Finally make it to Strasbourg and have a bit of a rough go with the rain abd traffic on the final stretch in. The city is beautiful even in the rain. Wide streets, beautiful architecture, and bike paths everywhere. I arrive at the Cyclists of the World shop and talk to a lady who knows my Strasbourg connection, Geoffrey. I am hoping Geoffrey can set me up with someone who can get me a place. It's Bike Day tomorrow so the shop is in full swing. It's like a coop bike shop of sorts. The lady lets me phone Geoffrey on their phone and he agrees to meet me at the shop. I ask a woman where the McDo's is and she switched to accentless English. Most people here seem to be students. I also fuel up at Simply which is a new grocery store for me. The McDo's is in a sketchier part of the city but I trust my weighty bike will be a deterrent for would be robbers. I change my soaking wet clothes and it feels good to be in dry clothes again. It was about 13 degrees with the rain today and I am thinking that's the right temperature for being wet but not cold. Cold and wet is brutal. Hopefully will be sleeping indoors tonight.
I hand the post office lady my 10 Euro bill and she says,"It's wet!". It's my life now I reply. She laughs and tells me it's still legal tender and wishing me a good trip.
Enjoy a sunshine filled afternoon on a rural bike path and other than falling off my bike at Ladorf (I was going too slow), it was a nice ride to Selesat. I found myself at the highway on the way and crossed over attempting to continue but it led to a farmhouse. I started to turn around when the owners waved me over and explained that after a few hundred metres of grass, it went straight to town. Very thankful! I found a recreational area which always prove to be good campgrounds and was entertained by a lady with her guitar playing Leonard Cohens hallelujah. Her dog Maya wanted some of my food and kept coming closer and closer before allowing herself to be petted. I then played with her by crouching down which sent her into a flury of excitement and she ran in circles for 10 minutes nonstop! Too funny. A little later a young boy stopped by and looked at my books and postcards spread over the table. He asked me if I was writing a book. I answered about 20 more questions from him including where I was staying. I told him I was going to stay at the campground across town. Loose lips, sink ships... Then a teenager comes by and asks to use my air pump. Same deal. Lots of questions and even though the valve size was different, she tried to use it with no luck. I was honest with her about where I was staying. She suggested the sheds near the horse grounds or a covered bridge down the road. The unofficial tourist office of Selestat! When it got dark, I found the shed had a nice sturdy table so I set up shop on that and slept. In the morning, it was raining again and I tried to wait the rain out but by 11 I was too hungry and set out. I double socked it to see if that would keep my feet dryer and it seems to work. Need to buy new ones in Strasbourg which is only 45 kms away but seems far in the rain. I scored a double when I saw the McDonald's by the intermarche. Food and a hot drink with wifi. Not sure about accommodations for Strasbourg. Still following up a few leads. Advantage of the rain is that it washes the mud off my bike from my field adventure and nobody can see me crying. :) I get to Lutterbach and roll down Wilson Rd ringing my bell hoping to catch Sams attention. No luck. I call from a pay phone and he is there. He's a laid back, easy going fellow who's easy to talk to and better yet, easy to understand. He's done a few long tours and is already planning his next trip. I also discover that he makes guitars. He shows me some and they play beautifully and look great! He has real skill but he just likes to build them and doesn't really play. Funny. He treats me to a beer and some cooked vegetables. I also need to thank his girlfriend Alicia as it she who offered Sam in lieu of her place which I found out is one and the same! I have a tough time accessing his wifi so no contact with places further down the road yet.
I head out in the morning which is sunny and fresh. Another nice change. Enjoyable rides through the small villages and a breakfast stop for some bread treats. So happy to be back in France. Afternoon is slightly marred by hailstorms and rain but I wait it out under an overpass. Am surprised to find Colmar does not have a McDos so I am forced to hang out in a cafe named Jupiler. Famous thing about Colmar is that it is the birthplace of the guy who designed the Liberty Statue. Off to Strassbourg tomorrow and stopping somewhere between Colmar and there tonight. Sometimes experience is an excellent teacher. I met a cyclist who asked me why I wasn't staying to see Basel and when I told him I couldn't get a place, he said he would have offered me a place if he wasnt going to soccer practice. A good city.
I got lost on the way to Mulhouse and asked a lady where it was. She put the town in French and explained well. Odd that all the names are German but pronounced with a French accent. Got lost a second time on the bike route and rather than go back and catch the main route I used the old go forward routine. This lead me to a spot where I could see the road but was separated by a farmers field. I started to walk along the edge (30 metres) which was covered with overgrown grass and found that the mud built up on the tyres so that they wouldn't roll. I had to stop and take the mud off several times. The next treat was the wild roses with massive thorns! I got a system going where I rolled over the plants as best as I could but my left flank was exposed and my calves were really taking a beating! Once that stage was past, I had a nostalgic visit from a patch of stinging nettles. Just like Canada! A real treat. Last hurdle was to make it over the compost pile and onto cement behind the designer shop. When I came around to the side, I found the bike path was just beyond the wall at the roundabout where I'd been 30 minutes before. When I emerged on the bike path, I looked like some 1970s Vietcong soldier with all the mud and foliage sticking to my bike. Good times. Nice to be back in France. Call Sam but no answer when I arrive in Mulhouse. Continue on to Lutterbach and promise to call again. It's actually sunny and nice outside so it's a pleasant change from normal. Good to get back on the bike again. Made a halfhearted effort to keep my feet dry with plastic bags but they failed miserably. Soggy feet after an hour. Had a few false starts getting out of Worb but the roads were generally quiet and not too much in the way of hills!
At 1, find myself shivering in a bus stop and it is so cold I can see my breath. I have a tuna baguette lunch followed by a delicious ovaltine chocolate bar. Change of shirts gets me warmer and I emerge from the bus shelter to find the rain has stopped but I've lost my breaks. I Fred Flinstone down some of the hills. Outside Basel, I try the McDo's for wifi but no luck! I incur another 60 cent text charge which I am sure to hear about from home. But good news is that the sun comes out! I dry my shirt and have a good ride into Basel, only getting tricked by what looks like a bike path but is a industrial driveway that is barred 2 kms down the road. Nice bike paths into the city. I see a barge with its rear almost under water and I think it's in trouble but its just loaded down with ballast to clear the bridges. I am passed by a cyclist and I catch up to her and ask her where a Starbucks is. She protests that I want to go there and I bactrack and say it is easy to use and works. She forgives me and offers to take me saying that I will have to trust her. I learn her name is Tina. To her word, she takes to the Starbucks but declines a coffee saying she has a meeting. She does submit to a picture though. I might have to put her in the Hall. There's a few candidates actually. I check my mail but no message from the guy I might be staying with. Talked to his girlfriend but that's it. Got a phone number though. He's 37 kms away and the clouds are moving in again. Sure would be nice to be inside. We'll see how it works out I guess. Happy to be going back to France and a cheaper lifestyle! :) Had a good last night with Charlene and Phillip in Worb. I took them out to dinner for their wedding gift and we had a good dinner at a buffet style place. Nice to eat salad again. Our waitress spoke very passable English and we heard from her that she had travelled to the states for a few months previous.
Charlene came from behind to beat me on crib. Thought I was going to do it. Another time. Phillip farmed while we played away. In the morning I woke up and prepared my stuff. Nice to have everything dry again. Not for long as it was raining outside. Another bread and honey breakfast with Charlene and it was time to go. I've enjoyed my short visit with her and seeing her Swiss lifestyle. Phillip is a funny guy and it was great to meet him. I received an email from Basel CS host Molly telling me that my couch request was impersonal and that I couldn't stay. It's a shame because she was a baroque oboist and I was rather hoping she would choose me. I suspect she has never hosted a cyclist before. I tried to explain that I was usually trying to do the requests quickly and was usually shivering outside a McDo's while doing it. I did thank her as it was the first time someone refused me for an personal couch request! Any new experience usually welcome. Off into the rain for the French border! Vive la France! So, I arrived in Veysin and wandered around hoping to bump into Audie. I headed to the church steeple which took me to the tourism office sign (non-existent I`m sure) which took me to a Coop food market. I lunched in the hot sun and enjoyed the mountain views. I spotted a phone booth and decided to see if I could make a call in Switzerland. To my delight, I found it took coins and I dialed Mme Hazenberg`s number. Success and I was close to her apartment named "Laube". Spotted it down the road and came around the back and spotted a tall blonde woman with 2 kids heading down the main road from the apartment. She wasn`t quick enough getting away. Great to see her again and her tow kids, Malika and Eli. We got bread at a bakery and then headed back upstairs. I should mention that I`m back in French Switzerland so it is nice to understand everything again. Audie is doing well with the kids and it is fun to watch her and Malika negotiate. Audie has the patience of a saint. The kids only go to sleep in the stroller so we set out into the beautiful day and walked up into the hills. More great views. I find that Audie has completed her masters and taught for a bit but is now publishing light romance and getting up to 20,000 downloads and making some money off them! She is also working on a serious novel and lets me her the main plot. An interesting premise. She writes a little bit at night but says she has not slept in 2 and a half years. I fill her in on my life and she,s happy to her my leave is going well with the exception of me losing my music job. She's happy for my recording and surprised that I am writing this blog. I fill her in on my friend Jonathon Kenny while she fills me in on Cynthia, Kris and Robin from university days. Babies are being born! I play music with Malikia and she warms up to me and I also get to use a guitar which sounds good. Audie takes a shot at some tunes and does some terrific covers of Tracy Chapman. Serge comes home later from teaching and I find him to be an easy going and pleasant person. They feed the kids so that we can have a conversation and later, we enjoy a great meal of tofu, spinach, rice, almonds, and dried cranberries. Audie has stories from many adventures and she fills the conversation with fascinating ancedotes of her life. She wants to do everything and is a person of amazing talents. I`m glad we`ve taken this time to reconnect. She finds laughter in many things and seems to handle the stress of life easily. Serge tells us stories from his military service and I'm surprised that they let people keep automatic guns at home while they are doing their service. I see military uniforms everywhere here and males between adult ages must serve 300 days before they are free again. This can be done in 3 week yearly portions. Audie fills me in on Swiss things and says she has had a tough time working her way into the fabric of life here. Most of her good friends are ex-pats. People here are also foreign until they take the Swiss citizenship test. This foreign-ness can last several generations even when people are born here. Redneck Swiss also exist in that they just voted to prevent the building of muslim temples here. No place is perfect I guess. She does want her kids to experience a bit of Canada and misses occassionally the space of Thunder Bay. We call it a night and I enjoy a good sleep, waking occasionally and admiring the full moon covering the green slopes with its white light. A quick breakfast and kids to palygroup and Audie walks me to the station and provides me with one last tale of a Norweigan who did the route of Audie and her friends in a quarter of the time. Not the destination but the journey I suppose. I see the the train creeping down from the top and give her a quick hug goodbye. Ely has fallen asleep. I get on the train and attempt to pull, then push, and finally slide the door of the train open to the amusemet of my fellow passengers. She waits until the train starts again and gives me a big waves. Until we meet again, Audie. "Look for Laube" was Audie's advice before she hung up. I met Audie Hazenberg my last year in university and previous to that, knew her as this 6 ft Amazon woman with long, flowing blonde hair. I thought she was the most exotic student on campus. Audie belongs to a group of friends that called me by my middle name "Atticus" in university. I believe I actually got to talk to her by joining in a volleyball team through music friend jonathon Kenny. I found out she was an intelligent and life loving person and was happy to only write letters to her through our 17 year relationship. Every couple of times a year, I would get a scribbled postcard or letter and hear about a new adventure-lions in the Serenghetti, biking through Pakistan, guiding tourists through France on cycles, or working on with Doctors without Borders. "Normal" is not an appropriate descriptor for Audie. Every once in a while too, the name Serge would pop up too. The last card I received from her, she'd had a baby. I waited too long to respond and found my mail returned to me. I got a break when I found that she used Facebook and had posted pictures from a trip to Leysin,Switzerland. I sent numerous Facebook messages to everyone we knew. No response. As I got closer, I even appealed to her brother but he wouldn't give her up. Blood is thicker than water apparently. When I was 46 km away from her and at a crossroads, I decided to go north but also sent a message to the warm showers person in her town. I got to Worb but also got a break because the warm showers person gave me Audie's address! Victory! Got in touch and arranged to take a train down. Would have been cruel to be that close and then keep going. Trains down were quick and efficient and the train to Leysin was just a tiny two car train from the Eighties I think. It went right through town, acting as a team then went straight up the mountain at about a 10 degree slope. Straight up. It was a sunny day for the first time in weeks and the mountains with their snow were spectacular! I took several pictures on the way up. The train stopped midway up and let me off in this tiny, picturesque town surrounded by blue sky and mountains. Glorious! Enjoying great dry nights, showers, and clean laundry daily while outside, it rains and is constantly overcast. Caught up on blog using the computer, wrote and recorded some songs on my iPhone and had a great dinner at Phillips parents. Lots of German at the dinner but most of them are very good in Englush too so it wasnt too bad. Also had a chance to play piano. My fingers are rusty but I was so happy to hear that sound again. It's got me excited to go home again and work on my piano skills. We had huge asparagus and salad for dinner followed by ice cream covered with chocolate. Phillip covered his teeth with chocolate and affected a Texas accent. Funny to see this side of him when he's been a bit calmer at his house. Came home and played crib with Charlene while Phillip played a simulation farming game. Very interesting to see someone farming so enthusiastically! Haven't played crib in years so it was a good way to spend time. This morning, I came into Bern to see Einsteins house. He lived her with his family from 1902-1909 but only 2 years at this specific address. It was interesting to learn about him as a scientist but more interesting for me to learn about him as a person. He had a baby out of wedlock whose fate is unknown. He had problems with his first marriage when his wife found out Einstein wanted to marry his first cousin. Funny how a guy who is so smart could have so much trouble with his personal life. As Jim Carey once said, Women are a labyrinth!". Additionally, a comedian also said that the secret to a successful marriage is "Yardwork, lots of Yardwork!":) I was also happy to find out that Einstein was a accomplished violinist who took his passion for music everywhere he went and it was a strong base for many of his friendships! He wasn't a big friend of the system and actually dropped out of highschool but managed to sit exams for university on his own. Interesting guy. I bought a postcard that said," Blind Obedience to authority is the greatest enemy of truth". Powerful words and idea. As I passed by a church, I heard violin music but kept walking thinking it was a service. When I heard the applause I turned around and was happy to find the event free. It was a children's music performance and they had a string orchestra and a choir. The kids looked like they were out of a united colours of Beneton commercial because they wore different colour shirts and were made up of different ethnic backgrounds. Some of the kids wore jeans and different coloured socks but they still sounded good and more importantly, looked like they were having fun. It was great to hear a children's choir again and thus detour is perhaps the greatest treasure that comes out of travelling! First train ride in Europe to get to Bern. Quiet and comfortable. Dogs can ride too! I hung out at Starbucks and enjoyed the new headphones I bought. It's nice to hear bass again and to listen in music in stereo! I awoke early and took the opportunity to get some laundry done including my sleeping bag which was long overdue. I also managed to unwrap my soaking wet tent and set it up in the garage to dry. I had a small breakfast and Charlene told me that we were going to Olies to have lunch with his son and then on to the Butterfly farm. They prepared a Lasagne in the style of Charlene's mom Linda and we set off. I initially choose a shorts and longjohns ensemble to wear since my pants were being sewed by Phillip's mom. The outfit didnt meet approvsl so I had to go out in the cold Swiss weather. I believe snow was forcast for the morning! Philips brothers, cousins, and parents all work at the farm/business which is connected to several houses. Again, this tight mix of community is unusual to see because right next to the lumber yard is the diary farm. Things are smaller and closer here. I got a tour of the farm and saw turkeys, dairy cows, and chickens. Lunch was good and got to meet little 3 year old Jannis.
We did get a snow hail combo but not for too long. The Papillion Pavillion proved to be interesting because the entrance fee was 18 Francs! More surprising was that Olie was going to cover us all. I knew that if I tried to give him the money he wouldn't take it so I gave it to his son. His son walked around with a 20 Euro note for about 3 minutes before his dad noticed. Dad was quite concerned and asked him where he got the money. Jannis tried to play coy and simply shrugged his shoulders, his 10 word vocabulary suddenly drying up. Dad grew more concerned about how he had got the money before a laughing Charlene told him what had happened. Victory! The first module had Central American birds that were very colourful and not at all shy. The names escape me now. Big toucans and tiny red birds would appear from out of nowhere. The next part was a nocturnal exhibit. Sloths, porcupines, and Charlene's favourites-bats. They were all over the place and not at all shy. They came whipping past and you could sometimes feel the wings brushing your hair. I ran my hand past Charlene's substantial locks and she jumped and shrieked, thinking that a bat was nesting in her hair. Also saw crocs and freshwater stingrays! Krikey!! Last and most interesting was the butterfly module. A tonne of brightly coloured butterflies were all over the place. Sometimes, you would stop by a tree and look over to realize that the leaf was a butterfly. Very cool. Butterflies usually live 2 weeks but some last as long as six months. There was also a mini module of tarantulas and stick insects as well as 20 ft long Anacondas. Where are Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez when you need them? A mini zoo with goats and bunnies and donkeys finished off the visit. There was also a Swiss Butterfly section but because it was outside, none of the butterflies were going to be out in the cold. An interesting place. Found out that 4 years ago, the farm next door used to grow medicinal marajuana but has since stopped. They had signs asking people not to sample. Came home and enjoyed a nap and then went grocery shopping and dropped a few more Francs on the local economy. Got to get out of Switzerland if I am going to be on an extended trip! A light dinner since we had such a heavy lunch followed by Charlene and Phillip trying to find a way to get me to Leysin to see old university friend Audie Hazenberg. Found tickets and called Audie and setting up a trip for Monday. Have not seen her for 15 years now but great to talk to her. Made a half hearted attempt to get info on Auchwitz from France. Online train searching seems tricky. Might take another shot tomorrow. A good day! |
AuthorBon Vivant and internationally acclaimed recording star cycling through Europe with only a ukulele and a heart full of hope. Archives
June 2013
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