Tuesday 5 March

 Tuesday 5 March

Sunday night I was trying to think of my possible options as to what to do for free in Paris and decided that Monday I try the Père Lachaise Cemetery. This is very famous because this is the burial site of the likes of Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Nagy, and most importantly Jim Morrison. I got there Monday at about 11:30 and was shocked at the amount of people buried there and was very surprised to find out who else is buried there -Delacroix, Gericault, Seurat, Pissarro, David, Ernst- all the painters. But I was happy to see that Amendo Modigliani, one of my favorite painters is also buried there. It took an eternity to find his grave since there are hundreds of thousands and even divided into areas it's difficult. I stayed until about 5:00 PM just wandering around (and getting lost!) so wasting time in Paris hasn't been all bad.

I checked into the hostel at about 5:30 and my two roommates showed up a few minutes later. They turned out to be two guys from Wisconsin who just got to Paris after having ridden from Amsterdam. So of course I told them about my bike trip. Over dinner, they were telling me about their friend who lives in Holland who had planned to make the trip with them. Bikes are so expensive in Holland that they had a friend buy a bike for him and send it from the states-plus all that gear. As it turns out Sylvan (their friend) is not taking the trip with them. I don't know who came up with the idea but the suggestion was mentioned that if he was willing to sell all his gear to me I could go with them. At first, I wasn't sure but I thought about it for a long time and decided that seeing Europe from 15 mph and from campsites is far far better than from 60 kilometers per hour on a train and from youth hostels. So I got really excited at the prospect. As it turns out, they couldn't get in touch with Silvano and of course, I was a little disappointed. But today we decided to go bike shopping around Paris. Bicycles are really not that expensive here. I can get a good mountain bike for about 2800 francs ($600.) I thought about it for a while and realized that all during my stay in Paris I thought about my bike trip and how nice it was to cover all those miles by my own sweat, and how nice it was to sleep under the stars. I've been trying to decide where I want to make my next bike trip once I get back home. But now I realized that there is really no reason to wait. I can do it now! Especially with spring coming on it will be so lovely. And if I were to do it all by train I would be simply going from city to city to city and I would be desirous of green things. This way (the bike way) we can see a city, ride in the country and then see another city ideal. So, assuming that the credit card is waiting for me at Sylvain's (it's Tuesday so it should be) I can go tomorrow and buy my bike, my rack, panniers (bags), and biking clothes -oh, and a tent and a sleeping bag. It looks like my expenses should be about $1200 in all. But considering the money I'll save on the road -no train expense, no accommodations - that will take a little of the sting out of it all. Plus, just getting to see Europe on a cycle will make up for it all. I'm so excited! This is the plan we've kind of put together so far: we'll ride/hitchhike down to Spain (it's a long way!), Do a little riding in the Pyrenees, go to Barcelona (!), back up along the Mediterranean coast of France and on up into the French Alps,- stay in Chamonix Mont-Blanc (where I've been given the name of a guy who might take me hang-gliding). we will then continue up the Alps through Switzerland. In Germany, we want to ride along the Rhine (I'd like to go as far as Worms). after that Keith has to go to school (in Germany) and I think it will be time for me to go see Andreas! then who knows what will happen then . . .

So hopefully by Thursday, Friday at the latest, will be on the way to Spain. I can't tell you how excited I am to have made this decision to cycle. I kind of balked at the idea of spending all the money at first but then I reasoned that one of the reasons I bought a one-way ticket out here was because I didn't know what was going to happen once I got here. So if I run out of money a little sooner than I'd estimated, that just means I'll have to find work a little sooner than I'd estimated. Se la vie!

Thursday 7 March

Wednesday was an interesting day. I woke at 6:00 AM to try and catch Sylvain at home before work to try to see if your letter had gotten here. I was going to call but all the payphones require Telecartes (like credit cards) which I don't have so I decided to ride the subway and take my chances on getting over there on time. As I got to his apartment he was on his way out the door but he said I did have a letter. However, it was from Andreas. That was probably the only time in my life I'll be unhappy to hear from him. I asked Sylvain if I could wait for the mail in his apartment since I was tired, desperate, and had all my belongings with me and didn't know what I do. Well, he didn't even answer me he just told me he was late and had to go to work and shut the door behind him. So I stood outside his door and cried. Then I went downstairs to wait for the mailman, who came just a few minutes later. He gave the mail to the concierge (landlady) and I communicated to her with great difficulty what I needed. Finally, she understood and she looked through the mail and -guess what! -there was the blessed envoy! So, armed with my plastic, I met Eric and Keith (as we had pre-arranged) at the Arc de Triumph. we went to this obscure little bike store that someone had given us a tip about called “Maison de Velo” I went in and was instantly discouraged because everything was so high priced. I had my eye on this particular Fisher bike (very nice) but I know it was too much -4600 francs. I approached the guy at the desk and said “parlez vous Englais?” as I always do, and he said in perfect English, “very well, in fact.” It turns out that this guy Scott, is from Santa Barbara and likes to give touring Americans good deals and he said he'd sell the bike to me for 3500 francs. Always wary of salesman I compared with the guys who know a lot about bikes and they said it was a great deal. So I told Scott it was a deal. I also managed to pick up a pair of used panniers (bags), for only 150 francs ($35). I had to also be equipped with a handlebar bag, rear rack, and two cages for water bottles. As we were waiting for this to get done, Scott invited us out to launch and ended up paying for all of us. I ended up paying 4200 francs for everything ($850) but was informed that about 650 francs would be returned to me if I leave France within six months, because of taxes. So I walked out of the store with a fully equipped very high-quality touring bike for 3600 francs -about $725. I did well. Then we went and bought a tent for 350 francs and a sleeping bag for 450 francs. So the three of us rode off to find a place to eat and a place to camp. We hit it off towards the Eiffel Tower and ended up setting up for dinner under it. Keith was lighting his stove and the gas began leaking. Of course, it caught on fire, and soon we had a nice big but contained fire ablaze under the Eiffel Tower. We backed up, expecting an explosion, and about six or seven rent a cops came sprinting over. They saw the seriousness of the situation (or lack thereof) and just began throwing rocks on it and within seconds it was out. They never even reprimanded us. They just walked away.

Oh! I forgot to mention the ride from the camping store to the Eiffel Tower! The streets in Paris are so narrow and at night everyone goes out so the streets and sidewalks are just packed. So imagine me, just trying to regain my cycling legs, dodging people and cars in the dark with these absolute daredevils. We were just shooting out in front of anyone and we generally didn't heed the lights. And we made it safely! We ended up staying in a hostel because it was raining. I'd love to tell you about today but I'm exhausted and I must go to sleep.

Friday 8 March

OK, yesterday was the day of extremes. I woke up and got kicked out of the hostel as they lock up at 11. I was in a bad mood because I desperately wanted to leave Paris and I had a few chores to run that were not of the fun sort. again walking towards the metro station and discovered something neat. Back at UTC I always found it therapeutic to just go to the library and look at architecture magazines and see the interesting buildings that were going up. I read an article about a year ago about this building which has an entire side made up of camera aperture type openings. When the sun is bright, the apertures almost closes and when it's not so sunny it opens to allow more light. The building is a skyscraper so you can imagine the grandeur of it. Anyway, I was going to the metro and I stopped dead in my tracks because the building is right there in front of me. I didn't even know it was in Paris. I had even pretty much forgotten about it because when I was reading the article I probably thought I wouldn't possibly be in Paris in just one year. I don't know if you can understand how that made me feel. I mean, with the rest of the monuments and such that I've gone to see, I made a conscious effort to do so. And I've always known that someday I would see them but this building I just stumbled upon. If I had been walking on the other side of the street I wouldn't have even seen it. I was very lucky.

Anyway, I got my errands run and I went back to the hostel at 5:00 to meet the guys. It turns out that Eric is not going with us because he's out of money and his parents won't wire him more. I don't think I will miss him terribly, though. His entire trip has been financed by his parents and he's the kind of guy who, for example, won't help me and Keith figure out which way to go according to the map but gets impatient when it takes us too long to figure it out. So we go pack all our stuff on the bikes and I sent my backpack full of things I don't need with Eric. He's going to Utrecht before he flies out. Keith and I end up leaving the hostel at about 6:45, as it is raining a little and getting dark. But we didn't care because we both were absolutely aching to leave the city. So we rode for almost 2 hours and made it to Orly (southeast of Paris) and camped along the Seine. It felt so good to be back on a bicycle and sleeping in a sleeping bag and a tent. It's been too long.

We slept until 10 this morning awakened by construction noises, a church bell, and jets flying overhead (Orly is the airport I flew into). we took off and rode in all I guess about 40 miles. It was a rough 40 miles but I'm not in the shape I was for my other trip. We made it to Fontainebleau (which should be visible on a map), the home of a castle comparable to Versailles. I liked it much better than Versailles, though. He had a more genuine quality and I think we saw a total of 12 visitors. It was practically deserted, whereas Versailles is absolutely mobbed by tourists. It was beautiful.

We rode about 2 kilometers out of Fontainebleau and found a place to camp, as the area around the city is all forests. Right now Keith is trying to make a fire as I write this and I have been watching the subtle but beautiful sunset. Until tomorrow-

Sunday morning, 10 March

Well, we are in Amilly and I found an interesting place to stay last night. We were keeping our eyes open for a place to camp, as it was about that time when we passed a little villa with an ”a vendre” (for sale) sign out front. It was boarded up so we decided to investigate. It looked thoroughly not lived in and there was a garage outback with the door about three feet open. So we just camped in the garage for the night. I was able to get a good, restful night's sleep for once since it was warmer in the garage than outside.

The going is awful slow, though. It takes us a while to get going in the morning and the days still aren't very long so we have to start looking for a place to stay at about six. Plus, I am really appreciating all the training I did before my last trip since I can tell I didn't train for this one. I've never blacked out before but yesterday I think I got closer than I've ever been. You know how I tend to push myself and Keith is planning on beginning training for bicycle races when he gets to school in Germany. So he's in excellent cycling shape and all this difficult stuff is just a walk in the park for him. Alright more tonight. Were trying to find a real abode to sleep in tonight because we both desperately need showers and to do our laundry.

Monday 11 March

It's almost noon Monday and Keith and I are wondering what to do today. We checked into the hotel last night at about 6:30. The owners speak no English whatsoever. We got here and eight and both took very long showers (it was my first shower since Tuesday). We washed our disgusting clothes in the sink and hung them up to dry. When we woke today at 10 they were still soaking wet. So I gradually volunteered to go downstairs and attempt to communicate to the owners our need for a laundromat. It's so difficult when neither of us knows a lick of the other's language. So I brought my dictionary and a piece of wet clothing downstairs with me. Bade the owner and his wife “bonjour” as I have discovered that a friendly greeting and a smile can get me miles. I pointed to “blanchisserie” and held out my wet shirt and they told me “ferme” this word I know because so many things are ferme so often. Everything is closed on Sundays and Mondays and every day from about 12 to 2. So I asked ”jusqua?” (until?) and it took her about two minutes to find ”demain” the word for tomorrow. So I think we're just going to pack up our wet clothes and hitchhike for today since it's cold out and neither of us has enough warm dry clothing. My legs could use the rest, too. It's funny, though, that I wish we could ride today. It's cold and overcast outside but I don't care. I just want to get on my bike and go. I want to put miles between myself and this place but I don't want to do it in a car. I want to do it myself. Maybe it will be good, though. If we get a ride far enough South it will be warmer and it will maybe it be easier for us to camp at night and to do stuff like wash our clothes.

By the way, the city we spent the night in is called Cosne. We rode from Amilly to St, Amand en Puisaye, where we were going to stay. It had been raining for a while as we were ready to find a nice warm dry place. After asking a few people we realized two things: 1) there was no youth hostel, foyer (dormitory type rooms), or even hotel in Saint Amand, and 2) no one was going to offer to let us stay with them. So we decided to hitch to the next town or two wherever we ended up. We walked our bikes for almost a mile and a half, thumbing every truck that came by and about the 4th stopped and it was a Toyota 4x4 a very American thing since every car you see (practically) is a Peugeot, a Citroen, or a Renault. The guy spoke pretty good English and drove us the 20 kilometers to Cosne. We had a difficult time finding this place but with help managed to. By then it was getting dark and we were quite wet and cold and tired and hungry. It's kind of funny that I find myself in situations like this it's cold outside, we have few dry clothes, I don't even have any dry socks, and we have to check out of the hotel very soon- but I'd much rather get to Barcelona this way than simply hopping a train. This is more of an accomplishment. It's not enough for me that I don't know the language and am thousands of miles away from home. I've got to make it even more difficult. But what did you expect from me anyway?

We are now standing about 20 meters away from the hotel. We managed to get all of our wet belongings packed away and onto our bikes. We were ready to push off when it began to rain again. So we sought shelter. We are now heading out to N7 National 7) to try to hitch a ride South. Wish us luck.

We set off riding on the N7 a few minutes into the ride we see a sign that says Nevers, 59 kilometers. So I figured we'd be doing well to make it to Nevers. By the way, we decided not to hitch since the rain let up. Having gotten such a late start on our day about 1:00 o'clock we road 30 miles straight, which is a long ride without rest. Usually, 15 or 20 miles is the maximum I like to go without stopping for food or drink. We stopped here and had a little snack avocados and bread and finished the ride to Nevers. It turned out to be a really nice day. It was intermittently sunny/rainy and relatively warm- 14 degrees Celsius at the warmest. In Nevers, we stopped at the grocery store and got directions to the campground. We went there but neither of us wanted to camp there because it was too easy so we rode on out of the town and began getting desperate for a place to pitch their tent and to make a fire. Every field was fenced in and it was getting dark and we were both tres fatigue (very tired) and very hungry. Finally, I spotted a little road off to the right and we decided to try our luck. We went down about a kilometer finding nothing when we happened upon a large Chateau with a swimming pool and tennis courts and all the shutters closed. I think it's owned by the government and is used only in the summertime. It covers several acres and so we figured even if there was a groundskeeper if we stayed in a remote area of the grounds he wouldn't notice us. It's so beautiful here! So while Keith was working on the fire and I pitched the tent under this very large pine tree, then together we made this absolutely wonderful meal. Keith enjoys cooking and prefers healthy food so when it comes to meals we have a great time. We cooked rice and added sauteed onion, mushroom, and lentils. For spices, I use dried soup mixes because that's all they are anyway. It was so good! We've been enjoying great meals since we started traveling together. The first night we had grilled cheese with avocados on some really good dark bread. Oh! And we used butter. I've discovered butter now and could never imagine myself going back to margarine. The next night we had stir fry veggies with rice. The next day was the last night when we were in the hotel so we weren't able to cook anything. It seems we can live more luxuriously when we're camping out than when we're inside somewhere. I guess I haven't really told you anything about Keith yet, have I? He's 23 and one of those lifelong students, majoring in philosophy. He's working on his sixth university right now, including Warren Wilson in North Carolina. A lot of his administrative-type people have questioned his mental stability since he has done some strange things. He did a striptease act one time in the university cafeteria on a night when the trustees just happened to be dining there. At another time and another school, he put all his furniture on top of his three Storey dormitory building and watched the sunrise. He's done some extensive cycling, a bit in Canada and Alaska. He's a lot stronger than I when it comes to cycling but we get along great otherwise. I consider myself lucky because I didn't really know this guy at all when I decided to take this long bike trip with him. He could have turned out to be a real jerk or a psycho case or something. But we're really compatible and he makes a great traveling partner. Right now the two of us are sitting by a roaring fire writing in our respective journals, satisfied from our great meal.

The traveling has been very slow and it looks like it will be a long time before we make it to Barcelona. But I don't care anymore. Even with all the rain, and the cold nights, it just feels so good to cycle all day and look forward to that evening meal, and waking up to the fresh air and trees and grass in the morning. Looking at the map, it looks like in a few days will be hitting some of the westernmost areas of the Alps. And then towards Barcelona, of course, are the Pyrenees. So I've got some tough climbing ahead of me. I'd better get into shape really quick! Most of our ride today took us past vineyards, which makes sense because we're traveling along the Loire river. The Loire River Valley is famous for its wines. It was a neat feeling to know that I was in the real winemaking country. This was no Napa Valley or Monterey, this was it.

Found a post office.

Au revoir till next time!

Julie