Jour six: the REAL French experience

June 16, 2011

I decided I better stay put for a day. I woke up still not feeling good which is little wonder, really. And since I have a nice hotel and I'm in a beautiful town why not take a rest day here?

The first order of duty was to a French pharmacist for some cough medicine with expectorant. So, I donned my new REI purchased shirt, that I bought for this trip and off I went, trying to psych myself up..."I think I can, I THINK I can..."

Knowing what I do about French pharmacies from Leo Woodland and some other reading I did, I knew to expect having to ask an actual person for things, instead of walking up and down isles on a hunt for what I need. So I went prepared, with my best, "Hello, Madame. I'm sorry, I only speak a little French," at the ready. I had also done my research, and got a translation for what I needed on Google Translate. (See below)

Aaaah, said the non-English speaking pharmacist, before getting exactly what I needed. Then she somehow got across that I should take it 3-times a day but not at bedtime. Mission accomplished!

Then it was on to "le supermarche", or the supermarket for some supermarket stuff, like fruit, chocolate and, most importantly, cough drops. Thankfully they had Ricola, a brand I am familiar with and use at home. They had other stuff on the same shelf but I was a little leery about trying something new, with French descriptions, for fear I would accidentally end up with nicorette gum or something.

On my way home I past a boulanger and saw, that's right, nirvana in the window. Pain au chocolate! My friend Nancy toured in France and told me, "you don't need any other food but pain au chocolate." One bite told me she was right! TRES BON!

After that I took another walk around town and had a marvelous time walking up and down the side streets, through parks, down the waterfront and through the little shops.

In addition to the fun I also think I came up with a good solution to my rack problem. I think she will hold and I'm good to go.

Finally, a trip to the tourist information office yielded some good information on sites I want to see in the coming days.

All those things, and an afternoon nap, made for a fun and useful day. Hopefully tomorrow I will be ready to ride!

Today's Bizzaro moment came early. There was a car that, every 30 minutes or so, drove with a loud speaker, presumably, advertising some thing/place/event. But when I walked out of my hotel he was stuck in a line of traffic playing a "muzak" like version of Barry Manilow's song, "copacabana". Whoa. Gotta wonder what someone was thinking there?

Tomorrow I'm hoping to be on the bike! For crying out loud, this is a bike trip! Until then

They have a couple of pretty old churches in town. I'm not much of a church go'er, but I think this is pretty.

Hmmm? Not sure what this guy is all about? But I like it! ;-)

Not sure what this is but I thought it would make a cool pic

My outing to collect medical supplies was a complete success! And I might add...notice the single does packets. I don't ever recall that in the states. Why not!? Sturdy, perfectly measured doses and you can take one or two with you if necessary, instead of a whole bottle and a teaspoon, or is that tablespoon, and don't spill it...

If I've said it once I've said it more than once, "never go on a bike trip without hockey tape!" And this just proves it. Having dropped two of the original parts in England, I used waded up tape as a temporary assembly fix. I THINK it will hold everything in place until I can get something better.

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