france

We don't have any photos of our time in France because we hadn't backed them onto the memory stick before we were robbed. We stayed two nights beside a lovely lake near Chambery. This is a mountainous region and beautiful. It was such a relief to get to France where Paul and I both feel the most at home. We each came to love France before we met. As a couple it became dear to us as one setting for our romance, and Paris, in front of the Eiffel Tower, is the place where Paul proposed. Besides this, the roads are wide and rarely congested. The food is glorious. Paul speaks better than emergency French, so things are easier. Also, I find the French more like Americans than any other Europeans. They smile, make eye contact, and say hello. They are kind to people in need. In Paris years ago, a French couple helped me and my friends buy train tickets and get on the right train. We didn't ask for their help. They went so far as to purchase the tickets with their credit card because ours didn't work in the machine. We gave them our cash, of course. Like Americans, the French are patriots. They think France is the best country in the world. They don't apologize for being French. There are many other ways that the French remind me of Americans, but they are also uniquely themselves. They dress with such taste and ease. I used to be intimidated by it but now I find it inspiring. Outside of Paris they are provincial to the point of being nearly backwards. They welcome you warmly until they find out you plan to relocate nearby. Enough sweeping generalities. I hope that you will go to France and learn for yourself what these people are like. It's worth the trip.

The camp site wasn't really for travelers, but consisted mostly of long term caravans with established gardens and permanent foundations. Most of the people there were pensioners. They greeted us warmly with smiles and pets for Tim as we set up camp and they made their way to visit their neighbors for drinks, or card games, or dinner. I heard no English. Our spot was grassy with a view of the lake and mountains, and we enjoyed our dinner while watching the intermittent traverse of the people and the change of colors as the sun set. It began raining in the first night on the lake and rained the whole of the following day. It rained so hard that we stayed in the tent most of the day. It seems there was some concern about Tim being in this situation as the camp director stopped by in the late afternoon and offered to let us stay in his small trailer, one that he uses to take his son to the races. We didn't say no and quickly moved into the dry spot. Tim was happy to get out of the confines of the tent, even if it meant switching to the confines of the trailer. The area was beautiful despite the rain and when it let up, we walked to the shore and enjoyed the views of mountain and water. It was startlingly green. We stayed in a lot of camp sites in the rain, and never received such a gracious offer.

As we were settling into our new warm, dry spot, a young German couple arrived looking for a place to pitch their tent. They were on bicycles with two boys: ages one and three. They had a carriage for their boys and saddlebags for their gear. All of them were dressed in high tech clothes, comfortable in the rain. The mother spoke excellent English and we compared out trips. They traveled two hours each day, all that their boys would tolerate and usually camped for two nights. They were making their way to northern Italy before they would turn around and return home. The camp director offered them a caravan of a friend of his which they accepted, but I think they would have been happy staying in their tent in the rain. Before we'd left on our trip, we'd encountered our share of nay sayers telling us that we were crazy or ignorant to think we could make such a trip with a 6 month old. We'd turn around after the first week. By this time in our trip, we were feeling quite proud of ourselves and discussing a future extended camping trip in America with a second child in our future. We may have been feeling arrogant even. Meeting this couple certainly humbled us. It also inspired us. So don't be surprised if you hear that we're taking Tim and his younger sibling on a tour of the US or Canada or Mexico or all of them. No, I'm not pregnant.

The rain stopped in the night and by the time we packed up camp, our things were relatively dry. Our next stop was the Loire valley, a place full of chateaus, wine and soft green countryside. Every guidebook I've ever read makes this place sound magical. Our plan was to visit 2-3 chateaus (including the one used as a model for the captain's home in Tin Tin) and some villages and then turn for home. We found a sprawling camp site on the banks of the Loire River near the city of Blois, pronounced Blwuh, sort of. The city has a charming center, something we've come to expect from Western Europe. The first chateau we viewed, Chateau de Chambord, turned out to be the only one because we were robbed that night, but it was extraordinary. Inside is the double helix stairway, a da Vinci creation. I gather he designed such a staircase but didn't actually build this one. The place was cavernous, a white stone lady, dressed to the nines, with a grey slate roof. Wikipedia has some nice photos of the place.

You know most of the rest of the story. We encountered more kindness after the robbery. The camp director bought our tent, chairs, cooler, and other camping supplies. We had decided to sell them before the robbery as we knew they wouldn't do for our next planned trip and we didn't want to pay to have them shipped to the US. When we approached her about it, she didn't flinch and would have paid more, I believe. We stayed at a hotel in Versailles, a short train commute to Paris and the embassies where we had to sort out new passports. We didn't want to drive into Paris. They woman at the desk learned of our misfortune when she asked for our passports. She proclaimed that we wouldn't be charged breakfast. It seems a small thing, but it came at a time when we needed some comfort.

I got my passport the day that I went to the embassy. Paul and Tim got theirs the following day. We enjoyed a typically wonderful lunch near The Notre Dame before returning to Versailles. The robbery had exhausted our interest in sightseeing, even our favorite city.

The last event of our trip was the chunnel train back to England. While we were in the tunnel, there was a fire on the truck on the train in front of us. We were reduced to traveling 10 kilometers an hour. What should have been a twenty-five minute trip turned into a three hour chug, and it was hot. We chatted with our carriage mates, an English couple and a Romanian man with his family. The employees gave us a card to fill out with our address and the details of our journey. A few weeks later our bank account was credited for the trip. It seems our train was the last to go that night. The tunnel was closed for a day while they sorted out the smoke and did safety checks. So we got lucky and got to come home. For a change, the traffic was light and we made a very quick journey on the M25 to the safety and warmth of 'Smalldrinks.' Thanks again, Tara and John.

We've got our trip mapped out on Google Earth thanks to our GPS and Paul's diligence and marking all the spots we spent the night. It's impressive to look at. We're already talking about where we want to return and all the places we didn't go that we want to see like Spain and the Baltic nations and Germany. At the end of the trip, I felt that we had 'done' Europe. Now, I think we have a long way to go. I look forward to our return, and I look forward to another long camping trip, wherever that may be. We'd love to have you join us.