French trains and bikes – Less Car, More Life

70 days on our bikes in Europe. Closing the loop.

Saarburg. Our first stop in our swing through Germany.

Saarburg Germany. The Venice of the Saar region. That’s what they say anyway. I’m not sure one river through town makes it Venice, but it was one of those towns that’s not super promising as you roll in, and actually had a fascinating and beautiful old part of town. The 15km long Leukbach River runs through the charming old town and meets up with the Saar River.

The Wasserfall Saarburg. Makes a lovely backdrop and sound for the restaurants and cafes. More impressive is the fact that this was a 13th century project to redirect the Leukbach River through town.

The buildings rise right up from the river.

The sound of the waterfalls and the cool air rising from the river are lovely.

On our way out of town after a one night stay. That look says, can we just ride and not stop for photos every five minutes?

Heading out along the Saar River. It was a calm morning, no wind.

My dashboard. Many podcasts have been played on that Bluetooth speaker over the weeks of bike touring.

Germany can be relied on for good paths linking you from city to city, town to town. We’re up from the river on this stretch by an industrial site.

We headed up and over a hill to avoid a big bend in the river. Shortcut? Eh..it was steep so no real time savings, but what a view.

Could this tree be any more classic and beautiful? Big sweeping limbs, check. Picturesque hollows offering tantalizing home for small furry creatures, check.

Ah, the pastries as big as your head of Germany.

Since we spend so much time on bikes we entertain ourselves talking about bikes and bike infrastructure quite a bit. A lot. Ok, constantly! We had to detour off the river path to obtain that giant pastry and once again we were reminded that although Germany knocks it out of the ball park with bike paths connecting towns, in town is a different story. It was quite inhospitable in Merzig, the short ride from the river path to Bäckerei & Café Tinnes had zero bike infrastructure. The contrast with France, where so many towns have been given what we call the French City 2.0 treatment in town, with new bike and ped lanes and markings and calmed traffic, was dramatic. It was not an environment that would encourage bicycle use for errands and transportation.

Over the bridge to our destination for the night, Saarbrücken.

What’s the easiest bike parking? In our hotel room. Doesn’t happen often but boy it’s nice. Roll in roll out. In this case it was roll out into a steady rain.

Never stop smiling. We’re headed 25k to a train station to take a hop to shorten the day.

Off the train at Diemeringen and we’re back in France!

Feeling sassy. Drinking Sassy French cider at a Breton crepe restaurant lunch break to avoid the storm.

We don’t often stop for a sit down lunch, but we had hoped to hunker down and avoid the worst of the storm. Delicious crepes. Very friendly locals.

The rest of the day cycling was a series of hops to shelter from heavy rain. Overhangs at town halls, under a barn roof, and this community park with a covered picnic area. The storm moved slowly across the region so we didn’t avoid much of it, but we managed to duck out during some particularly heavy bits.

We rolled into Eschbourg and marveled at Maisons des rochers de Graufthal.

These houses were built into a rock cliff and the last inhabitant died in 1958. It’s now a museum.

We were booked into Au Vieux Moulin hotel, in a former mill and with a highly rated restaurant. After hanging our wet cycling clothes over every available surface in our room we headed downstairs to dinner. We opted for a four course tasting menu with the wine pairing – get ready for loads of photos of food. With only a few weeks left in France it made sense to maximize our dining experience. This meal certainly fulfilled that desire. The most French of modern French meals we’ve had. We don’t dine at fancy restaurants often, but French fancy is more attractive to us since the service is very straightforward and not overwhelming. The French assume that everyone enjoys food, it’s not a big deal, just life.

First, an amuse-bouche before we even decided on the tasting menu.

Presentation was amazing. For aperitif Rich had a local beer and I had glass of white wine.

Carte Blanche à Guillaume. Here we go. A wine pairing? Yes please!

Another amuse-bouche to welcome us to the tasting menu.

The first course was trout from Sparsbach served three ways. Small steaks, an airy foamy mousse of fennel, white asparagus from Ferme Waechter, and ground ivy. Close to Rich a small plate of tiny fried fingerlings. Troutelle, they were called. Or troutlings.

Trying to pay attention to and write down the details of this meal gave me so much respect for actual food writers. Ground ivy, the waiter said, I dutifully wrote that down and only now looked it up: Glechoma hederacea is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen creeper of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is commonly known as ground-ivy, gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, alehoof, tunhoof, catsfoot, field balm, and run-away-robin. Thankfully I had snapped a picture of the full menu, since these courses, or sequences, are mostly represented on the menu.

The largest green leaves are sorrel. The wine pairing was a delicious Riesling.

Get used to eating tiny flowers. The mousse was flavored with ground ivy.

Barbecued white asparagus, paired with
Cote du Rhone Amour de Fruits.

BBQ white asparagus with pistachios and pith of citrus. Amazing.

The squab course, served with
Le Migmatite Gamay Sur Granit. Which translates as delicious red wine.

Düwehof pigeon breast, thigh with giblets, porcini mushroom praline, green asparagus, stuffed morel and wild garlic, Mokxa coffee-infused jus. The wild garlic is the small dark lump, it’s cooked in a rice cooker.

Pigeon thigh with giblets. Yes, very rich this course.

The palate cleanser, rhubarb sorbet in a delicate apple and herb sauce.

With the dessert course an elderflower cider, Cidrerie de Reillon
Grégoire Jacquot
Fleurs de mal
2023 • Pétillant de miel.

Strawberry horseradish ice cream, and a white chocolate top. Sprinkled with little white flowers.

And finally, more little dessert treats. Raspberry tartlet, and a small Financier Cookie.

Chocolate truffles on a bed of cacao nibs. It was a good thing we’d been bike touring for almost 70 days and our metabolisms were running high.

We definitely needed a walk after that amazing meal, so we headed out into the misty moonlit night for a turn around town.

The hotel and restaurant glowing in the gloom.

The rain was over and we were ready to ride again.

Watched by a highland cow. Maybe. Are they asleep behind all that hair?

We’re riding towards Strasbourg in the French Alsace region.

I love the half timbered houses and steep gables. So picturesque. The hanging sign looks like an anvil, was this once a blacksmith shop?

What the what? How cute are these musicians? Humba Humba Dederle Dederle.

A striking stork against a stormy sky in Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne.

Lunch along the Canal de la
Marne au Rhin.

It’s a popular canal for hiring boats and touring along.

Which means we get to wave at lots of boaters and shout Bonjour!

This cultural region of Alsace certainly has a sense of humor.

The canal is taking us right to the Strasbourg train station.

Somewhere along the wet roads of the previous day, hiding from the rain, we decided that we were both ready to wrap this tour up and head back to our home base in France. Rich plotted out the fastest and most direct route: ride to Strasbourg, train to Basel and overnight, train to Geneva, ride to Annemasse and then up the valley to our good friends’ house. We were both looking forward to being in one place for a while before traveling back to the US, so off we went.

Train one of two to get us back to Geneva.

Hooks to hang our bikes. You do need bike reservations and I think there were only four spots per train.

Riding to our hotel for a one night stay in Basel. The Rhine River.

A border crossing, we stayed in French Basel.

Saint-Louis actually. And yes the difference in bike infrastructure was dramatic once we crossed back into France. Oh, and hotels are about half the price of the Swiss side.

Back to the Basel train station the next morning- not too early so we miss the crowded trains.

A moment to celebrate the beavers, nature’s engineers.

The scenery on the train to Geneva was stunning.

The France/Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany/France/Switzerland/France portion of our final weeks of the trip.

We knew we’d be busy once we returned to the US, so a nice long 13 day break at our friends’ house was very appealing. The bike ride from Geneva to Annemasse is very easy, bike path the entire way, one night in Annemasse so we can ride up the valley after rush hour. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to close our 70 day loop. We rode down the valley to start this tour, and now we ride up the valley to end the tour. In better shape, with even more appreciation of the countries we’ve visited, and looking forward to some days of rest.

Now that’s a bike path. Loads of regular bike riders commuting to and from Geneva.

A fun beer place on a street being pedestrianized in Annemasse.

Headed out. Final climb. Will the rain hold off?

Finally eating a very well traveled protein bar. I insisted on eating it since it was about to also complete the 70 day loop.

The rain did not hold off, but a playground pergola gave us some shelter.

The neighbors’ cows provide a welcoming committee. Or at least a gazing with interest committee.

Off the bikes and treated to a sunny day.

We could just transfer trains in Paris. Or….

We could stay in Paris for a few nights!

After quite a bit of countryside riding, with the food and lodging challenges taking their toll, we decided to just take a train from Limoges to…somewhere. Somewhere closer to Belgium which was on our want to go list. The easiest train from Limoges went to Paris, with just a few stops. Unfortunately we would not be getting on at the beginning of the run, the train was an Intercity coming from Toulouse. There was the usual medium stressful drama of getting the bikes and bags on the high boarding train, but two women, one taking her bike off the train, whom we helped, and another just boarding the train with no bike, both jumped in to help.

Two very nice Dutch cyclists whose names we failed to get were on our train. We had good platform chat and shared bike touring tips. They rode off to catch their connecting train in Paris.

We headed to our favorite neighborhood in the 12th, our fourth time in this area, this time at the Adagio Apartment Hotel.

Back to our favorite neighborhood bar, Bar & Beer Picpus.

And to Le 217 Brasserie Restaurant for dinner.

The joy of being somewhere familiar. Other nomads will understand how pleasant it is to walk out your door and know where the market is, where the metro is, how to pay for it, and how to get to the fabulous greenway down the block. And, as an added bonus we have our Amis des Louvre cards and they were still valid.

Somehow this was my first steak tartar of our time in France this year. Worth the wait as it was delicious.

The street life in the 12th is wonderful. So much density, wide sidewalks, and folks who take their house cats out for a walk.

This was the biggest and most curious missing cat poster we’ve ever seen. There were two attached to the front gate of a large apartment building.

Our Friends of the Louvre cards continue to more than pay for themselves. Once again we visited using the special members only entrance, and went to two of the special exhibits. The first was The Experience of Nature, Art in Prague at the Court of Rudolph II.

This work of art has a fascinating back story: Artwork recovered after the Second World War Provenance: Baudson collection, interior decoration (?), Paris; possibly acquired on 21 May 1941 by Jane Weyll, art dealer; auction Paris, Drouot, Baudoin, 16 December 1942, no. 41; acquired by Karl Haberstock, Berlin dealer, in 1943 for the Führer Museum in Linz, no. 2687; work recovered at the end of World War II; Central Collecting Point in Munich, 15 July 1945; transported to Paris on 25 June 1946; retained by the 3rd Commission for the Recovery of Works of Art and handed over to the Musée du Louvre on 22 December 1949 by the French Office for Personal Property and Interests; awaiting return to its rightful owners, should provenance research underway establish proof of spoliation or forced sale.

We’ve been to so many museums that display artwork still in limbo from WW2. It’s so moving to read the stories, and to see exhibits where remaining family members have made sure the work goes to a museum where it can be seen by the public, and the story of the family told, rather than disappearing into a private collection. The business of special exhibits also fascinates me. Imagine being able to put together an exhibit from not only the Louvre’s huge collection, but to borrow works of art from other world class museums to realize your theme?

Detail of animals from a painting by Roelant Savery, a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Rich and I decided we would have loved to been at the museum staff meeting where they discussed how to get visitors to venture into lesser known and less crowded parts of the museum. Maybe it was an intern who had the fantastic idea of placing 99 works of Haute Couture in the decorative arts wing?

Louvre Couture. Art and fashion: statement pieces.

Azzedine Alaïa, a Tunisian couturier who museum I visited with our friend Nancy on our previous Paris trip.

It’s not just inside the museum that we spot works of art. These new 100% electric buses are worthy of admiration. I call these the Bubble Butt Buses. Are they coming or going? That is the rear of the bus.

The push me pull you bus. Sadly we didn’t get to ride one, but I could see the seats in the rear were arranged in a conversation seating style.

Sunset bus glamour shot! I used the clean up feature to remove a car from the photo which is why the bottom left looks odd.

Bicycling in Paris is a blast. Rush hour can be pretty crazy but if you head out after rush hour it’s fantastic. You do have to be careful of the Parisian cyclists- they ride ‘em like they stole ‘em. Prepare to be buzzed with just inches to spare, and be super cautious when stopping at red lights or for pedestrians. You might get rear ended.

Our own bikes! Without panniers. So light and fun to ride.

The front is construction scaffolding free.

A mini Statue of Liberty, or Liberty Enlightening the World, and Le Tour Eiffel.

And back out in the afternoon for a visit to the Musée Cognacq-Jay.

During our last visit to Paris this museum was closed after a brazen robbery.

The museum has an exceptional collection of fine art and decorative items.

Our final day was a lot of walking. We were over our intense tiredness and ready to put some miles on our feet. Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

What’s your one funny Paris tip? Ours is that the cemeteries all have public toilets.

New clothing! I ventured out for some shopping. Last dinner at Le 217 Brasserie.

Shhhh…don’t tell the French we bought our breakfast bread the evening before!

I can’t take many photos while cycling in Paris. Too much going on and a valid fear of crashing.

Gare de l’Est. We arrived nice and early, ready for the train dance.

But wait! What’s this? Smiling cyclist? Empty platform?

A very nice SNCF staff member saw us waiting with our bikes, confirmed which platform our train was leaving from, and let us on the platform early.

I’m sitting and reading my book, the bikes and bags are stowed, and all before any other passengers arrive.

The Happy Travelers celebrating a successful train boarding.

We needed that Paris break. To stop moving for four nights and rest. We slept a lot. We had breakfast and lunch in our studio apartment with kitchenette, and dinner out. After our month in Paris last year, four days felt short, but we knew our way around and had plenty to see, and eat. So we’re headed north now to the Ardennes and a few new countries!

Cycle touring days are like dog years.

Leaving the Vallée Verte, France, on a clear day.

Suddenly you look up and two weeks have gone by! But you think back and can’t believe it was only two weeks ago that we got on our bikes (March 31) and headed to the train station in Annemasse. A hop through Lyon to Avignon to spend the night, and then train to Béziers, and ride on to Narbonne. Phew. That sounds easier than it really is, which is why we spent two nights in Narbonne to get our bike touring mindset on.

Lyon’s wonderful bike lanes. Our long train transfer was between stations so we got to leisurely ride across town.

Rich’s American flag doing its job and attracting a chat from a local.

My panniers match the train. Although the high speed Ouigo train is not for us.

Our plan to get on our way was derailed by a long chat with another bike tourist, Martin from Holland.

Our plan was to use trains to get south and ride in Spain before the weather got hot. Neither of us are happy cycling in hot weather. We had been in Béziers on bikes before, but this time we’d ride out a different direction. After a good long chat with Martin who was also riding a Koga bicycle, it was time for a lunch stop.

Lunch in the shade alongside Le canal du Midi. We brought our little travel chairs with us this trip.

We decided to stay in Narbonne for two nights once we realized we’d be arriving quite late in the day, and it gave me an opportunity to have the brakes on my bike fixed.

Narbonne at dusk. Like a lot of French towns there is a focus on new public space, here a lovely newly redone stretch along the Canal de La Robine.

Narbonne Cathedral’s gargoyles. I would love to see these spouting water. But that would mean rain.

Canal de La Robine. The work on the canal side path is ongoing to the south.

The small black poodle being groomed inside this shop would certainly attest to the accolades on the sign.

The canal trail. This is going to be a lovely day on a champagne gravel (hat tip to Annie) trail.

Or will it? Blocked by fiber optic construction.

A 47 kilometer detour. Thankfully a local road cyclist stopped and told us the detour was a fine route, one he rides often.

So off we went, better know the marshes.

A bit windy. Was it a headwind or a tailwind? I can’t remember. (Kidding. It was a headwind.)

Lunch at the boules court in Bages and a chat with some locals. The flags doing their jobs again by drawing folks in and starting a conversation.

Still smiling. It’s chilly enough that my fuzzy pink sweater comes in handy.

Bicycle signage is quite good in France.

Peyriac de Mer, after a quick snack and map stop. Such a sweet street I stopped on an uphill climb to snap a pic.

Although he was technically closed for lunch the owner came out from his apartment behind the shop to sell us some much needed fruits and veggies and home made cookies. Sigean, still in France.

Out of Sigean the route climbed up a rocky pass. Definitely best suited to mountain bikes or gravel bikes, but here we go.

This look says ‘Yes, I did just fall in that mud puddle’. My rear pannier caught on a branch as I tried to skirt the edge of the puddle and I ended up in the puddle.

Ortleib panniers act like bumpers for the bike when you go over sideways. My bike and panniers were fine, I was very muddy with a few scratches on my left leg. Pride? Slightly wounded.

Still in France so the signage is still strong.

Headed down a very rocky route. Lots of walking the bikes.

Leaving Leucate where we spent the night and a bit of time de-mudding me and my gear.

Headed to Perpignan and our first good view of the snow capped Pyrenees mountains. Don’t worry, Rich says, we’ll have even closer views.

Getting closer to those mountains along a very nicely paved cycle path.

Are we riding or just always stopping to take photos?

Oh photos, definitely stopping for photos.

Perpignan. The French buildings and palm trees made me smile.

The Basse canal, an off shoot of La Têt River. Coming in to Perpignan from the north it didn’t look promising but once in the heart of town it’s charming.

Polite and obvious reminder of where your ciggy butts go.

The days are long, sunset at 8:30, so lovely long twilight light.

Oops – an entire bottle of red wine. And a lovely chat with a Swiss/Spanish couple. In light of what’s going on in the US some of our conversations have gotten more intense. Not confrontational, but intense.

Leaving Perpignan, next stop: Figueres, Spain. In the way: mountains.

Ok, next stop actually still in France. Brouilla. But it’s starting to look like Spain.

Through vineyards. That little orange speck is Rich. Who’s anxious to get to some mountain climbing? He is.

This low pass closes not for snow, but for risk of fires.

Unlike France, information on cycle touring routes was a bit spotty as we headed into Spain, but we headed up the pass optimistic about our new adventures coming in Spain. Stay tuned.

Dijon through the Alps

Even on long travels, the end of any travel segment can start to drain your enthusiasm as you start thinking about the next phase of your journey, or worse, the work waiting for you back home.

Heading to Albertville on a beautiful spring day in the Alps. Our minds are now addicted to new.

We’ve all had that end of vacation feeling or remember our childhood summers of freedom coming to a close in late August (Ugh!). But one of the reasons we gave up or locked up most of our material possessions three years ago was to experience the world without that constant end of trip deadline. No limits or boundaries. It’s a magical feeling and one I appreciate more and more as we traverse the world. We are lucky and know it. We recommend everyone tries it someday.

Spring in the Place de la Liberation of Dijon

But our last few weeks of spring bike touring in France took a concerted effort to stay focused and motivated. Don’t get me wrong, parts of it were wonderful, and some warm spring (summer?) weather gave us a “vacation from our vacation” feeling in Annecy, a perfect cap to our recent journey.

Signaling my intentions for Cheryl and the locals in Dijon. Église Saint-Michel in the distance. BTW, French cyclists don’t signal much, and seem to thrive on the organic flow familiar to the Dutch.

After a brisk morning cycle to our train hop from Les Laumes – Alésia on the Burgundy Canal, we rolled into Dijon Ville station mid-day. We were pleased to see a train platform ramp and the option of an at-grade exit to the street. Outside the station was a bikeway towards center ville. This abundance of bike infrastructure is one of the major reasons why we’ve been exploring France by bike for nearly 3 months!

Dijon Gare. We love platform access ramps; the best station solution for all when space permits.

This was our second visit to Dijon while cycle touring, but this time we planned to spend two nights to allow a bit more time to explore the beautiful city at the heart of Burgundy. It’s an extremely pleasant and lively city, with a bike and pedestrian oriented core, parks, and beautiful architecture. Free museums and a wide array of food options add to the draw. It’s also extremely well connected by train on the Paris-Lyon mainline.

History plaques add to the joy of wandering historic Dijon. Many stately buildings with grand courtyards were built by the wealthy in the mid 1700’s. Vive la Révolution!

A few hours to kill before checking into our bike friendly hotel. Often nomadic life includes sitting on park benches; maybe travel planning, reading a book, or just watching the world go by.

This area of Dijon was being upgraded this year to meet the Mayor’s goals for livability. We noticed a lot of new streetscape improvements and tree planting in urban areas of France.

Upgrading to City 2.0 – more walkable, more trees, and limited car traffic.

E-bike cargo and mail delivery is really put to the test in France and the perfect tool for compact urban centers.

What is behind these beautiful blue doors?

After enjoying a day off the bikes in Dijon, we had planned to continue south and east towards the Jura mountains and Geneva. But as I looked into the details of our planned route, I was thinking maybe we needed a Plan B.

Access to the Dijon city center is controlled by retractable bollards, making it a pedestrian and bicycle oasis.

First, there was a lot of flat sections of the Burgundy canal and Doubs River to pass along with a likely headwind. Blah. Second, lodging with food in the Jura is very limited and I was challenged to find places to stay early season once we climbed up to the 3,000+ foot plateau. (Probably better to camp up there.) Third, more unseasonably cold weather and rain was predicted. No thank you.

High boarding train to Lyon. Local TER trains are your best bet with bikes or IC trains with bike space reservation. TGVs also serve this corridor but have very limited bike space, so only work with advanced planning.

Two hooks with pretty easy access inside.

So we pivoted last minute and instead caught a train south to Valence via Lyon, and headed up the Isère River valley into the heart of the Alps. It was the route I had originally scoped for our return to the Vallée Verte. It has a lot more lodging options, lower elevations, and trains for backup. More importantly, we were excited by this new route, which is a key component of (nomadic) life. It’s good to suffer sometimes for the sake of a goal, but also ok to make sensible choices for yourself.

A perfect cafe to people watch in Dijon.

The Musée des Beux Arts permanent collections are free and it houses a wonderful collection of art, sculpture, and antiquities.

Paulus Potter’s “Head of a Sheep” at the Dijon Musée des Beaux-Arts.

The Isère River enters the Rhône north of Valence and is the namesake of the Department that is a part of the region of Rhône-Alps. We had actually passed through Valence in March on the Via Rhôna, so had to retrace a bit of our route upstream this time. Strangely, the lower part of the Isère River is actually still in the department of the Drôme.

The skies are starting to look threatening as we head up the Rhône near Valence.

Great bike bridges on the Via Rhôna and Isère

An homage to our favorite woodland creature.

We just beat the forecast rain to our first night stay in Romans-sur-Isère, but were a bit stunned by the somewhat incessant and gridlocked traffic through this old riverside industrial city. We slogged through to get to our surprisingly charming lodging on the edge of the city, and walked back into the center of the town in the rain for dinner. We did find a (the?) fun and friendly place to get a drink and dinner and everyone was very nice to the two noticeable American cycle tourists. The town clearly gets few cycle tourists, although sits on the recently developed V63/V62 cycle route know collectively as “La Belle Via”.

Heading into Romans-sur-Isère. We hadn’t hit the traffic jams yet.

Heading out in the rain the next day from the very nice Hôtel L’Orée du Parc.

Full rain suit and a feigned smile during a slight rain break

We did manage a pastry rain break under a shop awning. Can’t let our French baked goods levels get too low.

We love to learn about the history of places, even for a one night stay, and Romans has been influenced by its strategic location on trading routes and a major river. Shoe manufacturing is still a business and there is a small museum dedicated to the industry that was unfortunately closed by the time we rolled into town. Further down river are abundant walnut orchards. On the way out of town, we learned another source of major traffic was a nuclear fuel manufacturing facility. But Romans is not a bicycle city and the bike infrastructure was sad or non-existant. There was a renovation of part of the Main Street in progress which may help the pedestrian environnement, but otherwise it seemed to be a bit overrun by cars and parking.

We were following the V63 cycle route up (and down) the Isère which includes some dedicated path sections, but mostly quiet roads.

The challenge of the next day was 84km to Grenoble which would have been manageable except it was raining out the door and rarely stopped. We had a low point this day as the traffic getting out of Romans, steep hills, and incessant rain seemed to zap the energy and motivation of Cheryl, and I could sense it. We both have our bad days, but generally one of us keeps it mentally together. Today we were both just a bit over it. Travel, rain, eating out…all of it.

The Isère river valley was beautiful, even on this moody and stormy day

A lunch snack at a welcomed picnic area was cut short as we saw a massive thunderstorm front approaching. Ride fast!

We did manage to miss the worst of an epic thunderstorm and hail in a farmers shed. Cheryl is a travel trooper and rarely complians, but the ups and downs of 10 weeks of cycle touring was weighing us both down. (I generally complain first -;) We had a train bailout option in the small town of Vinay, but arrived to just miss a train prior to a 2 hour gap in service. The days lack of progress sent me into a travel tailspin too, and let’s just say, that afternoon was one of the low points of our France sojourn.

Made it to a farmers shed just in time for the skies to open up.

The rain and hail let up a bit finally so we headed back out.

Rain booties on, trousers off. It’s a look.

But the sun came out as we waited for our train. and the short train hop to Grenoble was fine. The city was lively and green, and the next day was beautiful. Travel and cycle touring can propel you on a rollercoaster of emotions, but that is why we continue on. The next day IS generally better -:) .

Grenoble was home to the 1968 Winter Olympics and now 700,000 people live in its region, making it the biggest metro region in the Alps.

Nope, not a cute animal, but the 2024 Paris Olympic mascot takes the shape and form of a Phrygian cap; a symbol of freedom and revolution! Love the theme and inclusion of a Paralympic prosthetic leg.

There was a surprising abundance of street art and murals in Grenoble.

Love the green tram tracks (but not all the rain).

Next level cargo bikes in a seriously green city.

The cranky travelers recovering in Grenoble and ready to explore another day.

We loved Grenoble but only stayed a night as hotels were unusually expensive due to a conference. We vowed to come back and explore more there soon as it’s nearby the Vallée Verte and has a lot of top museums, not to mention outdoor adventure in every direction. The next two days cycling further up the valley were inspiring and relatively short, so allowed for plenty of time to stop at sights, take photos, and bask in our positive attitude!

The ride out of Grenoble was flat but pleasant along the Isère River and valley.

But soon heads up some small hills into the Coeur de Savoie.

The Savoie wine production region near Chingin.

Views and history at Chateau LaViolette, a very friendly and lovingly restored B&B in the Porte-de-Savoie. This magnificent cypress tree was over 200 years old.

Views from LaViolette of vineyards famous for Mondeuse Noir and Jacquere. The infamous land sliding Mt Granier is obscured by clouds.

Our next day was greeted by spectacularly blue skies cycling the D201 road to Albertville. We passed on the steep climb to the historic Château de Miolans.

A wonderful day rolling through the tidy and historic villages of the Savoie.

Usually there is a great water source in these mountains…just need to make sure you see the “Eau Potable” sign.

The D201 road rolls up and down along the edge of the valley towards Albertville and is a great alternative to the flat V62 route in the bottom of the valley.

We found a nice little apartment in Albertville to spend the first two nights of the long Corpus Christi holiday weekend, as Albertville is actually not much of a tourist town, despite hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics. It’s pleasant enough and was a good place to relax, do laundry, and explore a bit, but otherwise would recommend other places in the Alps for scenery and charm. It has the old Olympic park and a small medieval town, Conflans, on an adjacent bluff. We realized all the charming Olympic shots you saw in 1992 were probably of Conflans, not Albertville per se.

Our cozy apartment in Albertville had convenient balcony drying

The medieval village of Conflans is just a short walk up the hill from downtown Albertville. We really enjoyed learning more about life and history of the Savoie at the small museum.

La Bicyclette in Albertville is a great bike themed bar with craft beers, a very pleasant garden, and of course, wine -:) .

Heading out of Albertville for a short day to Annecy. How can we make this longer and more fun?

Taking the rolling side gravel and dirt paths instead of the paved cycle path.

Happy to snag a lunch bench on this busy holiday weekend.

Another side excursion to get some views and hills.

Oops, too much hill and wicked steep in parts! A bike push assist.

Yup, the trail goes through this farmhouse. We’ve learned that France is quite liberal with protecting historic rights-of-way and unless there is a clear Privé sign, we press on.

Cheryl enjoying the side excursion downhill.

Fun descent in a bit of mud. First one to fall down buys the wine!

After Albertville, we had an easy day to Annecy planned, but I did my best to make it a bit more challenging as we couldn’t get into our apartment there until 5:30. But the weather was spectacular and the route a joy, minus a few rough patches off road. We got to the south end of Lake Annecy just after lunch, where our route joined the 40km lake loop. It seemed that most of France was outside that day as the weather was finally warm. We merged into the pathway mix of fast and slow, families and dogs, and racers kitted out still thinking they might achieve their personal Strava best weaving around thousands of people. It was fun and the scene was memorable as we got closer to the center of Annecy.

You can circle Lake Annecy on cycle routes which is a very popular day trip.

The lake path was full on France the Sunday of a long holiday weekend (Corpus Christi).

We were waiting for a mishap in the Sunday spring fever and lakeside chaos, but it all seemed to work out.

So this is what cycle touring in warm weather is like! We felt the joy of everyone as well, since we’d been experiencing the same wet and cold spring across France.

Chillin in the lake on the hottest day of our spring trip.

Annecy’s lakefront has the historic aire of a long visited and cherished place for relaxation.

The enchanting crystal waters of Le Thiou, a short river that flows out of Lake Annecy and is one of the clearest in the world. It eventually flows into the Fier and Rhône.

Annecy is a lovely French city with a great density, beautiful lake front, summer swimming, boating, and strolling. It benefits from easy access by train including daily direct TGVs to Paris. For our California friends…imagine a 2 hour train from San Francisco to North Lake Tahoe. We can only dream.

New play space for people as Annecy had recently expanded the car free core.

Bollard access again keeps the lakeside traffic out of old town core.

We stayed another night in Annecy after the holiday rush to enjoy a more tranquil experience and more swimming!

Beers with friendly British cycle tourists we met on the path. Greetings Clive and Alan!

Our final route from Annecy to the Vallée Verte included a morning train hop as the V62 route is sadly incomplete and we’d been warned about the road near Cruseilles. The terrain is steep and rugged north of Annecy and it would be too long to do in one day as well. So we enjoyed a scenic hop on Line 2 of the recently upgraded and completed Léman Express system centered around Geneva. The trains are modern, frequent, and bike friendly. Bike space is somewhat limited, so we imagine at peak times it could be challenging, but we had a very peaceful ride on the 10am train which starts Annecy. Note that you need to buy a Swiss bike day pass if you stay on the system into Switzerland. (we did not.) The fixed price Swiss bike day pass (regardless of distance) is not a cycle friendly solution for short hops and really should be revised by SBB.

The final day push up the Col de Perret. Cheryl climbing with little effort and record speed; a testament to our almost 3 months on the bikes

France does fresh vending like no others. This wonderful 24/7 farm shop had artisan yogurt, cheeses, eggs, and a wide variety of vegetables.

Biggest farm vending ever near Reignier. We got fresh broccoli and some yogurt. A great solution for staffing costs while still providing access to fresh foods.

Feeding our kitchen scraps to the neighbors pig; strangely they don’t like cabbage.

Reunited with our great friends and their visiting family for a spectacular day hike in the Alps.

Happy to be back in the Vallée Verte after another successful bike tour.

We shaved over an hour off our last time climbing up the high valley route and felt a strong sense of accomplishment as we rolled into our friend’s house again. We appreciate everyday of our freedom. Happy travels!

Paris with touring bikes? Oh là là!

Our touring bike adventures have taught us a few things about trains and bikes. And we keep learning new helpful tidbits. One of the best tips is to try to book a train that starts at the beginning of your journey, and ends at your stop. There are few things as stressful as trying to get your bikes and panniers on or off a train at a mid point station. Although we’ve found French train staff, SNCF, and passengers to be pretty darn chill and helpful, it’s not very fun. One of our new discoveries on this trip is that, unlike the US, France doesn’t mind if bikes use the escalators. Using an escalator is so much easier and faster than the elevator or lugging bikes and bags separately up or down stairs. And, with our hydraulic disc brakes you feel confident that you have your bike under control and won’t cause an accident, even with loaded panniers. We came down the escalator at Gare de Bercy.

Oh, Paris. With your protected bike lanes and lovely trees.

Earlier on this trip we had dinner at a Chambre d’hote with a couple from Vichy, France, who warned us about going to Paris with our bike. So dangerous, they said, to cycle in Paris. Oh no, we replied, we’ve been through Paris on our loaded bikes and it’s fine. The Rue de Rivoli, for example, has almost no private auto traffic, just bikes and taxis. They were not convinced, and did not believe the crazy Americans. Ah well, their loss. I’m glad we’d been in Paris and knew how good it’s gotten for bikes, or they would have made us nervous. Taking advice from people who don’t bike is very different than hearing from cyclists.

Arriving in Paris is a treat. It was a Saturday afternoon and the city was calm and peaceful, to our eyes.

What made us think twice, or three times, about going through Paris, which we desperately wanted to do to catch up with friends, wasn’t the cycling conditions, but the trains in and finding a hotel with secure bike parking.

Bike friendly accommodation. This was the Aparthotel Adagio Paris Nation, in the 12th arrondissement.

The center of Paris can be tough, with smaller spaces and less secure bike parking, but one set of friends were in the 12th, and Rich found an Aparthotel with secure bike parking very close to where they were staying.

How Parisian does this look? Our good friends Michelle and Alan came to meet us for dinner on their last night in France.

La Vega, also in the 12th. Recommended by our friends Jason and Katie, who are living in Paris.

Ah the dreaded (by me) menu board. All the food we had was fantastic but I have such a struggle reading the beautiful French writing.

We bid farewell to Michelle and Alan after a long and delicious evening.

On Sunday it was time to ride our bikes around Paris with Jason.

Rich and I are long time bike commuters and used our bikes for transportation and recreation in San Francisco. We have spent decades pushing for bicycle infrastructure improvements in our beloved SF. What a joy to ride around in Paris which is leaping ahead as a bike friendly city, and in a city where we don’t know the backstory and fight over every street. Jason, as a professor of urban geography who writes books about the politics of urban mobility, does know. He kept us regaled with the background about the changes in Paris.

Paris putting on its Olympic Games face. Hôtel de Ville.

Paroisse (Parish Church) Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, 3rd arrondissement. Bicycles are absolutely the most efficient and scenic way to get around Paris.

Don’t blink, now we’re in the 19th arrondissement. Those threatening clouds only spit on us a little.

On Monday we headed out on foot, following what I’m sure all American visitors refer to as Paris’ Highline, the Coulée Verte René-Dumont, which had an entrance right near our hotel. It’s a repurposed railway line and similar to the High Line in New York in that you get to walk above street level through gardens and art, and try to resist the temptation to peek into folks’ windows.

Parts of the greenway are lush with plantings.

Street art on the side of a neighboring building.

Olympic Smurf! I think this is by Invader, a French street artist who does pixilated tile mosaics, but could be an imitator.

The greenway goes right through two buildings. What a way to walk in Paris.

The wide sidewalks of the 13th. That’s the metro line No. 6 running above.

Gifted leftover metro tickets from Alan and Michelle. Thank you!

Back over the Seine to our apartment for well deserved napping. Something we don’t get to do while actually biking.

What a lovely familiar feeling it is to meet up with long time friends. We took advantage of being able to socialize as much as we could. Tuesday, our last full day before we cycled out of Paris, it was back on the metro to visit Musée de Montmartre. Recommended by our friend Eve who had just been in Paris.

The metro had a delay but I was busy taking photos of the Olympic ads in the stations, advising about how to get around during the games.

TO MOVE
EASILY DURING GAMES
The important thing is to anticipate
The Games will have an impact on your travels. To prepare, go to:
anticipatejeux.gouv.fr

Paris is already a busy city. But, has experience coping with many many visitors. Friends who are visiting for the Games are hoping that things will go as smoothly as the London games did.

Everything in Paris looks picturesque to me. Even folks waiting for the metro.

Off the metro and a walk uphill towards Montmartre.

We are quite crowd adverse, so why head to Montmartre, one of the most visited areas in Paris? Sure to be heaving with tourists? Would the Musée de Montmartre be worth it? Yes! As with any A list site the trick is to arrive early and pick a less visited part of Montmartre. Thank you Eve, great recommendation.

You enter through lovely gardens where Renoir once worked, and the 17th century house takes you through the history of The Butte, as Montmartre was called.

A painting
For Au Lapin Agile, a cabaret.

Artist Théophile Steinlen. Part of the frieze ‘Cats and Moons’ (c.1895)

The studio where Suzanne Valadon painted. I appreciated the focus on a female artist.

A rather impressionistic photo of me and the only vineyard in Paris, Vigne du Clos Montmartre, from the garden of the museum.

Just to torture ourselves we walked by The Basilica of Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre to see all the crowds.

We hoofed it back to the metro to get back to the lovely and calm 12th.

Ah. Lunch at Le 217 Brasserie Restaurant.

Rosé at lunchtime. Another biking day no-no. That’s a 50 cl pichet.

France has absolutely spoiled us for wine opportunities and prices. Have we had a bad wine? Only once, at Chambre d’hote, we were too polite to mention it to our hostess.

Dinner with Jason that night, his fiancé was working late. He made us fantastic creole food.

There is a lot of chat in the constant travel groups about avoiding crowded destinations, what we call A sites or cities. There are certain times of year when these popular places are just about guaranteed to be over run with visitors. In incredibly popular cities, like Paris, it seems the crowded times are more and more frequent. Go to B or C, or even D places. Or, as Rich and I managed in Paris, go to an A city but stick with less popular areas or attractions. It helps to have a travel planner like Rich who can spend hours on a single train puzzling to find the perfect solution. And then scour Paris for bike friendly accommodation in a good location. Actually, ‘helps’ is the wrong word. Depends is the correct description. Traveling by loaded touring bike into a big city could be a stressful recipe for relationship disaster, but with good planning, and a rule we’ve adopted from another traveling couple – no fault travel days (where no one can blame the other person for any problem encountered on a travel or transition day), we make it work. Paris was a wonderful break from cycling. Seeing friends was a great recharge. Next: we ride out of Paris with Jason.

À votre santé, Paris! (Thank you for the photo Michelle!)

Issoire to Paris, surely the weather will improve?

After barely getting all our wet gear dry in a hotel room with no heated towel rack, and only barely warm radiators, we loaded up and took the train for a boost from Aurillac towards Issoire.

Even after a long date with the hair dryer my shoes are still a bit damp.

Ready to roll off the train in Brassac-les-Mines.

Our train ride took us through a tunnel and got us past the Parc naturel régional des Volcans d’Auvergne, a mountainous area with ski slopes. Looking out the train windows as we emerged from the tunnel I was quite thankful to not be pedaling, although the area was gorgeous.

The Allier River was still raging from all the rain.

Raging muddy rivers were starting to seem normal.

Now we’re on the Via Allier. The French regional routes are super scenic.

Riding through Orsonnette. We’ve entered the Puy-de-Dôme department.

“The love is in the Fields.” We needed help with this translation, thank you Finn.

The look of the buildings has changed. No more slate roofs and buttery yellow stone buildings, now it’s red roofs and more of a grey or brown tone.

The cats are still cute in this new region.

Climbing up a ridge towards Lamontgie. Grey skies, but still dry.

Lunch stop at a bench with a lovely church view. And the rain started.

Quick, stop in front of that beautiful gate at Château de Parentignat.

It will come as no surprise to Europeans and perhaps a medium to big surprise to Americans what an impactful holiday May 1st is in Europe. May Day, Labour Day, or Fête du Travail will see shops and museums closed, and many restaurants as well. We planned two nights in Issoire since the weather on May Day was scheduled to be rainy again. We cozied up in our hotel room after dinner on April 30th and planned to rest, read, travel plan and blog. We went out to find lunch and see what might be open for dinner. Lunch was a Chinese restaurant, and we saw a few other places open, brasseries and cafes mostly. However, when we ventured back out in the rain for dinner, we were having no luck. Those businesses which had been open for lunch were now closed. Uh oh. Panic setting in. Rich spotted a restaurant whose hours on line proclaimed a 7pm opening. The metal shutter was half open and people were inside! Success? Not exactly. The four guys inside were staff having a Fête du Travail celebration. When the Manager, Hugo, figured out we were Americans he hustled us inside for a drink.

Enjoying a Fête du Travail drink and camaraderie.

They may have been a few drinks ahead of us but we had a fantastic 45 minutes talking and laughing.

What had been a slight stop of desperation in Issoire turned into a memorable experience. Towns with fewer tourists seem to lead to fun interactions. No one in Issoire is tired of American tourists clumping around town.

Abbatiale Saint-Austremoine which has uniquely painted walls and columns.

Rainy streets on our way to an Indian restaurant for dinner. We ate there both nights, it was that good and open!

Farewell Issoire, thanks to the hospitality of a crew of celebrating workers we had a memorable time. But, May 2nd and we’re back out into the rain to ride to Clermont-Ferrand. We’re timing our train from there to arrive in Paris for a four night stay to catch up with friends, so we have a two night stay planned in Clermont-Ferrand. The amazing travel planner Rich figured out the puzzle of loaded touring bikes/trains/Paris.

Nothing like a climb to warm you up on a chilly morning. Col de la Croix des Gardes.

From here we get a lovely decent to Clermont-Ferrand.

Dramatic volcanic mountains with a dusting of snow.

Equally dramatic Pain Suisse enjoyed in Vic-le-Comte. My favorite riding snack in France.
Pain Suisse is brioche dough filled with crème pâtisserie and chocolate chips.

Some lovely new pavement on the cycle track.

An old water mill on a side street of Les Martres-de-Veyre.

This signage was worth making Rich turn around and come back for a drama shot.

We didn’t expect much of Clermont-Ferrand. Rich had read that it wasn’t that charming a town. It’s funny how quickly and easily we can have our minds made up, or changed about a place. Coming in up a climb up a commercial street, grump grump grump. Construction zone, grump grump. Oh! A plaza. Oh, street cars. Hey, we’re really liking this town.

Drying out our fluorescent yellow shoe covers after another day of rainy riding.

Fascinating rubber tired single rail streetcars.

The town is bordered by the volcanic Chaîne des Puys mountains.

Which makes for some fantastic views, like this one of the Puy-de-Dôme.

And the stunning Notre-Dame of Assumption Cathedral? Not dirt or soot blackened as you might first assume. Carved from black lava stone! It really stands out from the red roofs when viewed from Parc Montjuzet.

Very dramatic, the black spires against a grey sky.

The black stone makes for some fantastic contrast.

This building is like a giant pumice stone. Well, not exactly. It’s made from scoria which is denser than pumice.

Inside the cathedral. The black stone makes the lighting and windows really pop.

What else did we enjoy about Clermont-Ferrand?

Fountains which had drinkable water were clearly marked with this symbol.

L’Adventure Michelin. A museum all things Michelin here at the headquarters of the company.

And we learned why the streetcars are rubber tired. Yup, Michelin money.

It’s a university town. With 140k students come some good restaurants. We had Mexican food. The best we’ve found in Europe so far.

The graceful Pl. de Jaude, just outside our hotel, had a statue of Vercingétorix. He was a Gallic king and chieftain.

The statue is by our old friend
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who also created *Liberty Enlightening the World* (the Statue of Liberty) and whose own statue we saw in Colmar, France.

And yes, the weather did dry out for our day of fun in Clermond-Ferrand. It got a bit windy but our next mode of transportation was a train to Paris so no worries about wind. Rich booked us on a train that started in Clermont-Ferrand and ended at Gare de Paris Bercy. With loaded touring bikes end to end trains are so much less stressful than trying to board and disembark mid line. One more story about how wonderful people are in cities that aren’t overwhelmed with tourists. We got to the train station super early, as we do, and as we stood staring up at the big board, waiting for a platform to be listed for our train, a station police offer came over and asked where we were going. When we said Paris, he leaned in and told us it would be platform H. The doors won’t be open yet, he added, but you can go to the platform now. The train is there. Super grateful to get a jump on the eventual platform rush we headed to the elevator to do the one by one transfer down and back up. The elevators barely hold one loaded touring bike, so we’re slow, taking turns in the elevator. Once out at the platform an SNCF train worker helped us find the bike car, and our seats. By the time the rush of passengers got to the platform we were settled in.

We were as chill as this little guy on the train.

He developed a bit of a fascination for Rich.

The happy travelers thinking ahead to Paris and friends to visit!

Cycling the Lot River. Clairac to Cahors.

Pushing up from a lunch break spot on the Lot River.

After our rest day in Toulouse we hopped on a regional train, a TER, and got a jump on a strong headwind day to Tonneins, which is on the Garrone River, the same river as Toulouse. The Lot River and the Garrone come together at the confluence just southeast of Tonneins, so we rode east to meet up with the Lot and head upriver.

Our first sight of the mighty Lot River, in Clairac.

The Lot ends where it meets the Garrone in the west.

Look at that river course. So many bends and horseshoes.

One of the allures of riding a river is that you tend to stay on fairly flat ground. But, if you want to ride some hills you get that opportunity when you ride up to the towns along the rivers which are mostly tucked up high and dry above flood level. Or, you take a route up onto a ridge above the river. Most folks would think that flat riding along a river is ideal, but it does get a bit dull, and our legs and rear ends appreciate the hill climbs and coasting downhill.

Another view of Clairac from the bridge on our way to a grocery store.

A quiet tree lined road. Our train ride did not deliver us beyond the wind, we had a gusty day.

Feeling like bridge trolls at our lunch spot. But it was sheltered from the wind.

The regional route Rich was following on his map was V86.

La Vallée du Lot à vélo, the V86, like many bike routes, takes you to scenic spots and through town on very picturesque and historic streets. What can at first seem like a gratuitous turn or two, ends up somewhere lovely.

Castelmoron-sur-Lot felt like taking a step back in time. We had much more of this feeling to come as we continued up the Lot.

The reward for a day of battling the wind? Indian food for dinner and a bottle of local white wine in Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

Porte de Pujols, the last bit of the ramparts that surrounded the city in the 14th century.

Crossing the river on our way out Villeneuve-sur-Lot. The Lot is known for flooding, these buildings look ready for it.

Use your imagination to erase the billboard and the bollards and you could be back in the 14th century. Oh and Rich, erase that bike tourist in your mind too. And the car.

Work continues on the Vélo routes, and the mapping app Rich uses, Koomoot, isn’t always completely up to date. Sometimes new signs will contradict Koomoot directions. We had one of those contradictions at a single track trail by a rail line. Koomoot wanted us to cross the rails on a road behind us and stay in the right bank of the river. We ultimately chose the single track.

The sign was brand new. I love the added on ‘camping’ sign.

It’s always such a mental boost to get to ride where automobiles cannot go. Bike touring is hard, but the rewards are fantastic.

V86 for the win. The new routing took us to le Moulin de Lustrac. A perfect spot for a snack break.

Built about 1296. Right around the time work was being done to make the Lot navigable by building dams, facilitating the movement of goods from Quercy to Bordeaux.

A very impressive set of mill buildings.

Who doesn’t love a door that opens to a drop into water?

Another cool old mill building at Monsempron-Libos. This one definitely has folks living in it. I wonder what it’s like to have water flowing under your house?

Another stunning historic building on the Lot. No idea what it is.

A bridge over the Lot with a sign showing the bends in the river.

Puy-l’Évêque is on the narrow neck of a horseshoe bend of the river, and our next night’s stay. Our sense of riding back in time got stronger when we went for a walk before dinner.

The narrow side streets are named for the trades that were practiced on them, street of tanners, tinters, etc.

Looking over the medieval buildings to the River.

Nearly a fifth of the residences are holiday homes. The buildings are beautifully kept up.

A stretch of nice weather, no wind, and a beautiful river to ride. We were moving each night, riding happily along, but moving always means unpacking and packing. It gets tiring. Especially with bike panniers. What a mess.

To this. All tidily packed up and at the grocery store to get lunch provisions.

It was quite cold that morning as we pedaled past vineyards and waved to folks walking the Camino de Santiago. One of the routes through France goes right along the route we were riding.

The route is well marked and takes advantage of parts of an old railroad line.

Riding along the old railway route through Castelfranc.

And back over the river to Albas. This agricultural area of the Lot is mostly vineyards, all in the Cahors AOC wine region.

Another beautiful place up on a hill above the river.

Which means riding up up up. But if you were cold this warms you up.

Rich added for scale by the big fake wine bottle.

The trail stayed above the river for a while. I’d forgotten how cold it was until I see I’m wearing my down jacket. And a wool sweater.

Near Douelle, a chateaux above the river. All of these towns were also ports for the shipping of wine along the river, headed to Bordeaux.

Lunchtime in Doulle, where a small park had a table and chairs for us to enjoy.

Approaching Pradines, yes, another town in a bend on the river. A view across the vineyards.

Our next stop was Cahors, where we checked into our hotel and immediately decided to stay another extra night. Our hotel room overlooked the famous Pont Valentré, a medieval three tower six arch bridge. We got to town in plenty of time to unpack, shower, relax a bit and head out to a chocolate shop.

I love the window display at L’éclat Du Noir. I look for the independent chocolate shops.

And Rich looks for the independent beer bars.

Our rest day was lovely, we walked around town, visited the Musée Henri-Martin, whose paintings we also saw in Toulouse, and had a vegetarian lunch. And napped.

It was a good choice of rest day, since it rained quite a bit.

Post museum, post lunch, on our way to a nap through the charming old streets of Cahor.

A scallop shell showing the way of St. James and the bridge in the background.

The view from our hotel room. The Best Western Plus Hôtel Divona Cahors.

The happy travelers and that amazing bridge.

Stay tuned for more Lot River. The cold wet European spring is certainly not super great for bike touring, but we’ll take cold over rain. Unfortunately, some rain is in our future. The highs and lows of traveling by bikes.

Into the Pyrenees (and out of Carcasonne!).

People frequently ask Cheryl and I how we plan our travel filled trips and lives and it’s sometimes hard to explain. But let me try. Basically we start with a rough 6 month plan defined by our major goals and travel legs to and from continents (i.e SFO-Asia, Europe-America) We adjust these plans as needed for any Visa issues and always work around a desire to see family and friends for holidays or special occasions like weddings.

The broad and jagged Pyrenees are a stunning sight in early Spring.

For example, last fall, we blocked out a 3 month spring window in Europe that would be dedicated to bike touring before returning to the US again for a wedding in June. We also wanted to spend more time in Asia. We had no visa issues for Malaysia or Taiwan, but on the European continent, we are subject to the visa-free rules limiting us to no more than than 90 days in the Schengen zone. (Most of the EU – Ireland + Norway and Switzerland)

Cheryl descending one of the many climbs in the foothills of the French Pyrenees.

Then we factor the weather. So for a bit more warmth, we headed south first from Geneva to chase the European Spring. And winter in Asia is generally a bit cooler, as it was in the rainier season of Borneo. Add to that my desire to work on my French and we further refined our cycle touring itinerary. France, and lots of it!

The citadel of Carcassonne is stunning and constantly appears wherever you at in town.

The next ingredient in the travel planning mix is some house sits. We love house sitting and wanted to work a few breaks in during our spring bike tour. Cheryl had been dilligently looking for sits while we were still in Asia but we didn’t find good matches until we had already set off down the Rhône. But due to Cheryl’s excellent filtering and immediate responsiveness to opportunities, we finally found good matches, and now have two one-week house sits in April. These sits formed the basis of our plans in Southwestern France.

The magnificent view of La Cité in Carcassonne from our house sit veranda

Château Comtal, a 12th-century castle within La Cité.

La Cité has some charming streets and cafes, but is pretty touristy with the requisite splash of tackiness.

The first sit was in Carcassonne; famous for its massive UNESCO world heritage medieval city and citadel that overlays a site dating back to Greco-Roman times. It’s one of the most picturesque scenes in France. We were both excited as neither of us had been there before. We were also very glad to be over our pesky colds by the time we rolled in to meet our American Ex-pat hosts.

The sit was in a large house ca. 1930 with a beautiful indoor/outdoor cat and we had a nice dinner out with our hosts at the base of the nearby La Cité. We almost always meet our hosts and often spend the evening prior to learn the ropes of the house, pets, and area. It’s one of our favorite parts of housesitting.

Cute draft horses, complete with adorable fly guards, can take you around the Citadel.

They had mentioned in our video chat that the area was not very bike friendly, but to be honest, we often hear that from folks, but then find it later to be ok. But as we departed the pleasant Canal Du Midi path from Castelnaudary for local roads outside the city, it became apparent that they were right. Where were the nice bikeways and lanes popping up all over other French cities in the past 10 years?!

This rather sad buffered bike lane ran exactly one block near the train station.

Not an inspiring walking environment on many of the newer roads around Carcassonne.

Cars on the sidewalks always tells us a lot about the priorities of a place. This was typical of many neighborhoods in Carcasonne.

As we made our way around the “new” city (La Bastide), our Komoot bike directions had us on a 3 lane traffic filled perimeter road.”“Seriously Komoot, this is the best route!!?“ Not a bike lane or facility in sight. We did eventually find a few sad and neglected stretches of bikeways on side roads, but indeed, Carcasonne is not a bike town. Not at all. It amazed us how the vibe of transportation varies in cities by the priorities set by planners, culture, and of course, the infrastructure. We’ve especially noticed stark differences in SW France, as some places seem stuck back in the 1970’s. It especially struck us on our day trip into Toulouse. Toulouse has controlled access to the city core, wide sidewalks, abundant transit, and lots of bikes. We liked it so much that we are going to spend a few nights there as we head back north.

Toulouse had a car problem too in the 1950s, but now Place du Capitole is a vibrant pedestrian space. (With a garage underneath.)

We expected to see some of the nicer streetscapes of France in Carcasonne, like this Dutch style intersection in Toulouse.

The Pont Neuf in Toulouse only one has one lane for car traffic, wide bikeways and pedestrian space, and a dedicated bus lane.

Perhaps the city administrators in Carcasonne didn’t apply for federal or regional money. But most likely here, the overwhelming presence and management of 3 to 4 million annual visitors to the star attraction dominated the transportation planning. Get the traffic and tour buses through. It’s also very windy, including the week we were there. It was not pleasant and to be honest, didn’t make you want to be outdoors at all. Perhaps the allure of the automobile is explained a bit.

Lovely outdoor spaces in charming Toulouse where cars are kept at bay. It was also windy in Toulouse, but more protected by its sinuous old grid.

Again, for some, Carcasonne could be magical, and it does have some nice areas along the Canal du Midi and river. But as car-free walkers and bikers, it was not as enjoyable as so many other places we’ve been in France. It didn’t have a village feel, and cars seemed to be everywhere, and the core of the “new city”, Bastide Saint Louis had almost all roads open to fast moving and aggressive cars with narrow sidewalks. Certainly, we enjoyed our time relaxing in the spacious house with the cute cat, but the City itself did not make our top travel lists.

Carcasonne train station is undergoing a much needed renovation to add accessibly between platforms, but it’s not always easy to squeeze in elevator shafts in old stations. We planned for extra time when we left to transfer our bikes and bags up and down the stairs to access the platforms.

You should come to Carcassone, but probably just to visit the ancient La Cité. And since it gets millions of visitors, perhaps an early morning or late afternoon/evening would be best. (Rick Stevees concurs -:) As I noted, our visit to was also influenced by the near constant presence of winds, often blowing 20-30mph+; so cafes and outdoor dining options were less while we were there. We were starting to hypothesize that the La Cité fortress was not really built for defense from marauders, but for the incessant winds! It was nice inside the walls -:)

The first TER train from Carcassonne to Toulouse made about 10 stops and had 6 bike hooks. Crowds varied but we just held onto our bikes and leaned or used door jump seats.

Changing trains in Toulouse was easy with low boarding TER trains and elevators to platforms

The IC train (14143) to Lourdes had reservable spaces under a luggage rack. Perfect to store our bikes without panniers. Our assigned seats were automatically in same car with view of bikes. Nice work SNCF!

Millions visit and make pilgrimages to Lourdes every year and the city has streets lined with places to buy religious goods and dozens (and dozens!) of big hotels. It felt a little like Catholic Disneyland to us.

As soon as we left the station in Lourdes, we were struck by the sight of the immense basilica, Our Lady of the Rosary.

But soon we were rewarded with our first views of the high Pyrenees and the endless backroads in the foothills.

But the first climb reminded us both that the Pyrenees are quite rugged and the roads steep in places, like this 12-15% grade outside Lourdes. These are not the Alps.

Based on our second sit, I looked for a good route from Carcassonne in the central Pyrenees. I started from the intriguing V81 regional route which shows up on Komoot when you select bicycle touring mode. Since we only had a week, I had TER train plans to Perpignan and daily cycling routes mapped from the Mediterranean side on the East. But a few days prior, I noted massive headwinds were predicted in that area (like 20-50 mph) which make the thousands of feet of climbing and valleys even more miserable. So I revised last minute and we headed west by train to Lourdes, where more favorable (and less) wind would likely greet us for the week. And that it did. We are blessed with our freedom right now and do appreciate it every day, but you need to be flexible in plans and comfortable that it will all work out. We always learn as we go.

Dramatic skies in Tarbes, just minutes before an epic lighting and hail storm! We had made it to our hotel for the evening just in time -:).

Typical small church in the Haute Pyrénées.

We always love to see nice signage reminding drivers to give cyclists at least 1.5m when passing. And French drivers are pretty good at honoring the law. Mostly.

A break in the weather at Lac de la Arrêt Darré

So wet set off by train from Carcassonne with a good transfer in Toulouse. We had to squeeze a bit on the first TER train and leaned with our loaded bikes near the door as the bike hooks were virtually full and impossible to use with our gear and the modest crowds. But the French are pretty easy going and helpful, so it was fine. Our second train from Toulouse to Lourdes was an Intercity and we actually had reservations for two of the three bike spaces. It was a modern train set with low boarding and leaning space for bikes and straps to secure them. Heavenly! We actually got to sit in our seats and enjoy our lunch and coffee/tea -:).

Mesmerizing layers of stone and mortar walls.

Route 81 from Tarbes did indeed take us up on a huge plateau with very dramatic views and weather.

Before a cold rain descended on us at the end of Day 2 to Galan.

Few services out here, but wait, what’s this?! An automated boulangerie!

Success, tapped my credit card and et voila, a Pain Au Chocolat, even in a tiny Pyrenean village. Vive La France!

Full rain gear drying out a bit as we rode onto our Chambre D’Hote.

A nice warm homemade dinner at the friendly Le Clos de la Bastide in Galan.

Lourdes is a huge pilgrimage site for Catholics and Our Lady of Lourdes is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary recalling her apparitions in 1858 in the grotto to Saint Bernadette Soubirous, a fourteen-year-old peasant girl. The spring at the grotto is said to have healing powers, so millions come every year to seek its healing properties, often near the end of their lives. Although we didn’t go inside or see anything up close due to all our gear, the scene around the Basilica is quite unique and you can’t help but be touched by people’s faith.

Galan was a sweet little village in which to spend the night.

The cycling from Lourdes was immediately spectacular and sensually rewarding on a balmy spring day. And unlike some of the busier Eurovelos, the regional routes tend to have fewer cycle tourists, especially this early in the season. I like to compare the Eurovelos to National parks and local routes to State parks; Often just as spectacular with way fewer crowds. A big front came through late in the first day and it went from 77f/25c to 40f/4c in about two hours with hail the size of marbles. It coated the ground and changed the mood dramatically as we set out the next day back in a late winter feel. The storm continued a bit the next day and we battled a bit of cold rain, but it also cleared enough to see freshly coated mountains across the horizon. A memorable day of cycle touring, as so many are.

Our third day in greeted us with sunshine and spectacular views of the Haute Pyrenees. The V81 bobs and weaves in and out of valleys and over smaller ridges toward the bigger peaks across the entire French side of the range. It’s a great route.

Although the V81 route was well signed and Komoot kept us on track (mostly), we’re constantly looking for a good picnic lunch spot in the next village.

We settled on this bench behind a church and a bit out of the wind. ok in a pinch.

Endless rural valleys, and a lot of up and down. Almost no one in sight.

After Tarbes, lodging along this route is pretty sparse as you only go through a few major towns/villages, but this is where Chambre D’hôtes come to the rescue as you can find lodging, dinner, and breakfast along with a great local experience and family hosts. Many of the apartment rentals in this region are more seasonal for summer or larger places with 2 or more bedrooms, which make them unpractical and poor value for an overnight stay. Another option is to duck off the route a bit to find lodging as we did near Montrejeau. In summer, more people certainly camp as well.

Lodging on this stretch of the V81 is limited this time of year, but we found a great little apartment (€55) for the night in Montréjeau. Laundry, cooking in, and bike storage!

The impressive Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges Cathedral. A site with layers of history dating back to a Roman Colony of 30,000 people. It later became a pilgrimage stop on the way to Santiago de Compostela.

Up the hill and through one of the three old city gates. Car access is limited and most people park down in the valley.

The ornate organ inside the basilica is considered onw of the best classical organs in Europe.

Sun and coffee break outside the Basilica. We fill our stainless steel thermoses every day with coffee (me) and tea (Cheryl) as cafes and stops are few and far between in this rural region.

A lending library and artistic bench. Even the smallest villages have charm and peacefulness.

We lucked out when it was lunch break on this bridge construction project over the Garonne as the resting workers were fine with us passing and saved us 10km of extra peddling!

After successfully charming the construction workers, we continued on in warming temperatures that gave us a taste of summer here.

Cheryl thrilled to sample more artisan chocolates at 9 am from Aztek at the recently opened Halle Gourmande in Saint Gaudens.

My new favorite from the same food hall, a “Jésuite” pastry.

But our six days of cycling was magical, especially as we are stronger now and the climbing is a bit more rewarding, not just painful. We both feel great after being sick for a bit. And Cheryl is now back to her champion climber status, although one or both of us still have to hike-a bike a few relentlessly steep sections. No shame in pushing a 30 kilo bike load. We are indeed carrying a lot of weight for three months of activities, and three seasons. (often all in one day). We keep discussing what winter gear we can mail back to the Haute Savoie, but then winter rears its head again and we’re glad for all the gear.

The Pyrenees have a good craft beer scene and I was thrilled to chat and taste at the friendly Brasserie Artisanale D’Ariege-Pyrénées in Saint Girons. Opened since 2005, it’s still fairly small, but excellent.

More rolling hills and mountain vistas to explore.

Saint-Girons was our final stop before our next house sit and is a lively and friendly market town on the Salat River.

The weekly Saturday market in Saint Girons is not to be missed. A huge sprawling market of fresh foods, music, crafts, and anything else you might need.

Up the valley to our house sit during another unusually warm spring day in the mountains.

Another day, another UNESCO world heritage site!

Getting excited to reach our next adventure in Massat, but more on that next post!

So we are now at our second house sit near the small village of Massat, where we are experiencing the magic of spring in the Pyrenees and plotting our further adventure on our bikes. More on that from Cheryl soon. Happy Spring!

Linking up sections of La Loire á Vélo.

Picnic spots of the world. Relaxing along the Loire River.

We got a bit spoiled with the bike infrastructure riding out of La Boule – Escoublac, Brittany. As we continue to happily notice, France is really stepping up their bicycle and pedestrian game. It’s so nice to feel welcomed and cared for while bike touring. And it sure looks as if it’s having an impact on local trips made by bicycle in towns we went through.

The newly redone section of La Boule – Escoublac promenade. Even more bike and ped space.

A new section of off street cycle path in Pornichet.

Saint-Nazaire continues the bicycle love. The port in the distance.

We were headed to Saint-Nazaire to cross the bridge over the mouth of the Loire River and hang a left up the river path. We’ve ridden other sections of the Loire in years past, and had been impressed with how wild and wide sections of the river are. Our last ride on the Loire was downriver towards the Bay of Biscay and the North Atlantic Sea, but we ran out of time before we could reach the end. This time we would start at the mouth, or delta, and head up river. But first, we had to get to and cross the Pont de Saint-Nazaire. A big bridge accessible through the working port.

Into the port area, bike lanes still apparent.

Oh. New signage. Watch out for workers walking.

Let’s talk about how difficult it can be to get info on cycling conditions. We’ve faced challenging bridges before, and even been shuttled over bridges. We knew this one would be tough, but Rich couldn’t find many photos or info online about the actual lanes or shoulders, other than to see it was not great, and we hadn’t seen any other bike tourists for a while so no asking for first hand experiences. As we got to the approach of the bridge there was a bus stop with information on the shuttle bus with bike trailer that ran from May through September 24, all week, and then on weekends only. It was Friday, September 29. Yup. We’d have to ride. I have no photos of our ride across the bridge. As I was concentrating on staying as far right in the 2 foot shoulder as I could, without bashing my panniers into the guardrail, I briefly considered snapping a photo but decided I would rather live. It was pretty nasty. French drivers are good, but the lane configuration was one lane in our direction, two lanes in the other, and a closed lane on the far side.

If we had been riding the other direction we would have had an empty lane next to us, but in our direction we were next to a lane of car and truck traffic. I could see that the drivers were passing Rich as carefully as they could, and pulling into the oncoming lane when they could, but Rich, ahead of me, couldn’t see how I was getting along.

Once we got across and looked back I had two thoughts: damn, that sucked, and oh, that’s why the red stripes on the cute worker emblems on the path. It’s the paint job of the bridge.

We met two French cycle tourists heading towards the bridge later that day who said they had booked a shuttle, with a taxi company, we finally figured out. So that would be my recommendation to anyone interested in crossing the Saint-Nazaire Bridge by bike when the shuttle bus is off season, especially if is windy (which thankfully it was not on our crossing).

That bridge is on our list: Do not ride.

Recovering with a pastry and juice break.

Historic and still active fishing shacks, with crane nets, in the delta of the river.

Modern port activities across the river, historic shacks on our side.

With the bridge behind us we headed up the Loire, enjoying the wide open grassy marshlands and plenty of bird life. Our destination for that night was Nantes.

Hunting season starts in France in September, which is when we are usually bike touring. We had seen boar hunts in the past and got out of the area as quickly as we could. This trip we saw even more hunting going on since we were right at the beginning of the season opening.

Look out for cyclists, tractors, and hunters.

It was a bit nerve wracking to ride a stretch between Mt. St. Michel and St. Malo and have hunters shooting in the fields on either side of us. That’s when we got out our fluorescent accessories, which are always a good thing to have with you when cycling.

Along the Loire it was boar hunting. Complete with baying hound dogs and signs along the road.

Some recent hunting tragedies mean the rules have tightened up a bit, this boar hunt looked to be very organized.

Free ferry across the river at Le Pellerin to get to Nantes.

Drat. Too short a ferry ride to even get my book out.

Not every stretch of road is picturesque. Coming in to Nantes along the train tracks, still a nice bike lane though.

If you are ever looking for a lovely city in France that is less crowded, and a bit more off the tourist radar, we highly recommend Nantes. We spent two nights there and were very impressed with work that’s been done in the past few decades to make the city greener and give it a really pleasant ambiance. I think it’s another of those places to visit that the French are well aware of but maybe no one tells the tourists? Well, we’re telling you – it’s lovely. So many beautiful streets in the old town and lovely plazas where people gather, bike lanes, trams, and even with a World Cup Rugby match on it was super enjoyable.

One of the streets of Feydeau, previously an island in the river until the arms of the river around it were filled in between 1926 and 1946.

Another street in Feydeau, looking north towards Centre-Ville.

A rest day means we get to visit sights, like Les Machines de l’Île , on an actual river in the Loire. A steampunks dream. Here, a spider to give you nightmares.

An old industrial site houses loads of mechanized wood and metal animals, which the workers load up with visitors and operate. Ever wanted to ride a giant ant?

This heron raised up on a gantry crane and “flew” with passengers on the back and in the two baskets.

Château des ducs de Bretagne. I do love a moat.

Off to the train station. We need a boost to get us back to our home base near Geneva. Enough lallygagging.

Bikes loaded on the hooks (our least favorite train set up – notice how far Rich’s handlebars stick out into the aisle.).

90 kms later and off at Angers. Three cheers for a ramp off the platform. So much easier then elevators.

The high water mark from an 1856 flood. We stopped for the water tap but I appreciate a good flood information board.

“It was after the big flood of the Loire in 1150 that Henri II Plantagenêt, Count of Anjou and King of England, ordered the construction of a dyke all along the Northern part of the riverside.” Riding on the levee was fascinating.

Once a delicate San Franciscan always a delicate San Franciscan. The weather was lovely, if a bit warm for us. 82f/26c as we rode along, and a bit hotter in the afternoon. Thankfully as we rode up river we entered the Tuffeau stone region: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffeau_stone Where there is tuffeau there are caves created by the mining of tuffeau stones. Where there are caves there are streams of cold air coming out of the caves to cool hot cyclists.

People have been living in the caves since quarrying or mining of the stone began in the 11th century.

Riding along and getting a blast of cold air, sometimes from a cave you couldn’t even see through the undergrowth, or from one set up as storage for nearby cave house dwellers, called les troglodytes, was very refreshing. We didn’t swim in the Loire, but we did stop and wade into the refreshing water and tried to convince the small fish to nibble our toes – no luck.

The school of fish were curious but cautious.

It’s nice to arrive at your hotel in time to shower and relax. Rich is in the swimming pool. Château De Saumur in the background.

The lovely light color of the tuffeau stone is luminous in the evening light. After a nice galette dinner we walked up to the Château to admire the view and watch bats swirl around the walls.

Another advantage of a post dinner visit is having the Château to ourselves.

You’d think we’d be tired, but no, plenty of energy to take flattering evening light photos.

We were starting our last full day of cycle touring, from Saumur to Villandry, about 55 kms. It was going to be another pretty hot day so we wanted to get going and try to beat the afternoon heat. From Villandry it would be a short ride to Tours to catch a train to Lyon, one night in Lyon, and catch a train to Geneva.

Making some good time through the shady trees.

No way! The bike route goes into the cave.

It was an old road for commerce winding into the mountain. Where rock had been mined people set up houses and food storage.

Rich ducking under an impressive fig tree. Notice the door and house number to the right.

The little driveways leading to cave houses are so intriguing.

The cave houses stay the same temperature year round. Nice on a hot day like this one.

The former quarries or mines have been turned into houses, restaurants, wine cellars, and mushroom growing caves.

Really good info plaques. Of course I don’t speak French so I have to stop and Google translate each one.

A good pictorial of the history of the caves. Of course I still had to translate it. Not getting far this morning.

They had little stone buildings in the vineyards connected to a shaft down which they tossed the grapes to the press.

We emerged from the cave streets of Souzay and were in the vineyards. It was harvest and crush season and trucks were trundling to and fro.

We both noticed that our tires were making funny noises and both thought we’d gotten flats. That slightly velcro noise a bike tire makes as it’s losing air. Worrying. But we realized that the trucks carrying grapes, and carrying stems post crush, had left a sticky residue on the streets which was now stuck to our tires making them sticky. We’ll take sticky grape juice over a flat tire any day.

Stems dumped on the edge of a field. You could smell the crush everywhere. That wonderful ‘making wine’ smell.

Art galleries and restaurants. All in caves. We will definitely come back to this area again.

Back to the river. A shady bench to take a break.

A well timed picnic table for our lunch stop. We are now riding along the sunny levee road and the temperature is climbing.

The river to the left, I’m on the levee road, and the houses to the right of the levee. You ride along at the level of their upper floor windows. And sunny.

Rich avoiding the pavé by riding in the narrow dirt shoulder. We know this trick from many years of watching Paris-Roubaix.

Ah, a tree shaded lane to Villandry, where our hotel is …at the top of the hill!

The only upside to a hotel at the top of the hill is the ride back down in the morning. And the view. We headed out to catch a long local train to Lyon. Most train routing would involve a trip up to Paris and back down to Lyon by TGV, but the slower local train is worth the extra time since we wouldn’t have to change trains with our bikes. I appreciate the opportunity to read on a nice long train ride.

Now we’re on the Cher River, and it’s cooler.

“Built on the river Cher by Jacques de Beaune, François I’s Superintendent of Finances in the first quarter of the 16th century, The Great Mill is noteworthy for its sliding mechanism suspended above the water. This ingenious mechanism, which is usually used between the arches of bridges, enabled the mill to work all year round, regardless of the water level.” This mill remained active until 1973, when a new mill was built just inland.

Fields of brown sunflowers say it’s time to head in for the season. And we’re almost out of Schengen days.

Tours train station. That’s our train arriving behind Rich, one platform away.

Bikes secured. Ready for the six hour trip to Lyon.

We had a nice night in Lyon, another very bike friendly city. After a little discussion with the bike friendly hotel which initially wanted to charge us to park the bikes in their garage, the manager saw our point about being bike friendly and relented. We had a nice Thai meal, went to a craft beer bar, and to bed. Big city advantages.

Enjoying the river path in the morning before we ride to the train station.

A direct ride to the train station on a protected path.

The train from Lyon to Geneva is about 2 hours, then we were going to ride all the way to our home away from home, our good friends’ house in the Vallée Verte. It was our first time riding all the way up the valley, a very scenic 33kms/22 miles, but with almost 914m/ 3,000 feet of climbing. But scenic! Well stocked with snacks and having eaten lunch we headed off. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I had visions of sending Rich ahead to get a car to rescue me, or flagging down a passerby to take my bags and lighten the load – as if my French were up to the challenge! – but I made it.

Still going up. There was some significant downhill since we choose a quiet route that went over a higher pass instead of direct.

Made it! A nice sense of accomplishment to have arrived under our own power.

Even though we both had tired legs the next day it was wonderful to ride all the way up to our familiar and much loved French home. Four+ months of bike touring was a new record for us. The new bikes really made it fantastic. If you’ve backpacked it’s the same feeling of self sufficiency and being ready to go anywhere. Now, we are in Albania. We took our first flight in almost five months from Geneva to Tirana, Albania. More from Albania soon.

The Happy Travelers with our new haircuts in Triana, Albania.

Reflections on the City of Light

We finally ditched our beloved bikes and rolled into Paris in style on the TGV from Annecy. Since we travelled on a weekend, my €49/year discount SNCF Carte Adulte offered first class for just a few Euro more than second, so first class it was with nice facing “Club Duo”. “Good train time per $!” as my friend Mike would say.

Upper deck of the TGV. Comfy (me) and stylish (the train)

Carrying our gear on our backs was quite a shock and we have both vowed again to rid our bags of even more things before we move onto to any travels further afield. Seriously!

We chose to stay in the 10th Arrondissement, and were pleased with the choice as it spans a clear transitional world between the more traditional Parisienne neighborhoods such as the Marais to the more working class and immigrant neighborhoods. It is a fascinating mix of cultures, but clearly dealing with strong gentrification pressure. There is a palpable delineation between the older neighborhood residents and the new boho hipsters. The similar global urban story of businesses transitioning to serve the new residents, and the older residents being priced out. And maybe we are adding to the problem, or are we just supporting a variety of small businesses?

The backstreets of the 10th on a Sunday afternoon

Rue de Belleville on a warm fall evening

The neighborhood is also blessed with the lovely Canal Saint Martin, which is even more pleasant now that ped/bike priority streets have been added on both sides, and reminded us of the Panhandle in San Francisco. (With water and locks of course.

We explored Paris every day to a blissful exhaustion, but found rush hour walking tough, both on the busy boulevards and back streets, as sidewalks are single-file only with the usual urban bobbing and weaving. We also took a few trips on Lime e-bikes, and some of the new bike facilities are fantastic! But wayfinding and the intersections tough for first time Paris cyclists. Cyclists are everywhere and go in every direction, but are mostly looking and have tamed cars with their unpredictability and sheer quantity. We like that.

By the way, as of November 2019, Velib does not accept US or Canadian credit cards, even with chips, chip and PIN, and card authorization through your cc company. Big bummer, as we tried numerous times ways and were thwarted. Apparently too much fraud?

We did hit a few of the major tourist spots, such as the Louvre and Sacre-Couer, but found exploring the edges of Montmartre more satisfying then the throngs by the famous stairs.

Tomb of Oscar Wilde, Père Lachaise Cemetery

I am still amazed how the A-list sites are absolutely inundated, yet one turn up a quiet side street can reveal hidden wonders and always find that in big cities, we prefer random neighborhood wandering, small museums and parks.

Our favorite bar in Montmartre which was delightfully out of central casting for 90s indie film!

France and the people we have met have been so kind to us, both on and off the bikes, and we are starting to feel a little more kinship and understanding with their perspective on living life, history, geography and the struggles to maintain liberté in the 2020s.

Au revoir et bon voyage!