"I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself." ~James Baldwin
This morning I woke up around 6:30 and at seven I was
already on the road. I woke up earlier to arrive in Tours in the morning and to
do sightseeing in peace without any hurry. Similarly, as I have cursed the road
from Dijon to Orleans, I must praise it this time. The Veloroute de la Loire is
in its beauty equal to the Black Forest in Germany. The road goes along vineyards,
picturesque villages, old castles, and of course, the beautiful river La Loire
which with its rich meanders full of habitation leaves the dully Danube
significantly behind. Again I have had the chance to experience the morning charm
of the waking up countryside. However, it occurred to me that the French do not
particularly maintain everything nice and tidy as the Germans and Austrians by
whom it comes from their very nature. Here you can feel Savoire Vivre or put in other words, why should I mow my lane if I
do not necessarily have to? I will rather chill out and drink some Bordeux
instead. Yes, obviously, they do not give a damn. I do not know what I like
more – I admire the German precision, yet incline with my laziness to the
French lifestyle.
I arrived in Tours pretty smoothly and the first thing
I had on my program was to find the nearest big supermarket and fetch some
breakfast as I did not have anything else but my iron ration. I needed, once
again, desperately charge my flat batteries so I ask a lady at the information
boot if I could leave my phone there until I finish my shopping. I started
quite funny, saying something like I – tourist – want – many – pictures, but –
battery – flat – need – recharge. How interesting that the French are very
helpful if you speak just a little in their language. They obviously do
appreciate that.
Now I totally must describe my blissful experience
during my breakfast. In Supermarché (you might guess that it is a big
supermarket) I bought my favorite food that is called pain au chocolat (a viennoiserie sweet roll filled with
chocolate) here in France. I usually buy it in Slovakia and sometimes I have had
the opportunity to taste some of them in hotels on the breakfast buffet where I
used to work. I bought a big package of 10 these beauties, strode into a small
park to sit on the bench and in order to enjoy my luxurious breakfast. The food
looked the same, but as I tasted it, I was totally shocked! It was simply
amazing, I felt like in the seventh heaven! This was a whole new level of pain
au chocolat as I know it back from Slovakia and Austria, brought into the
perfection in the French style with superior ingredients! I could not believe
that it was so tasty. I was lost in reverie and the state of euphoria for the
next 20 minutes and even forgot that I was sitting on a bench and there was
heavy traffic all around me, I kind of lost my perception of everything around
me but my food as if I were experiencing the sheer luxury of the moment. Well,
you might find it funny that I am speaking so highly of some food, but this was
for me an extremely intense experience, emphasized by the fact that I never
tasted the real French pain au chocolat. It was no pain, but utmost joy and
this chocolate stuff was totally delicious, even so ineffable that it is behind
my Slovak vocabulary! As I was finishing off my delicious breakfast, a cleaner
asked me if he could take the garbage. He also recognized the pilgrim's shell so
we had a small chat. "Bon Chance", he wished me when I was about to
go. It is very nice to get a little bit of encouragement from absolute strangers.
After the breakfast I strode into the city centre and
ran across a flea-market. I had enough time and thought that it would be a good
idea to look around, just to soak the city atmosphere and maybe to even find
something useful. I did find something – an original Swiss pocket knife. As you
surely remember, I wanted to buy one in the Switzerland, but found it too
expensive there. This guy was offering it for 10 € to me which was a good
price, but then I instantly recalled what Judith taught me about bargaining in
Asia and Africa: It is good and advisable to try to bargain, or try bargaining,
however you like it. The first and the most important thing, as she said, is
not to show that you have a clear interest in a particular item. I followed
this advice and said the guy that hmm, nice, but I have to think about it a little.
I will look at other things and decide on this later. He looked quite
disappointed and said that for 8 € it is mine. I thanked, said alright, that is
a fair discount, but still, I can buy such a knife for 15 € and it will be
brand new. I was bluffing, a new one costs around 30€. We chatted for a while
about everything possible, exactly as one supposedly should do. Short
thereafter, I went through the other stuff and interestingly, I found something
that attracted me even more. A beautifully looking pocket knife with a
peculiarly shaped purse that allowed wearing this knife discretly on the belt.
It even had a small fork which I, as a food lover, found very useful. I showed
him the knife, asking how much it cost. The guy said 15 € and I was quite put
off by the price - I guess nobody would miss that blank expression on my face,
either. Then he wanted to persuade me that the knife was of a very good quality
and it comes from a renowned French smithery Languoile, decreasing
the price to 12 €. I looked him
square in the eyes and said like: “Hey, look, I do like that knife, but I do
not really need it. I need only this Swiss knife, but if you could give me a
fair price for both of them, I will gladly take them both.” He smiled and said:
alright, for 17 Euros, 7 € for the Swiss knife aned 10 € for the pocket knife
it is yours, but I cannot go down with the price anymore". I was happy to
drive such a good bargain, but I obviously could not show it, so I only gave
him a warm smile and agreed to the deal. Later on, I looked up the knife on
internet and realized that it was a pretty good damn deal, indead. That knife is
of a superior quality and costs around 55 € without the purse. The guy knew it
was a good brand, but apparently did not have an idea about its real value. And
this is the story as I acquired the most original and useful souvenir from
France which I hope will serve me for a long time J
The sights were just alright, something stunned me,
the other disappointed. I was nicely surprised by the artistic glass work in
the cathedral – each glass was saying a different story, it was like the bible
encrypted in glass paintings. On the other hand, I was disappointed by the
minuscule castle which consisted of a small tower and something like a wall. It
resembled more a small fortress than a castle. Similarly, I was disappointed by
the city centre that was basically one huge avenue with a plethora of various
super expensive shops. Almost all restaurant and coffees were situated in next
streets where drove one car after another which totally spoiled the overall
atmosphere.
For my lunch break I went to the university to
recharge my batteries, to arrange another couchsurfing, and to check my
e-mails. I actually went to a research institute where a man asked me what I
was looking for. There was no need for hidden intentions so I said clearly that
I am looking for some electricity plugs and asked him if he could be so nice to
show me some. He looked as if he had no problems with that at all, showed me a
room where I could recharge two devices at the same time and even advised me
that I had better keep an eye on my bike because there are many thieves in the
city
From 4:30 to 8:30 pm, I biked the whole time with
small breaks to catch up on my daily routine. It is funny to feel how tiredness
and lack of energy is overcoming you and you simply do not have enough juice to
continue. I pulled over to have dinner and I managed to find a beautiful
parking lot by the river with benches and other camping facilities. I was seriously
thinking about staying there, but in the end I went on because I wanted to
stick to my plans. There was one fascinating thing on the dinner. I wolfed down
500 g of musli which was the whole package, and when I checked the nutrition
value, just by this single meal I was at the 120% of DRV. Now here is the clear
reason why I love sport: Among other reasons, I also like sport because I love
food. Exercising increases my appetite, allows me to eat more and even enjoy
the food more. Of course, there are plenty of other reasons such as keeping
myself in shape, sport rush etc. but one peculiar and for me very important reason
is precisely this one: I can enjoy food to the fullest, literally: D
Due to my recent morning bird habit, I become rather
tired at 10 pm, as soon as the sun goes down. I ran across an interesting spot:
a park near the river with benches, playground and even a toilet. I did not
need to think twice whether I stay there, even though I had not biked as much
as I had planned. I was tired as hell, but it took me a while to fall asleep
because frogs were awfully croaking all
over the place.
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