The training stage
Paris attracts many people, but when it comes to leaving, this can be quite a hard task, especially when you are on a bike. The suburbs of the French capital sprawl endlessly up the river Seine. Moreover, the time we spent in the UNESCO headquarters in the city center is directly substracted from the driving time of our first day, so we have to sleep the first night on a camping site in the suburbs.
A few days later, after a short stay in the UNESCO biosphere Pays de Fontainebleau, the hilly landscape of Burgundy begins and our untrained legs have to do the first hard work. The weather helps us out: While the muscles are heating up, rains pours down from above and cools us down.
"God in France" - what is the holy day of the week? Friday for muslims, Saturday for jews, Sunday for christians - and Monday in the French countryside. Most small shops are opened on Sunday morning, but closed on Mondays - a new interpretation of the bible? At least: The many crosses that we come across don't allow the conclusion that the French are not committed to religion.
At the evening of another exhausting training day, we find ourselves far from any official camping site, and the rain continues to fall. We ask at a lonely farm - the only human settlement in the area - whether we can stay under their roof overnight. The friendly lady not only agrees, but invites us for breakfast with baguette and self-made jam the next morning. The first sign of hospitality - and there are more to come!
17.09.2005 16:34h
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