Mid-May to early June
I began writing this when we had just arrived in Germany, having been on the road with our bikes for a week. We explored the edge of Alsace, moving north along the French cycle path that follows the Rhine but doesn't actually go very close to it. The German path apparently follows the line of the river more closely. We started at Mulhouse, practically on the border of France, Germany and Switzerland , which is where we started in 2012, going down the Doubs to Besançon, our home for the 1971/72 school year, and finishing at Dôle, a bit further on. This time we went in the other direction, up to Strasbourg, then further north, crossing into Germany at Karlsruhe, another place we had been to as we travelled through Europe in early 1971.
The trip to Paris in a Singapore Airlines A 380 was fine - a long flight but easy to live with as we had a spare seat between us. Poor baby and toddler in the middle seats just in front had a very bad night and although they woke everyone in our section, all the passengers (mainly Singaporean?) were sympathetic, and smiled (some waved) at the couple and babies when they stood up on arrival. I felt this wouldn't always be the case.
We spent a few days in the peaceful countryside of Beaugency (near Orléans) with our other Madeleine, chilling out and doing a bit of garden tidying. Chris and Mathilde came over for dinner and on the holiday Monday took us to Orléans, where we spent the night before catching an early-morning train to Lyon.
Our time in Lyon passed quickly, getting the bikes serviced, adding to our sleeping gear and also spending a wonderful weekend away with Laurent, Thérèse, Tess and Tim, plus two other family members. Our first go at orienteering, at 800m in the foothills of the alps. Cold at night in the tent but beautiful days and a great experience. The skills learnt have also sharpened up our bike navigation skills in the absence of signs. Bonus was a stop at the medieval village of Pérouges on the way back.
Many thanks to all these friends for the time they spent on us.
I began writing this when we had just arrived in Germany, having been on the road with our bikes for a week. We explored the edge of Alsace, moving north along the French cycle path that follows the Rhine but doesn't actually go very close to it. The German path apparently follows the line of the river more closely. We started at Mulhouse, practically on the border of France, Germany and Switzerland , which is where we started in 2012, going down the Doubs to Besançon, our home for the 1971/72 school year, and finishing at Dôle, a bit further on. This time we went in the other direction, up to Strasbourg, then further north, crossing into Germany at Karlsruhe, another place we had been to as we travelled through Europe in early 1971.
Moving back some weeks, Air NZ took us to Singapore for a 3 day, 2 night stopover. We managed to see quite a lot of the island by overground subway train. There are a number of very imaginative high-rise apartments blocks, complemented by lots of green areas. Apart from the malls, where we were obliged to do a certain amount of exploring, Chinatown, the Gardens by the Bay with their giant greenhouses, we went to Singapore zoo - nor for the night safari, though maybe next time...but just for the zoo. Bonus for the shade it provided, too. For the first time we left our main suitcases at the airport during our stopover. This was an excellent idea and saved us a lot of useless lugging to and from accommodation.
In Paris we went for walks with our friend, Madeleine, (who lives close to the Promenade Plantée and the park of Vincennes), found a bus which would take us from Place de la Nation to Austerlitz train station (bus =no stairs withs heavy luggage...) and had an impromptu dinner with our friend Alice from Grenoble, who happened to mention on Facebook that she was in Paris. This is when social media is at its best!
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For bikers - the 12 summits within reach from here |
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