[14/02/18~03/04 (D+916) France/(to Italian border)] Unexpectedly, French people are enough kind.
I read some article that many of tourists don’t like touring France, because the local people are too cold. But in my experience, France is the same as other country that there are many kind people.
Toulouse is known for a touristic place. But to me it is just one of European cities. I just go through the center.
Church
I buy something to eat.
Bread €0.76, Snack €0.87, cheese €0.99, Yogurt €1.08, Sausage €1.11 = €4.81
All of my host and their friends, order Belgium beer. I am the only one who order French beer. It is really good to hang out with many local guys.
In the city I can see many houses were built with bricks.
There is a drawing on the door.
The church in Albi is the biggest one which is made of bricks in the world
Inside
On the way to go out of the city, I see a library. Yeah, I do love to visit a library!!! Haha.
Theatre of Albi
From Albi to the next destination, Aussillon, there is a bicycle road. Actually this road was a railway, but not many people used it. So the government took off the railway and covered soil for a better using.
I’ve never seen an abandoned dog in Europe so far, so I was wondering what this dog is. It looks so poor that I give the food I have such as a bread, cheese, sausage and water. When I leave him, I look at the back. He never hesitates and turns to the right and goes up. Oh my goodness… you do have an owner who feed all the time!!!!!!!! My food….oh…..
It seems like the castle is for The Wizard of Oz
I am invited to a small radio show thanks to the host. I was not sure who will listen it, because it is too a small broad cast. So, I don’t get nervous that I speak very well. I wish I talked like this when I had an interview in Egypt.
10 years ago, my host cycled over 44,000 km (27,500 mi) for 27 months with a recumbent bicycle. It seems like he was really stronger man.
I asked him how the life had been after the trip. He told me it was hard. He wanted to write the book, so he had to live with his parents for a year. After that it was hard to be hired. It seems like I am listening about my future.
The experience of cycling around the world will give me the biggest gift such as a good memory, I am sure. But for my resume, it will not much helpful.
Here another bicycle road is. It is raining from the morning. It is really chilly day.
The turner is only for a cyclist and pedestrian that it is safe to pass.
But I feel like the bat will follow my bicycle. Today my destination’s city is Bedarieux. I arrive in the night again.
The next morning is so blue sky.
My host house is really old. Especially the stair is really unique.
When I start cycling, I find I lost the bicycle computer. I try to find everywhere of my bag, but I couldn’t find, but waste of time.
I cycle around full of trees.
But I feel some weird, so I stop.
I have one broken spoke. I find so funny thing that every spoke doesn’t touch each other.
(Spoke must touch each other.)
I remember that when I was Sudan, a local guy changed my all spoke. It means he installed with wrong way. But, I think it will be not much problem, because I’ve cycled with this wrong way over 3,000 km (2000 mi)
As passing a small village, it is noisy because of a small ride.
The scenery is so familiar. Let me think… Oh.. Yeah.. Yes, it was Kenya. I saw this kind of view when I was in Kenya.
I start really late today, the destination is far, and I am slow. All makes sense that I have to ride in the night again.
I chose a wrong way that I had to cycle middle of the ocean. The road is bumpy and it is too dark.
At the end of the road, there is a sign. I am not sure what it means. I cannot go back that I keep cycling and finally reach to the main road. I arrive in a host house around 9:30 pm.
I catch cold again that my condition is not good again.
There are many different cheeses. Although I love cheese, I cannot eat easily a white one on the left of the picture. It is too strong to eat.
In France, they have the order to have a food. At the beginning, they eat a salad or soup, and then a main meal, and then some desert such as a cheese and yogurt.
The spring is coming. My host rent a house in front of the beach. There is some interesting rule. They must empty the house over two months for the summer. The owner of house can rent house very expensively to the tourists for the summer vacation. And then my host can rent house cheaply at the left 10 months. It sounds to me very difficult. Every year they have to find the house for two months in the summer.
I crossed the road and tried to go into the bicycle road. Suddenly my foot hit the red thing on the road. I fell off, and all my bags were thrown away. I could not wake up but roll over like a soccer player. I could not feel any thing on my left foot.
The person who is working under construction with a forkcrane turns off an engine and runs to me. He keeps asking me I am okay. He collects all my thrown bags. Oh… What a kind guy.
After 10 to 20 minutes, I can get feeling with my foot.
I take this picture, because it is funny to see the people in Europe sell something on the road like Africa.
Oh, it is cute thing in front of the school.
I wanted to go to washroom, but the public washroom is too dirty to go inside.
So, I keep cycling and find some park. But there a toilet is dirty as well. Why France which is a rich European country doesn’t have clean washroom everywhere?? Spain has so clean toilet all the time. But France is sometimes exception.
I arrive in the big city, so it is hard to find a place to sleep. I ask gym and set up tent.
Next morning I buy a baguette. It is too big to carry that I ask a worker to cut.
Hm… it is too small now.
I take the small road, and there are sheep.
It is so cute.
I like French traffic signal. There are two that one is on the top and the other is on the lower place. It is really good to me that I don’t need to look up all the time to check the signal.
There is one interesting thing that the traffic signal doesn’t place to the opposite side. Usually other countries put the traffic signal at the opposite side.
I think it means if the cars cross the traffic line, drivers cannot see the signal so they can never know when they have to cross again.
Today my destination is Maseille
These days I cycle in the night all most every night. It is really scary to cycle in the mount on the main road at the dark. Yeah.. to travel the universe will be more scary thing that I must enjoy now.
Finally there are lights.
Today I stay at a host house again. This is French food, I heard.
Food for cycling
Bread 0.55, 15 Choco breads 1.86, Sausage 1.23, Yogurt 2.07,Euros..
I can’t remember other prices
Yogurt is really cheap in France.
It is the park I see on my way to fix my bicycle.
It is a bicycle workshop which is run by an organization. They tell me I can pay as I wish for fixing. I don’t like this kind of the deal. I like when people tell me an exactly price they want to get.
Actually the workers don’t have the tool to tune up that they change only spoke. I can fix this one by myself. Maybe next time I will do myself.
On the bicycle workshop I meet American Pakistan who stays in Marseille for a month. He was born in the U.S, but still some of his family is in Pakistan. He also can speak his mother language.
There is a surprising gift. My zoom now works suddenly. Wow. It was broken on the New Year. But I think I should be not much happy about it. I guess it could be broken easily again.
The park in front of a harbor
It is said that Marseille is a touristic place. But I don’t think so. It is just one of European cities that I can’t find any special thing.
We have some dinner which we got from the market. It is really interesting to talk to him. He is studying a medicine in the U.S. His dream is to go to Pakistan to help them when he has lots of experiences in his career. It is a bit hard to understand him. There are bombs and it is too dangerous to live. Even he cannot change all of things.
He says he knows he cannot change the world, but he can help some small part of his country such as making some medicine system for the poor people.
“There is nobody who makes a big step in one time to change the world. All we move toward very small steps. It is enough. That’s the way how our civilization has been developed. I want to participate of that little step.” He said.
On the way back to the place I stay, the lights are in the middle of sky.
Oh.. scary moment. Nothing left. Hahaha.
I want to go to a toilet in the market, but I can’t find it. At the way go back, I find many cheap food.
Salad 1.09, big snack 0.59, Biscuit 0.99, Peanut 0.59, small nack 0.69,
=3.95 Euros
Especially salad is really big enough and tasty!
Today there is another uphill on the mount. I see many camping sites there. It seems this area is famous for a car racing.
Yeah!! Downhill!
Now flat
One thing France is better than Spain about is that I can find a bicycle road often.
But the other thing Spain is better than France about is that French road is too bumpy.
One funny thing is in my experience that many of French people walk on the red signal and green signal.
I arrive today just before the night. Lucky!
Today my host is really special that she loves singing and dancing. I feel like I am on the movie.
It is a bit weird my host is much quieter than yesterday. I feel like yesterday she was normal, but today is weird. haaha
I was supposed to stay one night, but she suggest me staying more night. Why not. We go to an organic farm to help her friend.?
What we help is to seed.
She also cycled in France. She set up her tent at somebody yard most of times like me, because a wild camping was scary for her.
It is so fresh morning that I can see flamingos on the lake.
I talk with some local guy who is over 60 years old. He traveled last year to Israel. What an impressing!
It is a boat shop.
Today also I cycle on a bicycle path a little bit.
Suddenly I face really a steep mountain. These days I cast a spell on myself that “I love uphill. I love mountain!!!”
It is time to go a downhill after a hard working. But suddenly I feel weird that I stop. I changed a new tire in this year that I can’t understand why I have a flat tube??
I try to check, but I can’t find any thorn on the tire. Anyway So I just put again tube on the tire, but it doesn’t work out. I try to use two extra tubes. None of them doesn’t work. Even I feel my pump is broken.
The time has passed over one hour. One car stops at me and says they saw me on their way. Now they are on their way back, but they see me who am still here.
They suggest me going to their house. They say they can drop me at the same place where they pick me up.
He and his wife are so kind. They love adventure that they go to the desert in Africa sometimes.
He check all my tubes I have. Oh.. a tire was not the problem one. Every tube I have is broken. He gives me some new tire and fixes my old one. How kind of you.
The time is late that they let me sleep.
I was invited to dinner as well. He is a mechanic that he support racing in the desert. I think it would be hard job, but more fantastic and adventure job!
I am so happy that I didn’t need hitchhiking. In the morning he drops me at the same place where they pick me up yesterday.
The morning is so quiet.
Sometimes many motor cycles pass very noisily.
The weather is just fantastic to have a picnic.
It is a gift from Tom’s mother. She told me I can eat when I have an emergency. But actually there is no such an emergency in Europe. I can find so easily a cheap food.
I decide to eat this gift with full of happy time, not an emergency. Yummy!!!!
It is really hilly. Many cities are just too normal to have a tour. But the sea is enough beautiful that I enjoy.
There are more boats than cars. It is really rich area.
I have the problem that I can’t find the place to stay in Cannes which is really for a richer place. While wandering in the night on small road, the married couple decides to invite me at the end of talking to me.
He is from France and his wife is from Russia. She and I have so common about the philosophy. I believe some theory such as the book of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.
“Be positive and believe what you wish. Your dream will become real by attracting with your positive energy.”
She is really so generous and warm person. I’ve spent only few hours with her, but I can feel she is really so kind like a grandmother or an angel.
At the next morning, I can see clear view of the flat. How lucky I am! I hope I can see them the other day. They are really so warm people.
In the morning, it starts raining. I get totally wet from the morning.
One interesting thing is many people drive a small car in France.
It is really chilly. I imagine that if it doesn’t rain, the color of the sea will be much beautiful.
I pass Nice. Nothing to see.
I though there was no road at the next to the see. So cycled on the uphill. On the top I find the road there!~!!!!!!!
I enter into Monaco which is a really tiny country. From the south to the north is just 3.5 km (2.18 mi) and from the east to the west is only 600 m (0.37 mi)
https://goo.gl/maps/pKDxW
Map
I find some differences. I see tall apartment in Monaco everywhere.
In the night it is really hard to find a place to stay before Italian border.
It is macaron which is a typical French sweet bread. It is made with with eggs, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring.
Macaron is so expensive ever that a small tiny little thing is 1 Euro. I find some cheap one that I paid 0.6 euro per one. I bought four macarons.
The tasty is actually not much special. It is sweet and the outside is a bit crunch smooth?
Here Macaron, Croissant, and coffee are in last day of France.
Snow mount
I am closing to Italian border.
Special skill of the picture.
I have really good memory with many French people. It was really big gift to greet with local people every day.
It is time to change the country.
Route
Days in France = 24 Days
Distance of cycling in France= 1,216.65 km (760.40 mi)
Cities I stayed in France= 15 Cities
Pelipigna, Narbonne, Ferran, Engravies, Toulouse, Albi, Aussillon, Bedarieux, Carnon, Arles, Maseille, Carqueiranne, some village, Cannes, Menton
Expenditure in France = €661 = $925.44 (€1 = $1.4 )
Mom’s 60th birthday gift $750
