Paris - Part 2

We started our third day by moving from Bois-Colombes to Porte d'Auteuil, on the South-West edge of the city. It took us about an hour to get there on bikes, following the Seine and riding through the Bois de Boulogne. After the last few days of wining and dining, this little bit of exercise actually came as a healthy change and made me realise that I do miss our long days of riding. Anyhow, we were happy to have the chance to catch up with Marie-So who generously let us use her flat while she is away this week. We had a delicious contemporary Asian fusion lunch nearby and saw her off to l'Epiniere to visit my grand-mother. We spent the next few hours lazing around the place, catching up on internet and reading before going for a short walk around the quiet neighbourhood. In the evening, we met up with some friends from my Architecture days here and had a nice little dinner in a creperie Passage-St.-Ambroise, very close to where I lived. Although I felt a bit disoriented coming out of Metro Goncourt, I quickly found my way again and enjoyed stepping into the past for a moment. We did not have time to have a proper tour of the area so we will be back soon. I was a little surprised to see how things had changed. Many bars and cafes did not exist in my time but the ecclectic atmosphere remained intact.



The next day was a moment we had been waiting for for a long time, in fact since our wedding, 7 months ago. Yes, the time had finally come to accept our final wedding gift in the form of a delicious lunch at l'Escargot. This old-school restaurant, whose canopy is topped by a giant golden snail specialises in all things French, from the deep red velvet banquettes to the tasty slimy creatures "a toutes les sauces". In the company of Jeremy and Bastien, a better lunch could not be had. As we emerged with rounded stomachs, we went for a walk in the direction of The Marais, an area known for being gai, jewish, bustling and generally funky. The rue des Rosiers, a street lined with Jewish delicatessen was unuasually quiet as its population was busy celebrating Yum Kippur outside the synagogue at the Place des Vosges. In the evening, we met Victoire, another long-time friend and her fiance for a lovely dinner at their place. Well-fed and cheerful, we got home a little past midnight.



On sunday morning, we did the next best thing after attending a never-ending mass in the Ulmer Munster, and had a fantastic french style breakfast composed of crusty baguette, pastries and cheese with coffee. It doesn't get much better than that. We took our time and then spent a while organising our upcoming social events of which there were many and without a mobile or internet, required a good dose of careful planning. Hard to imagine that's how it was done not so long ago. Eventually, we were able to get on our way and hop on our neglected bikes towards the new "Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine" at Trocadero, renamed "Tricadello" by Chris. The museum successfully combines the Old and New in two separate areas. The ground floor is a succession of gallery spaces painted a deep red showing enormous fragments of stone church facades. Whether these are reconstitutions or the real thing is hard to tell but the effect is impressive. On the second floor is an exhibition of beautiful models and drawings of modern and contemporary projects by French architects all over the world. All this with a direct view of the Eiffel tower creates a great visit. From there, we followed the banks of the Seine, closed to traffic on sundays, and met my friends Rosa and Arny for a coffee near the rue Mouffetard, sitting at a lively terrace watching the world go by. We rode back to our flat just as it started getting dark and made it back for a nice light dinner and an early night.



As most Parisians began another week, we continued enjoying our litle holiday around the city. After a slow start, having another leisurely breakfast, we headed off to our appointment with my cousin Claire to meet Alice, her 10 months old daughter and my second cousin. On our way, we made a quick detour via my old neighgbourhood in Belleville, a Chinese area full of sweat shops, distinctive aromas wifting through the air and colourful activities sprawling all over the footpath. This is not the refined elegance of some other areas of Paris but it has its own charm and I always enjoyed living there. We stopped by a bakery and picked up a box-full of Muslim sweets, marking the end of Ramadan. we got back on the subway and met Claire where she showed us her studio, an old industrial shed in need of serious repairs which she shares with a dozen other artists. Alice was absolutely adorable and we spent a couple hours drinking tea, eating almond and honey sweets and wiping dirt out of her tiny little mouth. We then went back home where I made a delicious mirabelle and marzipane tart for the following night.



Tuesday was another sociable day with both lunch and evening events. We began by meeting my very old friend Morgane for lunch at her place. By old, I don't mean that I spend much time in nursing homes. Rather, Morgane and I have been friends since the age of 3 when we were inseparable. As life has it, we have not been in touch the whole time, only seeing each other once in a blue moon. Through coincidental common friends, we have been reunited during my last visit, almost 3 years ago and seeing her this time was a pleasure, as always. We dropped by her studio on rue de Vaugirard with a box-full of pastries as delicious as they were beautiful. One chocolate, one cherry and pistacchio crumble and one almond and rasberry tart, sounds yummy? Rosa also joined us with some more lunch focused items. We sat on the ground, had coffee and a jolly good time. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, we went back home to organise the dinner we were hosting for my 5 architecture friends. Chris made spaghetty bolognese to go with a simple salad, we had bread and cheese and of course the scrumptious tart I had made the night before. It was a fine night and we thoroughly enjoyed being so domestic again.



Wednesday morning was a bit slow as we were expecting the visit of a water meter dude who never came. Enventually, feeling bored of waiting, Chris showed us some plumbers crack and checked the meter himself. Around lunchtime, we were finally free to go out. With the afternoon ahead of us and beautiful weather, we headed to Montmartre where the beautiful white Sacred heart church dominates a hill overlooking the roofs of Paris. It was beautiful despite the hoards of tourists and unavoidable buskers everywhere. We had a long coffee sitting at one of the usual gilded bistro tables on the footpath. We then took the Rue Lepic all the way to Pigalle and stopped in front of the Moulin Rouge. We kept going towards the Galeries Lafayette and the large Opera Garnier. We sat on the steps for a while, facing the hustle and bustle of the big boulevards on background of Haussmannian facades. In the evening, we were invited to have dinner at Bastien and Sandrine's place in the suburbs. We had a lovely dinner on their terrace and caught a glimpse of Lena, almost 3 years old, looking much bigger than when I saw her last as a 2 month old baby who could fit in the fold of my arm.



On thursday, we experienced something that had barely happened over the last 7 months : separation. Indeed,we have been joined at the hip since the start of this trip so it was with some concern that I received the news that Chris wanted to explore the city on his own while I partook in more social activities. Having planned another lunch meeting with Morgane, Chris decided that we would have more fun if we were free to speak French without worrying about his isolation and he had a few more things to see. As i went to Morgane's, Chris got on his bike and rode to La Defense, a new(ish) CBD area on the outskirts of the city dominated by the monumental "arche de la Defense" designed by Jean "news" Nouvel in a perfect axis with the older but no less impressive "Arc de Triomphe". We met a few hours later at home, only to get straight back into the metro for a dinner party with my dad and Sophie as well as Antoine and Isabelle, my uncle and aunt responsible for the best night of our trip at a ryokan in Japan. It was great fun and only went too fast.



Getting a taste of independance, Chris decided to go off on his own again while I met up with Rosa & Vivien (Architecture buddies) for a great lunch near their office. Chris had ambitious plans which were unfortunately foiled by a series of unforseeable events. He wanted to visit the Palais de Tokyo (the contemporary art museum) but it was closed due to the installation of a new exhibition. He then attempted to visit the Sainte Chapelle but the length of the line made him turn around. We met a bit later at St-Michel in the rain and kept busy until our very last Paris rendez-vous with Victoire and PH aka. Fffff. We met them at our old haunt, the O'Sullivans for a couple beers followed by dinner.



As our time in Paris came to an end, we both felt pretty lucky to feel so welcome in such an awesome city. With the best weather it got all year, great friends to catch up with, the best bread in the world and a jaw-dropingly beautiful background, our story with Paris was one of requited love. Paris, I love you and I love the way you love me : intensely but when the time comes, you always let me go.

Paris...It's good to be back

No need for an introduction

How can you not love Paris ? It took me about 5 minutes to love, hate and love this amazing city again. There is nothing like it and thank God for that.
Chris' first taste of Paris came as a crash course in basic survival techniques in the centre of Paris. Our train arrived in Gare de l'Est from where we had a 15km cycle to Bois-Colombes, in the North Western suburbs, where we were invited to stay for the first couple days. After spending the last 5 weeks riding around Europe, it came as a surprise to be reminded of Hanoi, Vietnam as we wove our way between double-parked delivery trucks, pedestrians, scooters and aggressive drivers all around us. We made it safe and sound but certain we would be using public transport rather than our bikes during our stay. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting acquainted with Sophie (my father's GF), her daughter Myriam, a bed (a luxury we had not experienced since St-Petersbourg) and showering barefoot (no thongs/flipflops) which, although not amazing, is still worth noting.


Has anything been more photographed?

On our first real day in the capital, we launched ourselves headfirst into the bottomless pit of Parisian "must-sees". Chris picked our starting point (the Eiffel Tower) and I took it from there. From the Tocadero, we walked down towards the Seine and followed it, passing the dense Green wall of the Musee du Quai Branly, towards the Place de la Concorde. We went all the way up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de triomphe and back down following the rue du Faubourg-St-Honore, drooling in front of the windows of all the most exclusive designer stores in Paris (the world?). We circled the Place Vendome, an oasis of diamonds and rubies in the heart of the city, and walked down to the Jardin des Tuileries to rest our sore feet for a while.


So Frenchie !

We walked down the centre towards the magnificient Louvre which we traversed to end up in front of the church St-Germain l'Auxerrois. We took the Rue de Rivoli and arrived in Chatelet-Les-Halles from which we quickly diverted to end up on Rue Montorgueuil, a lovely old fashionned street full of mouth-watering patisseries, butchers, traiteurs and cafes. We sat at a terrace, having our first french coffee, watching people walk by, going about their daily lives. Feeling tired and satisfied, we got into the closest metro station at Etienne Marcel and made our way back to the burbs.


Le "tout Paris"

With well band-aided toes, we attacked our second day very much the same way, straight on. We began with a quick walk-through of the school where I began studying Architecture many moons ago. The impressive building of the Beaux-Arts was in its usual classical state of disrepair although I did note that the photocopy machines appeared to be functionning so they might have gotten a few things under control since my departure. We then explored the area around St-Germain des pres, its narrow twisting streets filled with art galleries and cafes. We took the long way around heading towards the Tour Montparnasse, the biggest planning mistake in Paris with the best view where we had organised to visit the offices of the UIA and meet Catherine H. for a lovely lunch à la Francaise (there was steak tartare involved).


Beautiful AND delicious

We pursued our exploration of the Quartier Latin with a walk through the Jardin du Luxembourg looking as beautiful as ever, followed by a coffee rue de la Montagne-Ste-Genevieve. As we walked back towards the Seine, we walked through the enormous cathedral Notre-Dame-de-Paris. Back outside, it was starting to show signs of rain so we headed towards the nearest metro at St-Michel only to fall face to face with Fred, an old-time friend from Nice, whom I thought was in Saudi Arabia. We, of course had a beer, probably the most expensive half-liter of the golden liquid you'll ever have and shared stories of the last few months, eventful on both sides. Eventually, we went back to Bois-Colombes where we gave Sophie a little potted fig tree reminiscent of the Sydney ones as a thanking gift for having us for the first couple days back in the Motherland.


The old bookcases along the Seine

For the time being, this resumes our pavement pounding activities and, as predicted, we have already ticked off long walks, coffee and friends with lots more to come in the following days.

Ulm to ....

Can you spot our tent? It's the yellow spot on the right near the big trees. The local canoo club has given us permission to camp in their background right accross from the Cathedral.

It is with considerable sadness and disappointment that I announce the end of our cycling adventure. After almost 2700km, our journey has come to a screeching halt due to unforseeable circumstances. Indeed, probably as a result of the long flat section along the Danube, I have recently been suffering from a worsening case of nerve damage in my right hand. Only a slight tingle in the little finger to begin with, it has quickly evolved into numbing the little and ring fingers as well as causing cramping, difficulties with precise tasks and reduced strenght and sensitivity in the whole hand. To make it short, after some consideration, we decided that it wasn't worth losing the use of my right hand for 3 more weeks of cycling. Nerve damage can take a long time to heal and we decided that we should take these symptoms seriously. We are very upset by it all but we tell ourselves it is for the best...


I don't need to explain this

We decided that we had to turn this unfortunate development into a positive experience and therefore, we are headed to Paris in a couple days where we hope to stay for about 10 days, exploring the in and outs of a city I love and want to share with Chris. We now have our train tickets and after 5 hours on the high-speed train, we will arrive in the heart of the city of lights, in the early afternoon. This will be the Grand tour I have been promising him for the last 6 years and it should be an awesome mix of friends, family, long walks and dark strong coffee. Any compassion you might have had after the first paragraph is gone by now, I assume...


Detail of the Ulmer Münster

In any case, now that the cycle has been taken out of the equation, we are now back to tourism and have been doing a thourough job of it in Ulm. To be perfectly honest, the first thing we did after buying our train tickets was to run to H&M and get some essential pieces for adequate camouflage in Paris. Unfortunately for us, padded lycra shorts are not considered cool off the Danube and our minimalist (not by choice) wardrobe is starting to show signs of wear & tear after 7 months on the road. The final stages of our make-over will happen tomorrow when I get a pair of shoes (the shoes I have been wearing for cycling cost us $7 in Denmark and are not hot) and Chris gets a haircut. He doesn't believe his current slightly mulletish golden fro will impress my Parisian friends. I think he is wrong but he won't listen.


The threatened fro

Today though, we took the bull by the horns and devoted ourselves entirely to the cause of our own cultural fullfillment. Hope you're sitting down because this morning, filled with giddy excitment, we joined the salt & pepper crowds and went to the 9:30am mass in the Ulmer Münster, the magnificient cathedral which dominates the town. The occasion was slightly special as they were celebrating the completion of some major restauration work done to one of the spires. The pews were full and the sermon, although incomprehensible, was energetic and from what we could gather, mainly about the cathedral itself. The organ was played loudly and the bells rang proudly at regular intervals. We escaped after 1.5 hours wondering if the service would ever end.


The view from the top

We followed that up with a quick coffee and the visit of a few old buildings around the town centre having an open-house day. The old merchant buildings now serve as contemporary art galleries and were quite interesting to walk around quickly. Then, we did the unimaginable and headed back towards the cathedral to climb the south spire. Thinking we would get a little work-out and a good view, we were not expecting to be taken on a full-on tour of every aspect of the renovation. It was an unrivalled way to explore the hidden parts of a magnificient building, climbing up narrow twisting staircases and walking between layers of thick stone walls all the way into the very top of the spire. On the other hand, listening to long detailed explanations in German every step of the way made us regret chosing lunchtime to go up. By the time we got out, another 1.5 hours later, we were completely famished and being sunday, had to contend ourselves with a very average sandwich from one of the few open bakeries. One thing is certain, it is the first time I spend 3 hours inside a cathedral. As for Chris, he still has vivid memories of a certain Easter service in Adelaide and I am not sure how he will cope with the renewed experience.


The view into the top

We now have one more full day to spend in Ulm before catching our train out of here. This means one last german morning coffee and our last chance to make ourselves presentable for the big smoke so, let's just say, it will be a busy day! Next time I write, we will be in Paris, bébé!

Passau to Ulm, approx. 400km

We have now been riding through Bayern, undoubtebly the most exotic part of Germany for about a week and we are eager to confirm that most of the things you might have heard on this area are indeed true. The weather would be considered mild and balmy if this was January but since we are still in early september, we aussies (true and honorary) refer to it as crap! On the other hand, and for our greatest pleasure, Blackforest cake, locally known as "Schwarzwalde" is easily found at any good Konditorei and of course, the famous Lederhausen get-up is still very much in style, purchased anywhere from supermarkets to more classy shops down the streets of quaint Bavarian towns. In any case, this latest section has been a pleasant mix of bad weather, good morning coffee and high fashion.


Local residents of one of our campgrounds

It took us 5 days to complete the 400km that stretch between Passau and Ulm. In a fortunate and clever arrangement, each day was slightly shorter than the one before, going from 100km on the first day to only 60km on the last day, making it feel like an early rest day. This section, apparently less popular with the big tour groups, offered more diversity than the previous one, from Vienna to Passau. We spent a lot of time following the river, gradually narrowing as we get closer to its source. The route also took us inland more often, going through villages separated by rolling hills covered in various crops.


Poor kid...

It is fair to say that as far as cycle-tourism goes, we are definitely more on the cycle side of things and less focused on the tourism making us a bit of an exception on the EuroVelo circuit. Apart from Marcin and Rose, we have not met anyone travelling for as long as us, and with our time frame being pretty tight, we do feel like we need to cover a lot of ground each day, not leaving much time for visiting sights and cities along the way. We figure that is what our rest days are for, in strategically chosen locations to be able to run various errands in a beautiful setting. Luckily for us, Ulm is lovely and running around trying to find internet and maps is a pleasure in itself without having to actually visit anything. Our daily morning coffees are also another good excuse to sit at a terrace on the local marktplatz for a little while before riding off again.


Skyline in Ulm

Another one of our daily pleasures is food. I know this blog mentions food very regularly and with a particular focus on pastries and coffee. Although that is our daily touch of luxury, all of our other meals are equally satisfying and after over 2 months of constant camping, we are starting to have quite the repertoire of dishes at our disposal. It has been really fun trying local things along the way which have evolved a lot since we have left Denmark. Bread, cheese and local cured meats or sausages have been delighting us for the last few weeks and our new favourite trick is to pick apples from the side of the road (the supply is constant) with which we make apple sauce to mix into our morning muesli, a delicious and sustainable alternative to buying green bananas from Ecuador (leaving them for you to enjoy, Jac & Adam).


Chris taking a closer look at things

So anyway, things are pedalling along nicely and we are getting a little bit closer to our destination every day, with mixed feelings of anticipation at the idea of a bed to sleep in and sadness at the thought of the end of this trip, which from the word "go", has been one incredible succession of adventures. Our time is running out but we are making the most of it so that despite the bad weather and other difficulties, we are loving every second of it until the end.

Vienna to Passau, approx. 325km

We had planned to have 2 days in Vienna but ended up having 3. We spent the first 2 roaming around the city which seems so dense with interesting things to see and do. Unfortunately, we only browsed the surface but, man, we were both left wanting more. More culture and more sachetorte. A rich city indeed but unfortunately, we don't share this quality making our experience one best summed up by "touch with your eyes and look with your hands". Our third day was a bit more frustrating as we had planned to leave but were unable to do so due to bad (really bad) weather. It was freezing and raining. We hoped it would calm down for a while but once it became clear we wouldn't be going anywhere that day, we headed accross the campground over to "Happy land" where we were able to swim some laps in an indoor pool. We followed this little bout of cross-training with a hot chocolate and giant piece of chocolate cake in a cafe nearby. Yumilicious! When we got back to the campgroud, we decided that it was way too cold and wet to cook and eat outside so we had a giant schnitzel mit pommes in the campground restaurant. We then cocooned into our tent hoping for better weather the next day.


Ferry crossing on the Danube

It was slightly more adequate cycling conditions when we got up so we eagerly packed up and got going for a long day of cycling. The wind was really strong making our debut difficult and slow. Eventually it got a little better although the weather never quite cleared up. Riding along these long stretches of rivers can be a bit tedious. It doesn't offer much diversity and the kilometers go by quite slowly. Once in a while, the path veers away from the banks of the river and, on the first day, we went through a series of lovely villages full of picturesque gasthause selling local wine and apricot jams. The villages were bursting at the seams with well-fed tourists which reminded me of places like St-Paul-de-Vence, beautiful but hard to bear.


We were relieved to see that the traditional Bayern Lederhausen are still very much in vogue

Our second and third day went very much the same, sometimes following the river and other times, going through small towns and villages all along the way. We have been cycling quite long days making it a bit challenging in pretty easy conditions. Most of the time, we just babble away, thinking about all the things we want to do when we get to Nice and random things like the bread Chris' mum used to make when he was young. Sometimes, we tune out and just pedal mindlessly as the scenery changes subtletly along us. Our speedo is now over 2000km and we still have about as much to go. For now, we continue along the Danube through Germany, towards France and Switzerland. Next time I write, we should be in Ulm.
Tschussy!!