Left Valence yesterday and headed north towards Troyes -- pretty uneventful until the GPS started malfunctioning again -- got as far north as Beaune, then the GPS decided it wanted to go south. Couldn't get it to correct so picked a road and randomly headed west -- like so much of this adventure, the best is sometimes the unanticipated or unplanned occurence.
Ended-up on a narrow country road going through the Ouche Valley -- towering wooded hills on either side of me with their leaves turning bright reds and yellows, cows peacefully grazing, pausing only to look up as I passed by, tiny villages of ancient stone buildings (some in really nice condition, others slowly becoming "ruins") -- and a feeling that nature was putting on an amazing show just for me -- encountered maybe four or five cars in thirty miles.
Came over a rise and down a steep switchback section of road only to find myself driving along side a canal built in the early 1800's -- probably fifty feet wide with the water flowing ever so slowly -- absolutely gorgeous -- time felt like it had stood still -- the blue water, dark green bordering fields, huge overhanging willow-like trees, blue skies with some puffy clouds, ancient grey stone buildings -- this was the image of France and the British Isles that I had encountered earlier in my journey and had missed not seeing since I had returned to France. As I've said before, some of the best things in life (and definitely on this adventure) are the unexpected. Pulled to the side of the road and just sat there watching it for a while.
Eventually made it to the house in Troyes, unloaded the car, walked two to three blocks to the main street and found myself in a boulangerie buying a baguette for breakfast in the morning and a chocolate, almond croissant to snack on -- after months of traveling without one of my favorite French foods, it felt good to be back in "civilization"! Don't know what I'm going to do once I'm back to the US.
Picked-up some things at a small market for dinner and treated myself to a couple of samosas from an Asian deli -- ended-up talking to the owner for a while -- he had relatives in Los Angeles and had visited the States a number of times. Again, how could I possibly have imagined that morning that by late afternoon I'd be standing in an Asian deli in France, ordering samosas and talking in English to a couple who were planning on visiting Colorado the next time they went to LA -- amazing!
Spent the evening super-gluing the sole back onto one of my shoes -- the stairs are so narrow here, I keep catching my heels on the treds as I walk down the stairs and the sole had become separated -- with four days to go, I'm not in the mood for going shopping for a new pair of shoes!
This morning, I got up with three things on my to-do list -- doing a laundry (last place I'm staying with a washer/dryer -- one of the luxury items you appreciate when you're constantly on the road in a place that "doesn't do laundromats"); get the car washed (after my last and one and only experience -- not something I was looking forward to); and, go visit "cat alley" -- one of the "highlights" in Troyes.
Did my laundry -- uneventful once I figured out which machine was the washer and which was the dryer (they were unmarked and looked similar) -- when I put my clothes in, pushed the start button and didn't hear any water running, I realized it was the dryer -- like I said, they look alike here!
Found a car wash -- amazingly, it was part of a laundromat -- of course it wasn't full-service -- and everything was in French far beyond my vocabulary. Fortunately, there was another customer getting his car washed -- unfortunately, he didn't speak a word of English. He ended-up helping me get the car positioned for the machine, putting in the money and pushing the buttons to get the thing started -- remember, their car washes are way different than the ones in the States. In retrospect, the whole event would've looked like an Abbot and Costello comedy routine to an observer -- a lot of gesturing, fast-talking and puzzled looks on both of our faces. Who knows how it would've turned-out if he hadn't been there, and I appreciated his help.
Then it was on to do my "touristy" duty. Troyes is known for having a large neighborhood of pretty much untouched 17th century half-timbered style houses -- it wasn't until the 1950's when the city, for health and safety reasons, required modifications involving electricity and indoor plumbing -- certain things still got pitched out of third and fourth floor windows every morning. The neighborhood is still pretty "authentic" with a small portion of it having been converted into modern cafes, brasseries, restaurants and tourist shops -- the rest is still living quarters and small local shops.
One of the main "draws" to the area is the "ruelle des Chats" (cat alley). Back in the 1600's, the city taxed property owners based upon ground floor square footage -- didn't take property owners long to figure out that they could expand the uppers floors for more space to the point where the roofs actually overlap each at the top -- creating easy "runways" for the neighborhood cats traversing from one building to another. Plus, with the overhangs, it created plenty of opportunity (still present today) for pigeons (aka, cat food) to roost. The alley is only five feet wide at ground level and was apparently unnamed until "Cat Alley" caught on hundreds of years ago.
Walked around and looked at the architecture of the houses, then decided to have a curry chicken galette (crepe) at a coffee shop -- none left so settled for a smoothie and a chocolate chip cookie (hey, I tried to eat half-way healthy!) It was cloudy and a bit chilly (people were bundled-up in parkas and knit caps) so figured I'd sit inside and watch people go by outside -- struck-out again -- apparently too cold for many people to be out so I mostly just stared at the fronts of the half-timbered buildings across the lane.
Weather here has changed -- you definitely know it's Fall and Winter is on it's way -- high today in the fifties -- tomorrow in the forties.
The last two days have been really nice, what I came here to hopefully experience. After being a little "bumbed-out" from a less than satisfying experience in the south of France, I'm glad my "adventure" is coming to an end on an up-note with yesterday and today -- hopefully tomorrow will be as rewarding!
