World Tour

July 7 - Friday Nogent - le - Retrou "Do you want to be navigator today?" Today was the day I would take over the map and be in charge of where we were going. God help us. After leaving the Cloys-sur-le-Loir campground we were pretty much going in the wrong direction almost immediately. The good news is we got to see a beautiful chateaux and surrounding village. The bad news is that it took us at least an hour to get back on track. There's a reason why I haven't been navigating on this trip - I like to get to my destination. I'm helpful as a consultant and am always available to voice an opinion but when it comes right down to it, while I love looking at the map and guidebook my skills at actually reading and following the map do not reflect the same enthusiasm. We pretty much were on the wrong track once we left the camp grounds. The good news is that we were able to see a beautiful little chateaux and good in some good hills. The bad news is that we were at least an hour behind our riding schedule for the day and the weather looked like it wasn't done raining. I tried to pick up the pace in order to attempt to make up some of the time we lost. The weather turned bad finally raining after about an hour of very light showers not worthy of putting on our matching rain gear, or banan suits as I like to call them (They're identical bright, bright yellow 3M raint jacket and pants). Of course shortly after we put them on it stopped raining. It had been quite a few days since we had last found an internet café and neither one of us had been in contact with anyone backhome. We're trying to meet up with my sister, Jon's childhood friend, Rory and hopefully another family friend while in England so we're doing a lot of juggling. We stopped in a small village, quiet since it had been raining there weren't many people on the streets. They did have an information center and we pulled in just before their noon time closing. Jon went in while I waited outside for the bikes because let's face it, when it comes to directions, if we want to get to a place in any kind of timely fashion, I am not the person to be giving directions to. It's a system that works for us: Jon goes in and finds out about internet, cash machines, public toilets and/camping - those are our main questions in no particular order. After a couple minutes Jon comes out, "They don't have internet here". "OK" "But we're going to follow this woman and use her internet." "Umm, what?" Out comes a woman who looked to be about the age as we were. Short sleeved shirt, mini skirt and pink hair. We did what any other person would do in a country their not familiar with and who do not speak the language, with family back home having no idea where we were at the time: we followed her to her home and went inside. I know it goes against what any good mother has taught their kids but in we went. We were greeted by three beautiful happy, friendly children and the woman's husband - Mark. I have, unfortunately, completely fogotton the woman's name, I've gotten so bad with names since we started this trip. As soon as you walked in the door you knew that someone in the family was an artist. We were taken back to what appeared to be an office and were told to take our time and make ourselves at home. Jon got right on and then had me sit down - I type a little faster and the keyboards in France have a different lay out from the ones back home. I whipped out a short email to family letting them know we were ok while Jon chatted with Mark. They talked about art and Mark's new business. If we understood correctly he is a financial consultant and is starting his own business as well as assisting his wife with her art. They talked about the art world and how difficult it is to make a living in the industry. They also talked about how a lot of the locals did not like how out-of-towners were buying up a lot of homes and land and using it for holidays rather than full time living which would contribute back to the community. They discussed how his wife is an all around artist. She uses many mediums: painting, sculpting, photography, jewlery making. She had modern art using water colors, pastels, oils. They also had a great collection of vintage cameras displayed on shelf. They children seemed excited and interested in the strangers who had entered their house as anyone their age would be. My guess is that their ages ranged from 3-8 or 9. Gabriel introduced himself to me. He is just beginning his studies in the english language. Once we had finished with the internet Mark invited us to try some of the fresh pork he had received from a friend the day before. We had just finished our lunch and didn't want to impose on their hospitality but he encouraged us to give it a try after finding out we had never had fresh pork before. Fried with onions and other yummy spices it certainly did not taste like what you buy in the grocery store! His wife is an excellent cook. After we ate I asked if we could all step onto the porch for a group shot knowing that I would want to include this experience in our journal. After our picture Mark brought out his camera and told us that he also works for the local newspaper and wanted to take our picture too. We got all of our gear on so he could the full effect, smiled for the camera and started pushing our bikes back to the street saying goodbye as we left. Jon made sure that they had our website address so Mark, if you're reading this please respond in the "comments" section of this website with your email address - we'd love to here from you and are deeply grateful and touched by the generousity and hospitality of you and your wonderful family. The sun had come out while we were with Mark and his family which made the ride into Nogent le Retrou. We knew there wouldn't a campsite to we looked for the cheapest yet safest looking place to stay that would also keep our bikes safe. We can't remember the name of the place but don't really care - it was cheap, clean, had a shower and bath included in the €34 we paid. The owner did not speak english at all but once again we all managed. The shower was incredibly small, you could barely turn around but it felt great non the less. Now the toilet - whoa - I lifted the lid and thought it looked different with a kind of rubbery thing covering the drain like in a kitchen sink but it flushed and that's all that mattered. We quickly showered and walked into town for a bite to eat. We went to a creperie. Jon had a crepe with potato, ham, and goat cheese - it was fabulous. I ordered the sausage I think it was anduille and really don't think I spelled that right but it was good, also a beer which also tasted very good after a day of biking. We declined dessert as neither one of us was hungry. Our server was worried that we didn't like our food and just wanted to leave. We reassured her as best we could knowing that we were not following the typical french tradition of dessert and drinks after dinner. We walked back to our room spotting some grocery stores we planned to hit the next day on our way out of town. Jon was out of Nutella and hadn't been able to find any in the past couple stores we went to. They had only carried the cheaper substitute brands and Jon says, "Through experience, that doesn't cut it." In other words - it's Nutella or nothing. Back in our room we turned on French TV - they play quite a few American shows. We had a direct view of the town head stone and gravemarker store. They had a variety of products to choose from - I could see them all from our window. All of a sudden Jon comes out of the bathroom, "I know how the toilet works! It works like a garbage disposal!" He sounded so pleased with himself for figuring it out and it definitely looked like a disposal once I really thought about it. "I'm not going to poop in it." I said emphatically. "I AM going to poop in it." Jon said with equal enthusiasm. "I don't want to here anything about it." Ahhh, the joys of marriage. Since this trip began we've definitely talked more about bowel and bladder habits than ever before. This probably started in Italy when we used the bushes on the side of the road more than actual bathrooms. Sometimes there was enough bush for a little privacy and sometimes, well, there wasn't, which would bring about the conversation of, "Is it clear?" "Yep. I don't see any cars. Go ahead." There was nothing good on TV so we went to bed. Tomorrow we'll to Sees (pronounced Sez).