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Je suis perdu.

A small touring diary about my tiny adventure of two months in Europe on a bicycle

Col de la Croix de Fer, Altitude 2067 meters

The airline lost my luggage for the trip! Can you help?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cinq mille plus

Yesterday, I bushwhacked into a space near a giant lake. The tree branches above me made a wonderful arched
canopy and the ivy vines around me made a soft bed. I passed out almost immediatly, but my spot was so secluded, there wasn't a chance of anyone ever seeing me. I could have stayed for days...








They surely do not make them like this anymore:

SDC10214


(Notre-Dame de Reims)

Which means, I'm in Reims. Sorry, I couldn't let myself be lost for long.

Here's the Marc Chagall Stain Glass, put in, in 1970-something:

IMG_0269

Chagall was Jewish. His wife was a master stain glass maker. Their son still lives in Reims (I think) and carries on the tradition.

I very strange thing happened on my return to France. This week is the last full week of August, I guess. Children start school soon, the sun is setting every so earlier and there's a briskness in the air. And, France is chilling out. I go places and it's not overrun with tourists. The ones that are there are polite and quiet.

I can navigate a Sueprmarche and not want to have blood spill.

My French, although still baaaad is better than before. I can make up spontaneous sentences, instead of relying on Traveling French. I can almost have a conversation. My spirits are high.

And, I only have one or two full days of riding left and I'm in Paris, where I play tourist for a couple days, then an iron rocket-powered eagle whisks me away to the middle of North America, on the other side of the world. Sad times, really.

This little guy:

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Started the change for me. He begged for a crumb from my breakfast, instead of ignoring me, or growling at me. The cafe was playing a French dubbed version of Before Sunset, which I found strangely bizarre:

Before Sunset, dubbed in French, playing at the cafe

France is a very strange country - I'm sure of that. The fascists aren't too worried about being plain about things:

SDC10213

At least they don't say one thing and do another, but it's still incredulous that this party still exists.

So, I hang my hat up in Reims tonight. Finding my way out of the city at night doesn't particularly sound interesting, as it was a bit of hell getting in (lots of highways almost entered into), so I go a room in a traveler's hotel, that's just about big enough for the twin bed and my outstretched arms to fit. The sink and toilet are in the shower (no, really), but they will all be utilized well.

Reims has a pedestrian center filled with British-Style pubs and I haven't a clue what that's all about. So, I'm going to plan my route into Paris and then maybe see if I can't get an honest pint.

Cheers,

2 Comments:

OpenID captian-whamo said...

man, I wanna lay on the floor and look out stained glass windows every day.

good luck with your pint. surely you will find one.

nikki
(woah! I do have a fancy blog that works with this thing!)

August 26, 2008 11:11 PM  
Blogger Andrew said...

Those stained glass windows are really amazing. I like all of Chagall's works. He uses blues a lot, like in those windows. You can see a bunch of his original works here:

http://www.masterworksfineart.com/inventory/chagall

Thanks for the post.

August 28, 2008 9:21 AM  

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Ne vous inquiétez pas.

I feel like a chump to have to ask you this, but this is my sad, sad story:

My touring gear was lost on the plane trip from Denver, to Paris France. Merde. I've had to re-purchase my panniers, tools, clothing, a lot of my bicycle accessories and all my camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, mat). Because of this, I've completely blown my budget for the trip. And, I'd like to eat for the next two months. If you enjoy people that just get on an airplane and go roving about without a map or a itinerary and like what I'm writing about, well, I could really use your help. Can you spare a couple of bucks and help make sure I make it home OK? Here's a PayPal link:

It's for $5. If you'd like to set your own donation, you may do so by sending fund to: personalpaypal@skazat.com. I will love you forever. Or at least the next pain chocolat you allow me to purchase for petit dejeuner. But seriously. Thanks a ton if you can help this silly traveler out.