Sunday, June 28, 2009
Beginning of the trip!
Short update on the last two weeks!
Robbie and I have been having a great time in France! The cycling from Tours to Paris went smoothly after that first day incidents. We rode through beautiful sceneries and always found someone to help us find our way =) We most of all had only very very great Couch Surfing Hosts, which made the experience 300x better! Thanks to all of you, Catherine, Jonathan, Sylvain, Alexandre and Nicola!
Our 4 days in Paris were delighful and laid-back! The city is extremely beautiful, super super busy and it's so magical to see and associate meaning with places that reminds me of literature courses and whatever little we learnt about the French revolution. Abdel was an incredible host, and it was really cool to see Vero again after all those summers together at PVC! We were there during Fete de la Musique, and had a fun night of listening to bands playing in the street (with a few interruptions like someone setting a car on fire at the Bastille and two dudes fighting in the subway!).
The day we head out of France was a little stressful; we just got bike boxes the day before (it seemed like a superhuman effort to be hunting for bike shops at 6pm at night!), and given our famous slow pace, got into the train super last minute (like, 1 min before the doors closed!) All that stress was put aside with amazing beer, cheese and chocolate in our stop in Brussels! Then we went on to Den Bosch, a really neat 100,000 people city where 2 super nice Couch Surfers Robbie had hosted lived. We had a good time before heading of to the Hague, where we went to visit the ISS, a school I thought of doing my MA/PhD. It was quite strange to be talking academic and I found myself a bit at loss, but it'll be allright! Nicola and Audrey welcomed us in their home for two nights, and we talked about the city and everything over amazing crepes in a pretty park (and there's also a beach -- nice city!)
And then off to Amsterdam! =) We saw a few of the people on the trip already, already some good, confronting discussions, which is telling me the summer will be anything but boring!
Robbie and I have been having a great time in France! The cycling from Tours to Paris went smoothly after that first day incidents. We rode through beautiful sceneries and always found someone to help us find our way =) We most of all had only very very great Couch Surfing Hosts, which made the experience 300x better! Thanks to all of you, Catherine, Jonathan, Sylvain, Alexandre and Nicola!
Our 4 days in Paris were delighful and laid-back! The city is extremely beautiful, super super busy and it's so magical to see and associate meaning with places that reminds me of literature courses and whatever little we learnt about the French revolution. Abdel was an incredible host, and it was really cool to see Vero again after all those summers together at PVC! We were there during Fete de la Musique, and had a fun night of listening to bands playing in the street (with a few interruptions like someone setting a car on fire at the Bastille and two dudes fighting in the subway!).
The day we head out of France was a little stressful; we just got bike boxes the day before (it seemed like a superhuman effort to be hunting for bike shops at 6pm at night!), and given our famous slow pace, got into the train super last minute (like, 1 min before the doors closed!) All that stress was put aside with amazing beer, cheese and chocolate in our stop in Brussels! Then we went on to Den Bosch, a really neat 100,000 people city where 2 super nice Couch Surfers Robbie had hosted lived. We had a good time before heading of to the Hague, where we went to visit the ISS, a school I thought of doing my MA/PhD. It was quite strange to be talking academic and I found myself a bit at loss, but it'll be allright! Nicola and Audrey welcomed us in their home for two nights, and we talked about the city and everything over amazing crepes in a pretty park (and there's also a beach -- nice city!)
And then off to Amsterdam! =) We saw a few of the people on the trip already, already some good, confronting discussions, which is telling me the summer will be anything but boring!
Monday, June 15, 2009
En France, olé!!
Donc voilà, un petit update bilingue! I'm more of a photo blogger but hey, some things images can't tell!
So we've been here for just over a week and yesterday the "first part" of the trip finished, that is, we parted with Robbie's parents with whom we've been staying at this lovely little house, equidistant from Cognac, Saintes and St-Jean-d'Angely.
So we spent some time in those towns -- highlights : roman ruins, crazy just how much history there is everywhere around here! Also, the wine is so great: of four different types, 2 are now favorites!
What else to say, so we've been beach bumming for a day (check out the video on FB!) and we've seen some prehistoric paintings.. Et tout est si pitoresque c'est un peu fou!
Yesterday was the first real, unsupported, destination-oriented bike ride. And it was a bit of a nightmare. Just 25k to bike, so after 20 I get a flat. Can't find the hole. Realize the bolt on my back wheel is too thight for our wrench. Get a wrench from some dude mowing his lawn. Change the tire. Didn't realize I didn't get the nice kind of valve so use Robbie's smalll pump which puts my tire to something like 20-30 of pressure (normally ride at 80!!!) and so I ride the remaining 5k as FAST as I can (obviously all uphill) cuz we got a train to catch and, as a matter of fact, we see the train leave as we enter the station's parking lot!!! So a little drama after, we take the next train; exxxceeepttt that an hour later, when we're supposed to take our connection to the TGV from Angouleme to Tours, we're surprisingly informed that we can't take our bikes on the train! And that no train will take them for today.. So yeah, we tour around town, get to teh youth hostel; find the guy and it's closed on Sunday (like virtually everything, can't find anything open ever in this country --- big exaggeration, I'm actually envious of the work hours here!) so we end up picking our tent along a bike trail along the Charente river, with some drums in the background. Rained all night, gotta get up at 7 to take the train that'll take our bikes, slept maybe 3hrs, and finally get to Tours to get a puncture-resistant tire and catch up on CouchSurfing! anyways, pretty eventfull (or eventless, depending on how you look at it!) for Robbie and I's first day!
That's about it for now.. We're cycling along the Val de Loire to practice for cycling along the Danube =) Hopefully another update while in Paris in a week or so
Bye bye bye
So we've been here for just over a week and yesterday the "first part" of the trip finished, that is, we parted with Robbie's parents with whom we've been staying at this lovely little house, equidistant from Cognac, Saintes and St-Jean-d'Angely.
So we spent some time in those towns -- highlights : roman ruins, crazy just how much history there is everywhere around here! Also, the wine is so great: of four different types, 2 are now favorites!
What else to say, so we've been beach bumming for a day (check out the video on FB!) and we've seen some prehistoric paintings.. Et tout est si pitoresque c'est un peu fou!
Yesterday was the first real, unsupported, destination-oriented bike ride. And it was a bit of a nightmare. Just 25k to bike, so after 20 I get a flat. Can't find the hole. Realize the bolt on my back wheel is too thight for our wrench. Get a wrench from some dude mowing his lawn. Change the tire. Didn't realize I didn't get the nice kind of valve so use Robbie's smalll pump which puts my tire to something like 20-30 of pressure (normally ride at 80!!!) and so I ride the remaining 5k as FAST as I can (obviously all uphill) cuz we got a train to catch and, as a matter of fact, we see the train leave as we enter the station's parking lot!!! So a little drama after, we take the next train; exxxceeepttt that an hour later, when we're supposed to take our connection to the TGV from Angouleme to Tours, we're surprisingly informed that we can't take our bikes on the train! And that no train will take them for today.. So yeah, we tour around town, get to teh youth hostel; find the guy and it's closed on Sunday (like virtually everything, can't find anything open ever in this country --- big exaggeration, I'm actually envious of the work hours here!) so we end up picking our tent along a bike trail along the Charente river, with some drums in the background. Rained all night, gotta get up at 7 to take the train that'll take our bikes, slept maybe 3hrs, and finally get to Tours to get a puncture-resistant tire and catch up on CouchSurfing! anyways, pretty eventfull (or eventless, depending on how you look at it!) for Robbie and I's first day!
That's about it for now.. We're cycling along the Val de Loire to practice for cycling along the Danube =) Hopefully another update while in Paris in a week or so
Bye bye bye
