Red eye, red eye, ready!

Took the red eye and slept a few hours, I think! The darkness of the plane instantly went to blind you in the eyes as people open there shades to their window seat.

Ok! I’m awake and after retrieving the luggage I called for a taxi to take me to the air canada cargo. I gave him the address but he still had a hard time finding it, as I would have alone. Trusty navigation to the rescue, I had to help him! After a 45 minute cab ride which should of taken 15 minutes we found the area.

Followed by paper work, paper work, go here, do that, figure this out. This is what they came out with! I like that it’s secure 🙂

After another 45 min of getting the bike ready to ride, the first thing I had to do was find a gas station. It’s supposed to have only a quarter tank left, but I think I left it with much less. So I used  a map  (Navmii) that I downloaded for France, and said 6.6 miles. Cool I think it will do that. I hope it will do that!!!!

Some how I was in LALA land because I didn’t even realize i had hit foreign soil, or didn’t really hit me until I hit the traffic! Holy cow….motorcycles everywhere crisscrossing through lanes like there were none! I wasn’t afraid of the cars it was the bikes.

I wasn’t quite adjusted to the speed yet but after riding through, what felt like, the death river of cars and bikes I found my destination! Another Airbnb. The cost $57 a night for a room. Awesome!

I waited about an hour because i got there early. My host Chantal said 5pm. Yet again I felt like a side show waiting! It’s not just here, every where people stare and i get it, it’s not everyday you see a guy in what looks like a space suit, hauling luggage on a bike.

Chantal speaks no english, but her roommate Emma does. It didn’t matter she gave me all the keys I needed, showed me around and she was off to what i think what she said was a dance recital.

The apartment was nice on the top floor and from one side had a view of the Sacré-Cœur (Sacred heart of Paris) It’s a roman catholic church. 

On the other side this:

After getting settled in and wandering the streets for a bit and snapping some pictures……

When i got back to the apartment, Emma told me I made it on a good night. Chantal was having her friends  who play Brazilian type drumming over for a party. I spent the night hanging with those folks, and enjoyed getting to know them. A few spoke english, which helped in them being able to give me pointers in french and about paris.

I realized by now spending my days traveling to these places have been great, but what makes it better are the people I meet. I get so caught up in being in the moment I forget that it would be nice to take a picture with them.

I have three full days in paris, at least thats the way I set it up. Soooo….friday night one of the folks from the party told me a great way to get around are the rental bikes all around the city.  There free for the first half hour and then 1.70 Euro for every hour after. This aside from a scooter seems like the fastest and best way to see the city. I rode them all weekend!

I used the subway as well….very easy to use! Just put the colors together 🙂

Most of these  places I visited may not need a caption, but if you were me and you didn’t know too much about france!?

The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars! The names are of those who fought are carved into the arch!

The Eiffel tower of course….as I rode i stumbled upon it so to speak!

I did see at night as well!

I know it’s sounds really lame…but these are places some people study a lifetime about. I haven’t been of them, but I can appreciate the architecture, art and a vibe of a place. There seemed to be a museum around every block in Paris, but of course this one spoke to me as I was riding around. It turns out this is the one that houses the Mona Lisa!

The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world”

So I entered! 🙂 the LOUVRE Museuem!

The architecture was amazing! 

There were some amazing sculptors, I call this the first selfie!

This one a more famous one of course! The Venus de Milo sculpture was created sometime between 100 and 130 B.C. it is believed to depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

I call this get out of the way it’s big enough so you don’t have to stand five feet in front of it picture!

and of course the more famous…Mona Lisa! oh and stop pushing me you can see it from a distance as well….Zoom in!!! 

The notre dame cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and is among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world. So I looked at the map and this was in walking distance, so I ditched the bike at one of the many bike stations. It was truly something out of this world! The detail was incredible!

So did I go in? No I’d prefer to come back another day, someday, and leave my curiosity at it’s peak! All of things i saw with the exception of the museum, i preferred to say i’ll be back. The truth is you can’t see it all!  I haven’t  seen all of Califronia yet. So I’ll keep my imagination running and cash in on another day!

On my last day I did some more wandering and snapping photos…..

Also watched some Fooootball….Me and the bartender lady from Italy were secretly cheering on Ireland in this french dominated scene!

Paris has some amazing things to see and is quite electric. The more big cities I see, I begin to go through a sort of withdrawal like after someone shushes you in the ol library scene. BE quite, take a breath, calm down! How can you in  big city? It’s meant make you feel alive. I needed a place that was slower or maybe it was because I was moving to fast myself.

Through out the 3 days of wandering and site seeing I would at some point find myself back here at Belushies Bar…a hostel in the The 19th arrondissement of Paris, it is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. It will help you navigate back to your spot once you get use to this.

There were travelers from everywhere and it was quite peaceful most of the time.

I finished my last night in paris having escargot for the first time….just like oysters in my opinion! I enjoyed them, i’ll eat them again.

I had a ton more pictures but just like my trip it was quick, and I had to choose what to do carefully. It was time to move on or so I felt.That night I chose my next destination!

I chose Arbois because I wanted a town that was small but still with something to see. The reviews said lots of hiking, caves, and waterfalls. Yep sounds good to me! Not to mention the proximity to Switzerland, which would be my next country. On my way out the next day I took one last cruise towards the Eiffel for a photo op…and was out

The Ride was fantastic going towards Arbois. From here on out i’m going to try and take backroads, 250 miles to Arbois, is almost still about 150 miles shorter then what I would commonly do in the states. NO problem!

Lots of rollin hills, vineyards, and what seemed to be endless old deserted french towns.

and each one had churches that were picturesquely old!

I realized one of the towns I was going to pass was dijon, France! I had the brilliant idea to have Dijon Mustard in Dijon! I’m complicated i tell you:). Anyway upon entering the city I tried to have my buddy craig look up some places for me to eat that would potentially be worth the trip, from his computer back in P town! It works quite nicely. I send him a text via voice text of course, and he sends me the link for the map to different locations. Well for some reason I had hell of a time trying to locate this one, and no restaurant seems to be open in the middle of the week. Our restaurants in America DO NOT close, in france they barely open. So after wandering for an hour int the heat, I said forget it. The next place that l find I’ll stop. Now for some reason I was absolutely drained and irritated.

I wanted to capture the frustration in the pic, but really this is my biggest issue so far!? I thought dude get  grip your riding your motorcycle in france. Needless to say I had a coffee and didn’t even eat because all they had were croissants! Didn’t want another croissant! There I go whining again.

After wasting my time looping in circles….It took me another hour to get to arbois, I showed up in the city square where the airbnb was located. A beautiful square it was.

I met my Airbnb host Ines and even though we couldn’t commuincate without using google translate, she was fantastic. She made me feel right at home!

Now this town is very sleepy compared to paris, but I think it’s exactly what i needed…Sleep! This was a romantic sort of town, one with all the couples and me! But to me it was more about that and the wine then the outdoors.

The Cuisance River passes through the town, which has some pretty streets lined with ancient houses.

So what else did i do then sleep? This town does have quite of bit things to see.

I visited Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) house, inventor of the rabies vaccine, returned to Arbois throughout his life and his house has been perfectly preserved. From the billiards room to the laboratory, you can experience his home life and of whom, from what i gathered is quite the genius!

I  hiked to a waterfall

Visited the local caves…. The Grotte des Planches is found around a few miles from Arbois. It’s a younger cave formed by water. It’s an “active” cave, where still water is flowing through, forming the rock.

Took some twisty roads…….

Saw an overview of the town…

Arbois was a peaceful beautiful town!

and it felt like just what i needed! I’m in a weird funk! I think the jet lag, riding and moving from place to place is catching up with me, but, the scenery change and the culture changes are keeping on my toes.

So the last night I had some local cuisine at la finette…recommended by Ines

Although for some reason I went with the chicken……AHEM!!! Table for one at this romantic restaurant please!

There are so many small moments that pass me by as ride like the wind going from town to town. As I head into the next country svvitzerland, i hope I’ll take more notes on those small moments.

After a meal like that, there was a huge salad prior and some amazing ice cream after. I waddled back the apartment and it didn’t take long for me to pass out and start dreaming about Cheese, Alps, cows with bells and the loan I’ll have to take out for when I get to switzerland.