I love a structure that makes no sense at all.

Keith, your description of this event are ominous. The dark clouds in your pictures make it even more ominous.

It’s supposed to be more « vegetal » as a reaction to the Industrial Age. In the US, Louis Confort Tiffany was the prime proponent of the style. As a style it gave way to Art Deco after the First World War.

Hi,
The SNCF, our national railway, is a source of constant aggravation, not just for its handling of bikes but for its perpetual problems with delays, failing equipment, lack of transparency when spending public funds, etc. The lack of space for bicycles is something that is fairly low on the priority list. There was a trucking service some years ago before bikes were allowed on trains. It delivered your bike with a delay of three days to a warehouse often located far from the station and required you to box your machine up for shipment. Naturally, hardly anyone used the service. The Loire valley has trains which are adequately supplied with bike carriers, but that’s about it. As for adding cars to the train, all the money was spent on TGV lines and trains which go from big city to big city. As long as the assembly in Paris can get home to the provinces, the government won’t complain too loudly. Sigh.
Cheers,
Keith

Hi Greg,
I jinked to the left , then when long downfield before heading for the goal, and then got lost in traffic..
Cheers,
Keith

And to think I was impressed with some original Clash lyrics, written on notebook paper, from the 1980's, while at Cleveland's Rock & Roll Museum.

I don't know a whole lot about Art Nouveau, but damn, that looks a lot like actual PASTA on the exterior walls and windows.

After reading this post describing the overcrowding of bikes on the train, I think I like the idea of putting my bike on a truck even more. Again, that's assuming the truck was a part of the train system and was used solely for the purposes of transporting bikes alongside the train. I'd be a little skeptical about a trucking company hauling my bike along with a load of furniture or drywall or livestock. A bike truck that is part of the train system sounds better than no bike service at all.

Which leads me to wonder, why doesn't the French Ministry of Trains (or whatever the overseer of trains is called) just add one more train car to accommodate bikes? Maybe they really are trying to alienate cyclists.

Europe really does seem to attract bicycle riders. The only time I put my bike on the AMTRAK, it was one of only two bikes on the train.

So . . . were you able to squeeze in between the poles? It looks pretty narrow for a loaded bike. I probably would have crashed while looking at that tree sculpture.

So true. Add to that the fact that sunscreen makes a lousy hair tonic and you get hats. One of my old college buddies was a philosophy major, and he was fond of posing the question « do hats cause baldness or does baldness cause hats? ». Now we know.
Cheers,
Keith

Hi Greg,
I’m glad you’re reading this now. It gives me a chance to go back and relive the tour. The mere memory of this meal is enough to provoke a gastronomic reverie.
Cheers,
Keith

If you're as bald as I am, a hat is a necessity. There is no sunburn as painful as a sunburn on the top of your head.

So small, yet so beautiful.

AHA! So you've been holding out on me. I read your original "What to do between doctors visits," but I didn't know there was a Part 2 until this morning. I guess that's because you were doing it at the same time as I was selfishly concentrating on my own tour.

Now I get the chance to critique "Part 2" a few chapters at a time. I did sneak a look ahead at a couple of pages and saw some amazing food, so I can't wait to read the rest.

I don't know enough about the truck transport they were offering for bikes, but I might not have been so dismissive of the idea--assuming the truck follows the train fairly closely. If, on the other hand, the truck goes to a terminal, and then they transfer the bikes to another terminal and then to another terminal, and your bike shows up three days later, well, that just would not do.

Phew. But yes, 60kph IS moving. Nice little tour, Keith. Thanks.