Cycling Northern France
Anna's entry:
We left Conflans/Versailles after a great visit with a wonderful local family of Annie-Claude and Jean-Loius, and began paddling North, towards French/Belgian border. We would spend several days cycling, and as it turned out, all of them would turn out rainy... We made a stop in Osser-Ville, the last place of life of Vincent Van Gogh, which also turned out his last inspirational place. We passed by the house he lived at the end of his life, there were numerous copies of his paintings posted right on the walls of the streets next to the objects he depicted in his work. It was very moving to be standing right in front of Van Gogh's objects of art creations - the medieval church, red roofs of the houses, golden rye fields with ravens cycling over the fields - they all are still there... We also went to an old town cemetery where Vincent and his brother were buried, shortly one after another.
Yet another time Rob and I wondered - if we were not cycling, would we have ever run into great hidden treasures like this village? I am definitely regaining yet again appreciation of cycling through Europe instead of exploring it by train/air/bus/car. When cycling, we are passing through so many fascinating places that we would have never imagined visiting otherwise, and noticing so many more details. We speak and interact with complete strangers and sometimes even become friends, people open up so much more to us, and all our senses seem to be alive - we notice so much more all intense colors of French hills, forests, fields, valleys, sky; smells of wild mint, roses, daisies, jasmine; sounds of birds, cows, horses, dogs, and old French tunes somewhere in a distance... And, of course, the palette! I have to write a few lines about the food! Once camping, we noticed a local farmer having a bottle of red wine with his home made pasta, so we decided to adopt the tradition. France is the country to try all kinds of red wine and cheeses, and I am loving it! Almost all our dinners now include a glass (or two for me) of red wine. Even Rob, who usually doesn't care too much for wine, is having it for health benefits as he puts it. The best part is that French wine is so cheap. As an example, a bottle of Bordeaux produced by a local chateau was about $1.50 - and there are many other types of a similar value. So, now wine-and-cheese has become a nice addition to our menu. We are traveling with two small cook stoves, and Rob had a great idea to travel with spices, so our meals are getting better and better. We have even cooked up a semi-Indian meal, which was delicious. I think local people traveling in caravans (v.s. bike/tent) are surprised with our creativity, and how much we can do with a tiny camping stove.
Our last camping stop before heading to Belgium was in Maubeauge, I called it "the Hilton of camping" - it had beautiful tiled spotless sparkling showers with hairdryers, free internet, and other amenities. When I commented to a fellow camper how impressed I was, she told me that I had seen nothing yet. Apparently, Europeans are taking camping very seriously, some camping sites come with swimming pools, tennis courts, etc. and some are even rated by a certain number of stars to compete for attention. Anyway, for me, a tired biker, most of it doesn't make a difference, but from a cultural point of view, it is entertaining. The best part about camping in Maubeauge was meeting Hilde, a Belgian lady, who also had been traveling by bicycle. Hilde was from Brugge, and she invited us to stay with her if we would ever end up biking there. We were touched by her invitation, and we would definitely try to reach her beautiful city on this trip.
Orsay-Ville, the place where Van Gogh spent last months of his life, he actually painted this medieval church.
The actual painting of the church above
Vincent's resting place
Beautiful French country side
Snack time in French forest
Touring bike and "accessories"
Market day in Maubeauge
Sharing the road, French drivers are very patient
We left Conflans/Versailles after a great visit with a wonderful local family of Annie-Claude and Jean-Loius, and began paddling North, towards French/Belgian border. We would spend several days cycling, and as it turned out, all of them would turn out rainy... We made a stop in Osser-Ville, the last place of life of Vincent Van Gogh, which also turned out his last inspirational place. We passed by the house he lived at the end of his life, there were numerous copies of his paintings posted right on the walls of the streets next to the objects he depicted in his work. It was very moving to be standing right in front of Van Gogh's objects of art creations - the medieval church, red roofs of the houses, golden rye fields with ravens cycling over the fields - they all are still there... We also went to an old town cemetery where Vincent and his brother were buried, shortly one after another.
Yet another time Rob and I wondered - if we were not cycling, would we have ever run into great hidden treasures like this village? I am definitely regaining yet again appreciation of cycling through Europe instead of exploring it by train/air/bus/car. When cycling, we are passing through so many fascinating places that we would have never imagined visiting otherwise, and noticing so many more details. We speak and interact with complete strangers and sometimes even become friends, people open up so much more to us, and all our senses seem to be alive - we notice so much more all intense colors of French hills, forests, fields, valleys, sky; smells of wild mint, roses, daisies, jasmine; sounds of birds, cows, horses, dogs, and old French tunes somewhere in a distance... And, of course, the palette! I have to write a few lines about the food! Once camping, we noticed a local farmer having a bottle of red wine with his home made pasta, so we decided to adopt the tradition. France is the country to try all kinds of red wine and cheeses, and I am loving it! Almost all our dinners now include a glass (or two for me) of red wine. Even Rob, who usually doesn't care too much for wine, is having it for health benefits as he puts it. The best part is that French wine is so cheap. As an example, a bottle of Bordeaux produced by a local chateau was about $1.50 - and there are many other types of a similar value. So, now wine-and-cheese has become a nice addition to our menu. We are traveling with two small cook stoves, and Rob had a great idea to travel with spices, so our meals are getting better and better. We have even cooked up a semi-Indian meal, which was delicious. I think local people traveling in caravans (v.s. bike/tent) are surprised with our creativity, and how much we can do with a tiny camping stove.
Orsay-Ville, the place where Van Gogh spent last months of his life, he actually painted this medieval church.
The actual painting of the church above
Vincent's resting place
Beautiful French country side
Snack time in French forest
Touring bike and "accessories"
Market day in Maubeauge
Sharing the road, French drivers are very patient
posted by Rob and Anna @ 5:33 AM
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