Starting out, Paris to Melun Starting out, Paris to Melun Getting PackedIt's the day before our flight, and I'm pretty well packed, still working on getting Peter set up. Here's a picture of what I'll be bringing with. Everything was chosen with an eye towards light weight, and being easy to wash (for the clothing).
June 18, 2023 - Getting to ParisPeter and I flew to Paris through Montreal. The lady that sat next to us on the flight to Montreal was a few years younger than me, and we chatted a bit. She's "english" in the sense that they use it in Quebec, that she speaks french, but still feels more comfortable speaking English in Montreal, which makes her a second-class citizen, according to her. She'd like to leave except that her kids and parents are in Montreal. She said that she begs her adult kids to leave Quebec, says there's no opportunities there, few jobs, lots of regulations and paperwork.Arrived in Paris (was not able to sleep on the plane, we arrived just before 7 am), and took a pre-arranged taxi to the hotel. I had planned to pay extra to get into our room ahead of time, but unfortunately everything was completely occupied, so we had to wait till 1 pm. Ugh, that was rough, walking around the neighborhood or sitting around in the lobby, dead-tired. We did go ahead and do the breakfast buffet. It was reasonable. Peter, at first, was really energized, and wanted to walk into town and see the sights. We walked around a bit, saw the neighorhood (it felt a little bit like our neighborhood in Geneva) and then waited around in the hotel lobby till we could get in our room, where we took a LONG nap. This morning (Monday) our rented bikes are supposed to be delivered right to the hotel. We'll probably bring them into the room, just because I don't trust the parking garage to be safe. It'll be a hassle getting them into the room, though, since the elevator is tiny. (That turned out not to be a problem, just needed to do them one at a time, and lift the back tire a bit to get through the doorway). The room is fine, very basic (it is, after all, an Ibis Budget hotel). No real complaints, though. I will definitely get a place that's much closer to the center of things when we stay in Paris on the way back, though. But this hotel is very close to the bike path. We already went and took a look at it, saw a few VERY fast bikers on what are basically those electric mopeds, no pedal action required.
June 19, 2023 - Getting our bikesToday we got the bikes that we're going to be using on this trip. The delivery worked out fine, right to the hotel. I didn't use any of their panniers or handlebar bags, we're just going to be using our daypacks and the drybag, strapped to the rear rack. I'm glad that we got some regular bikes, instead of using the folding bikes. The bikes we got are much more efficient than the folding bikes, I pedal with a lot less effort. After we got them, we biked towards the center of town. The bike trail is very well developed, well set apart from the road, and overall very nice. Lots of very fast bikers on it though. Biking around the touristy areas downtown was not all that much fun, because streets were so crowded. But in the less crowded areas, like around the sports store where I went to get a bike lock, it was more fun. The most interesting area, where I've never been before, was the Park de Bercy. Very interesting, tons of people milling about, beautiful though neglected looking. Lots and lots of people who didn't look like they had anywhere else to go. It turns out that it's next to a huge bus station (very hard to find the entrance), that's why there were so many people hanging around the park with luggage. Right next to the entry of the bus station was a public weight-lifting area that was definitely a "you better not come in here unless you're one of us" type of thing. Very sketchy and dangerous looking. I wanted to take a photo but didn't dare. We ate dinner at Bercy Village, an open air shopping mall of stone buildings, that looks like it was renovated from something much older. Had dinner in a Japanese restaurant there. The food was not that expensive, and pretty good. It actually seems cheaper than in the US. So far people are very friendly. My French is very, very basic, but it seems like most people understand it. I think I have a harder time understanding them, than they do understanding me. Peter is still working up the courage to try to have some conversations with people.
June 20, 2023 - Paris to EvryI'm thankful, again, that I decided to ditch the folding bikes, and rent bikes here. These bikes are smooth and efficient, and make riding easy. Our first day involved me getting used to the navigation app again. I'm using OSMAnd, which is very full-featured, but not necessarily easy to use. Also, since the bike path is not marked (pretty much at all), I have to take out my phone all the time, to figure out where to go. In general, though, the GPX file that I'm following is pretty good, and routes us well, with just a few execptions. The first part of the ride, through the southern edge of Paris, was pretty isolated and industrial. Lots of graffiti, lots of litter. Not very prosperous looking area.
There were very light showers quite a bit of the time, and then one very heavy rain. We took cover under a tree. The town we ended up in, Evry, is very non-French, in the sense that about 90% of the people you see are either African or Middle Eastern. Also the restaurants here were very basic - just kebab places, and burgers. We ended up not in a hotel, but in an apartment, that I found on Booking.com. We walked up to the main part of town to get some food, and were so unimpressed by the selection of restaurants that we decided to just buy some food and make it at the apartment. I bought one of those cans of lentils with ham, that I remember from Switzerland. Tried opening it in the apartment, and the pop-top broke off! I was desperate, and hammered at it with a wooden spoon. Finally I got lucky and got it open. Peter was luckier, he had a microwave meal. I got over jet lag - woke up once around 2 but was able to get to sleep again. So, hopefully we're good in that regard. June 21, 2023 - Evry to MelunSo far, the biking is by far the most enjoyable part of this trip. Actually staying in town and in the hotels/apartments has been a hassle. Booking places to stay is far more difficult than it was on our previous trip, in Austria. Hopefully it'll get better, as we get to the more popular part of this trip, along the Loire. The route to Melun was mixed, some very nicely paved and marked sections, and then some sections that weren't so nice. We also took a detour (staying on the river, but on a path that was just a walking path) to avoid going on the main road. That was a bit of an adventure, we had to walk our bikes some of the time, other times there was brush/weeds against our legs, that's how narrow it was. Lots of beautiful, interesting looking houses and chateaus on the riverfront, some of them very nice and private on these little roads along the Seine. Arriving in town, we weren't able to get in to the apartment until 4 (that's what we were originally told, we ended up getting in at 2.30). So we hung about in town, had a second lunch of chicken quarters (from an interesting storefront restaurant that sold mainly roast chicken), and went to a nearby old church, sat along the river, and ate. Then I saw a bank - BNR or something like that, and I rememberered that they supposedly had a deal with Bank of America for less expensive withdrawals. We went in to get some cash (so far we've just been doing credit card) and I was shocked that there was an exchange rate of something like 4.75% higher than the actual rate. At least they were clear about it. But still, that's crazy high. I tried some of my other bank cards, and one of them was even higher - 5 point something. Anyway, we got the cash. So far it's been very convenient to pay with credit card, at every single location. I wonder what percent the merchants are getting charged. As we were walking around I stopped at what looked like a newly establised restaurant, to ask if they had ice cream. They didn't but were very friendly, and the owner asked around of some of the patrons, to see where we should go for ice cream. And he spoke English quite well, though I started out in French. We didn't actually go get the ice cream, but I appreciated the friendliness. We went there for dinner (large appetizer plate, I thought it was quite good, Peter was not as impressed) and I asked where he learned English. It turned out that he hasn't ever been to England or the US. He learned everything from watching the TV show Peaky Blenders. I never heard of it, but Peter had. It's very impressive how well you can learn, just from watching a show. Turns out tonight was national Music day in France. There were concerts, etc. We went to the concert on the island just a little bit. This studio apartment we're staying in is not the greatest. The previous occupant must have smoked, also it's right on the main street, so it's very loud. The windows insulate the noise very well, but unfortunately with the windows closed it's very hot.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
