I think he felt bad)
11) How appreciative I am of having a comfortable, private place of my own at home and at school. Living in hostels can be tiring (it's like being a house guest every night, without the perk of having someone take care of you). I'm not complaining though, it just makes me more grateful for everything I have.
12) The cliche idea that French people always walk around with baguettes hanging out of their bags is SO TRUE. Everyone here always has a baguette (or 2 or 3) sticking out of a bag.
13) How easy it is to wallow and lament over the things we miss/want, but it's really not that difficult to change your perspective and make the best out of a situation. For instance, the other night when we were in the hostel outside of Blois in the middle of nowhere, we were all begining to feel a little homesick. I asked myself why we were staying at this hostel, and if we should go get a hotel in town where we'd be happier. The perk of the hostel was that it had free wifi, and we've all been itching to watch an english movie (Amie in particular), so I realized that if we stayed at the hostel we could stream a movie from the internet that night, which turned out to be quite enjoyable.
14) Go with the flow, man.
That's all for now! We biked 67km from Blois yesterday. We made quick time, however it took a little while to locate a place to stay (we went from the Office de Tourisme, to the Bibliotheque, to the information place for young people, to McDonalds, where with the free wifi we finally were able to book a hotel). It's so nice to take a day off the bikes and do some fun, different, relaxing things. We've been enjoying the French television (French people watch rediculous game shows). Today we're going to explore the town some more, there is a HUGE, gorgeous church here that we need to see. We'll also do some chores, post office, laundry (?), insanity workout, phone calling, and route planning for the next few days.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
A lonely hostel
Thursday, September 23 - Tours to Blois (62k)
We left our hotel early this morning in hopes of making it to Blois with plenty of time to explore (and because we got a 10 minute French scoulding from the hotel manager last night because he didn't think we were going to clean our room). We zipped right out of the city and followed the road D751 all the way to Blois. We had our fastest day of riding and were very surprised every time we looked down at our odometers. We crossed the bridge over the Loire and rode up into the charming town of Blois. It's located on a hill with lots of winding streets and buildings that all look alike. At the tourism office we ran into a Canadian woman who told us that the Chateau de Blois, located directly across from the tourism office, was free today because of the train strike. We are not quite sure how a train strike makes a chateau free, but we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. The chateau was huge! Check out the pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/TheLoireValleyDays14?feat=directlink
From there we went to our hostel which was about 5k from the city in the middle of nowhere. The hostel is an old french house covered in vines, very chilly, and has no indoor plumbing. We are making sure not to drink too much water tonight. We were locked out until 6pm, so we hung out at the picnic tables right outside of the building and utilized the free wifi. We didn't feel like biking uphill all the way back into Blois to grocery shop, so we cooked up some oatmeal in the hostel kitchen for dinner. It's a bit lonely here (we are the only guests tonight), but we are keeping ourselves occupied with the free internet access.
Tomorrow we plan to ride into Blois for breakfast, and then continue to Orleans (65k) where we will spend two nights if the accomodations are good.
We left our hotel early this morning in hopes of making it to Blois with plenty of time to explore (and because we got a 10 minute French scoulding from the hotel manager last night because he didn't think we were going to clean our room). We zipped right out of the city and followed the road D751 all the way to Blois. We had our fastest day of riding and were very surprised every time we looked down at our odometers. We crossed the bridge over the Loire and rode up into the charming town of Blois. It's located on a hill with lots of winding streets and buildings that all look alike. At the tourism office we ran into a Canadian woman who told us that the Chateau de Blois, located directly across from the tourism office, was free today because of the train strike. We are not quite sure how a train strike makes a chateau free, but we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. The chateau was huge! Check out the pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/111756067304857775012/TheLoireValleyDays14?feat=directlink
From there we went to our hostel which was about 5k from the city in the middle of nowhere. The hostel is an old french house covered in vines, very chilly, and has no indoor plumbing. We are making sure not to drink too much water tonight. We were locked out until 6pm, so we hung out at the picnic tables right outside of the building and utilized the free wifi. We didn't feel like biking uphill all the way back into Blois to grocery shop, so we cooked up some oatmeal in the hostel kitchen for dinner. It's a bit lonely here (we are the only guests tonight), but we are keeping ourselves occupied with the free internet access.
Tomorrow we plan to ride into Blois for breakfast, and then continue to Orleans (65k) where we will spend two nights if the accomodations are good.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Chateau and wine country - Saumur to Tours (83k)
We started riding around 9am this morning, and worked our way up the valley, past the Saumur chateau, and through the vinyards. We had spectacular views from the edge of the Loire river bluffs enhanced by the morning sunlight. We we very tempted to pick the grapes that lined both sides of the narrow roads we passed.
For most of the day, we opted out of the bumpy "loire a velo" trails, and took country roads with smoother pavement and friendly drivers. We made great time under the nice weather, which was fortunate because everyone was feeling a bit achey and tired.
When we arrived in Tours, we felt like we were back in Paris! We navigated through the city to find an HI hostel, only to discover that it was completly booked....We got directions to a hotel only a few blocks from the hostel, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it only cost 50 Euro for one room. We enjoyed the hotel towels, and TV, and cooked another delicious chili dinner with our stove out the window ledge. After dinner, we walked through town to find the library to access free wifi. Tomorrowwe are heading to Blois (60k). We will post pictures of the last few days tomorrow.
For most of the day, we opted out of the bumpy "loire a velo" trails, and took country roads with smoother pavement and friendly drivers. We made great time under the nice weather, which was fortunate because everyone was feeling a bit achey and tired.
When we arrived in Tours, we felt like we were back in Paris! We navigated through the city to find an HI hostel, only to discover that it was completly booked....We got directions to a hotel only a few blocks from the hostel, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it only cost 50 Euro for one room. We enjoyed the hotel towels, and TV, and cooked another delicious chili dinner with our stove out the window ledge. After dinner, we walked through town to find the library to access free wifi. Tomorrowwe are heading to Blois (60k). We will post pictures of the last few days tomorrow.
Loire a Velo
Monday, September 20th
Nantes to Angers 105k
So today was our first day back on the bikes, headed east across France. We woke up in our HI hostel, had the standard French breakfast of warm cornflakes and bread. McKayla was ecstatic about the fresh prunes and dates at this breakfast. We got an early start on a chilly, foggy morning that quickly turned into a beautiful, sunny, warm day. It felt great to be back on the bikes! Fresh sit-bones and no saddle sores. We found our trail (we have a book that details a route following the Loire river) and were pleasantly surprised by the abundant signage. Unfortunately, we're pretty sure we were on a "route provisionaire", which we think (but aren't sure) are more for mountain bikers than road bikers. We saw many other older tourists on mountain bikes, and ended up doing about 25 km on "gravillons".... We got a bit off-track several times finding our way through Oudon, we almost lost Erin, but finally we were on the proper route, following green (not yellow) signs. The rest of the day was long but rather uneventful. We ate lunch in an ancient church's parking lot - the route takes us through and around all kinds of small French villages, alleys, pasteurs, farms, etc. Finally we're getting some ups and downs as we dip into and out of the Loire valley. We made good time, getting to Angers around 5 pm after 105 km of riding. We were pleasantly surprised when we pulled into "Ethic Etapes" (which didn't take us 10 extra kilometers to find) - an environmentally friendly hotel/hostel chain that cost us only 59 euros for our own clean, beautiful room (cheaper than many hostels). We even got our own little bike garages! We cooked rice and beans out on the back patio, overlooking a park and on the Lac du Maine. Passed the rest of the evening enjoying a long dinner and chatting while the sun set. Then we spent some time on the FREE internet, and had a decent, early bedtime. (We couldn't post this blog because the computer crashed... but apparently it's been resurrected. If we're off the grid for an extended period of time in the near future, that's probably what happened.)
Tuesday, September 21st.
Angers to Saumur 65km
We awoke this morning to the most delicious/nutritious breakfast (way to go France!). Yogurt, muesili, fresh squeezed orange juice, kiwis, fromage blanche, green plums, bread pudding, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and hot milk. Fully satisfied, we hit the road. We got a litle lost this morning, but after getting back on track we had to cross a canal with a self-service barge. It was a small boat that we loaded with our bikes and then McKayla hauled the chain attached at the other side of the canal to pull us across. After this morning, we've realized how to better navigate the trail system, avoiding the areas that are unpaved and taking roads instead. We stopped in Gennes at a campground to do an ab workout and eat second lunch. Once in Saumur, we quickly found the "Office de tourisme" and were happy to learn of a closeby hostel on an island in the Loire river. After checking in, we biked to the nearest grocery store, which meant riding up a mountain side. We did get to see a lovely Chateau that overlooked the Loire River. In two separate instances, we were approached today by women commenting on our American English, both exclaiming how rare it is to hear American English in this area. One even invited us to her house built into the cliffside tomorrow morning, which we politely declined because we have another long day ahead of us. We cooked up a fantastic dinner in the hostel kitchen of hamburgers with cheese, tomato, onion, and avacoado, with broccoli, cauliflower, white string beans, and cucumber on the side (all for 8 euro!). We are currently being entertained by 8th grade boys and girls playing ping pong in the hostel lobby. Tomorrow we are heading to Tours (100km) where we will stay for the night before heading to Blois (60k).
Nantes to Angers 105k
So today was our first day back on the bikes, headed east across France. We woke up in our HI hostel, had the standard French breakfast of warm cornflakes and bread. McKayla was ecstatic about the fresh prunes and dates at this breakfast. We got an early start on a chilly, foggy morning that quickly turned into a beautiful, sunny, warm day. It felt great to be back on the bikes! Fresh sit-bones and no saddle sores. We found our trail (we have a book that details a route following the Loire river) and were pleasantly surprised by the abundant signage. Unfortunately, we're pretty sure we were on a "route provisionaire", which we think (but aren't sure) are more for mountain bikers than road bikers. We saw many other older tourists on mountain bikes, and ended up doing about 25 km on "gravillons".... We got a bit off-track several times finding our way through Oudon, we almost lost Erin, but finally we were on the proper route, following green (not yellow) signs. The rest of the day was long but rather uneventful. We ate lunch in an ancient church's parking lot - the route takes us through and around all kinds of small French villages, alleys, pasteurs, farms, etc. Finally we're getting some ups and downs as we dip into and out of the Loire valley. We made good time, getting to Angers around 5 pm after 105 km of riding. We were pleasantly surprised when we pulled into "Ethic Etapes" (which didn't take us 10 extra kilometers to find) - an environmentally friendly hotel/hostel chain that cost us only 59 euros for our own clean, beautiful room (cheaper than many hostels). We even got our own little bike garages! We cooked rice and beans out on the back patio, overlooking a park and on the Lac du Maine. Passed the rest of the evening enjoying a long dinner and chatting while the sun set. Then we spent some time on the FREE internet, and had a decent, early bedtime. (We couldn't post this blog because the computer crashed... but apparently it's been resurrected. If we're off the grid for an extended period of time in the near future, that's probably what happened.)
Tuesday, September 21st.
Angers to Saumur 65km
We awoke this morning to the most delicious/nutritious breakfast (way to go France!). Yogurt, muesili, fresh squeezed orange juice, kiwis, fromage blanche, green plums, bread pudding, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and hot milk. Fully satisfied, we hit the road. We got a litle lost this morning, but after getting back on track we had to cross a canal with a self-service barge. It was a small boat that we loaded with our bikes and then McKayla hauled the chain attached at the other side of the canal to pull us across. After this morning, we've realized how to better navigate the trail system, avoiding the areas that are unpaved and taking roads instead. We stopped in Gennes at a campground to do an ab workout and eat second lunch. Once in Saumur, we quickly found the "Office de tourisme" and were happy to learn of a closeby hostel on an island in the Loire river. After checking in, we biked to the nearest grocery store, which meant riding up a mountain side. We did get to see a lovely Chateau that overlooked the Loire River. In two separate instances, we were approached today by women commenting on our American English, both exclaiming how rare it is to hear American English in this area. One even invited us to her house built into the cliffside tomorrow morning, which we politely declined because we have another long day ahead of us. We cooked up a fantastic dinner in the hostel kitchen of hamburgers with cheese, tomato, onion, and avacoado, with broccoli, cauliflower, white string beans, and cucumber on the side (all for 8 euro!). We are currently being entertained by 8th grade boys and girls playing ping pong in the hostel lobby. Tomorrow we are heading to Tours (100km) where we will stay for the night before heading to Blois (60k).
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18 - Nous n'avons pas une mobile, pouvons-nous utilizer vortre portable pour faire un communication locale SVP?
The blog post could end right there, that pretty much sums up our day. However, the story is much longer and more frustrating than that. We began our day with an Insanity-esque (plyometrics!!) workout at a track a couple blocks from the hostel (best find of the day). We showered and headed out to the nearby mall to speak with someone from the phone company Orange about obtaining 3G internet access in France. The saleslady was the nicest woman we met in Paris, she was very patient with our bad french and explained everything to us multiple times. We were about to make our purchase, but then found out we needed a French bank account (dommage). So, we went to try and meet up with Beth, but since we didn't have any internet access we weren't sure when/where exactly we were meeting her, so that was another fail. The rest of the day was similar, waiting around, trying to get internet, trying to get onto skype, trying to get onto facebook, trying to make phone calls, trying to buy a phone, trying to use a payphone, trying to ask for phones, until 6pm. We finally figured out how to make a payphone work (they don't just take coins here!!) and after contacting Beth we met up with her for second dinner. It was so fantastic to see her cheerful face after our rough day. She was so nice after having put up with us not being in contact with her. It was also fun to witness the Paris night scene. Everyone in Paris is all about loooooooong, late dinners. Way past our bedtime, we took the metro back to our hostel and surprisingly, hopped on the exact same train car/door as our three Spanish amigos. However, they were going to a party so we said goodbye and went to bed.
Sunday, September 19 - ONWARD! The next leg of our journey - Nantes, France to Bale, Switzerland.
This morning we biked to Paris Nord train station, only to find out after waiting in a long line that all trains heading south leave from Montparnasse station (on the other side of the city). So, we jumped on our bikes and bravely navigated the streets of Paris. Luckily, since it was Sunday morning, traffic was light and we actually really enjoyed our bike tour of Paris. We arrived at Montparnasse with plently of time, ate some lunch, and boarded the train to Nantes.
Nantes is gorgeous! It's 75 degrees and sunny, the people are very friendly, our hostel is right near the train station and a beautiful park. After checking in, we walked through town. Lots of people were outside at the park, or at a carnival that's taking place in front of a castle. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us because we were not expecting it to be so picturesque. We bought Subway for dinner, the bread here is much better than US Subway and ate in the Park. Tonight we are taking care of our chores (blog maken, interneten, bike mechanicen, showeren, and route plannen... yes, we still like to pretend to talk in Dutch). We are looking forward to bking again tomorrow. We have a long day planned (about 75 miles to Angers, where the next closest hostel is located) and we aren't exactly sure what to expect of the bike route conditions and our french directions (which we are following backwards). Should be an exciting day.
Quote du jour: "(Parisian) MOTORISTS: Cyclists are not another species - most of them drive cars at least some of the time - and they’re not, by and large, wilfully stupid or reckless. But they experience the roads differently from you…So be patient. After all, it’s not as if getting rid of cyclists is a realistic option now - there are too many of them, and the numbers are growing all the time. And a few years down the line, as petrol gets more expensive, you might well end up as one of them yourself."-- Robert Hanks, ‘The Independent’, 12th June 2006
Sunday, September 19 - ONWARD! The next leg of our journey - Nantes, France to Bale, Switzerland.
This morning we biked to Paris Nord train station, only to find out after waiting in a long line that all trains heading south leave from Montparnasse station (on the other side of the city). So, we jumped on our bikes and bravely navigated the streets of Paris. Luckily, since it was Sunday morning, traffic was light and we actually really enjoyed our bike tour of Paris. We arrived at Montparnasse with plently of time, ate some lunch, and boarded the train to Nantes.
Nantes is gorgeous! It's 75 degrees and sunny, the people are very friendly, our hostel is right near the train station and a beautiful park. After checking in, we walked through town. Lots of people were outside at the park, or at a carnival that's taking place in front of a castle. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us because we were not expecting it to be so picturesque. We bought Subway for dinner, the bread here is much better than US Subway and ate in the Park. Tonight we are taking care of our chores (blog maken, interneten, bike mechanicen, showeren, and route plannen... yes, we still like to pretend to talk in Dutch). We are looking forward to bking again tomorrow. We have a long day planned (about 75 miles to Angers, where the next closest hostel is located) and we aren't exactly sure what to expect of the bike route conditions and our french directions (which we are following backwards). Should be an exciting day.
Quote du jour: "(Parisian) MOTORISTS: Cyclists are not another species - most of them drive cars at least some of the time - and they’re not, by and large, wilfully stupid or reckless. But they experience the roads differently from you…So be patient. After all, it’s not as if getting rid of cyclists is a realistic option now - there are too many of them, and the numbers are growing all the time. And a few years down the line, as petrol gets more expensive, you might well end up as one of them yourself."-- Robert Hanks, ‘The Independent’, 12th June 2006
Friday September, 17 - People know you're a tourist when you wear florescent yellow jackets and carry waterbottles on the metro.
So, actually last night didn't end with a blog post. We spent the evening relaxing after dinner, downstairs in the hostel lounge. Erin headed upstairs to take a shower, and went to bed (even though she was SUPPOSED to come back downstairsss). While McKayla was taking a bathroom break, I (Amie) decided to sit down at an adjacent table where 3 Spanish-speaking boys were having beers and playing cards. We got to chatting and I introduced them to McKayla. We played the card game president (culo, in spanish...). They can be summed up as three boys who speak no French at all, and yet decided to study for a semester in Paris. They were staying at our hostel because their classes start Monday and they still don't have a place to live.... Simao (friendly and talkative) was from Portugal originally, but speaks fluent Spanish and decent English. Mauricio (classy and relaxed?) had the best English of the three, and is originally from Columbia, but had studied in Spain and the UK. Their friend Dani, a big jokester, had almost no english at all (except for oh jyeahh babyyyy, and i speaka very good inglish). Their french consisted of "merci" and "nous cherchons un appartment, est-ce que vous pouvez nous aider?" (we're looking for an appartment, can you help us?). We rambled on in 3 languages, translating for each other and trying to play cards. I learned dozens of dirty spanish phrases :) Finally close to 2 AM we got to bed, having made plans to cook them "un desayuno americano" for dinner the next day in exchange for them paying for our meal!!
So that's how our night ended. The next morning Erin and McKayla headed into the city. I, however, wandered around, did the laundry, found a big supermarket, and took a 3 hour nap before they came back at 3. So now they'll tell you about their rather more exciting day!
Friday was a beautful, sunny, crisp, cool, fall morning. We (McKayla and Erin) hit the city in style. We started our day with a lovely workout (30/30 sprints) in the Jardin de Luxembourg (which houses the senate). After the run, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, where we had a lot of fun taking touristy, cliche pictures. Check them out . It's amazing how one second we were in the middle of a huge city, surounded by tall buildings, and the next we were staring up at huge, beautiful tower. There were many tourists and people trying to sell us millions of eiffel tower key chains, and we were hungry so we walked towards the Champs Elysees. There, we grabbed a bite to eat, gazed at the Arc de Triomphe, and walked towards the Place de la Concord. We entered the Jardin de Tuileries, which was absolutely beautiful and ends in front of the Louvre. We took lots of pictures and then headed back to the hostel to rest our weary legs. After our siesta we cooked "American Breakfast" for our new Spanish friends: sausage and eggs with onions, peppers, cheese (Edam) and grapes and pineapple on the side. It was delicious!
So that's how our night ended. The next morning Erin and McKayla headed into the city. I, however, wandered around, did the laundry, found a big supermarket, and took a 3 hour nap before they came back at 3. So now they'll tell you about their rather more exciting day!
Friday was a beautful, sunny, crisp, cool, fall morning. We (McKayla and Erin) hit the city in style. We started our day with a lovely workout (30/30 sprints) in the Jardin de Luxembourg (which houses the senate). After the run, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower, where we had a lot of fun taking touristy, cliche pictures. Check them out . It's amazing how one second we were in the middle of a huge city, surounded by tall buildings, and the next we were staring up at huge, beautiful tower. There were many tourists and people trying to sell us millions of eiffel tower key chains, and we were hungry so we walked towards the Champs Elysees. There, we grabbed a bite to eat, gazed at the Arc de Triomphe, and walked towards the Place de la Concord. We entered the Jardin de Tuileries, which was absolutely beautiful and ends in front of the Louvre. We took lots of pictures and then headed back to the hostel to rest our weary legs. After our siesta we cooked "American Breakfast" for our new Spanish friends: sausage and eggs with onions, peppers, cheese (Edam) and grapes and pineapple on the side. It was delicious!
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