To Fontainebleau - From Paris to Paris - CycleBlaze

September 4, 1993

To Fontainebleau

I feel a bit silly about imagining that France might have become so Americanized that it wouldn't seem much different.  It is overwhelmingly foreign, in an unending variety of aspects.  I had not anticipated how out of my element I would feel - the language is only one of many dimensions that makes me feel insecure.  Traffic and driving patterns, texture of streets and sidewalks, the appearance of the communities and architecture, the style and mannerism of the French - all are so unlike home that I feel quite overloaded by the evening.

We arrived at DeGaulle at 8 AM, and were surprised at how little there was to entering the country.  There was no customs check at all.  We put our bikes, still boxed, on a bus for the metro to the Gare de Nord - our plan was to bike from there to Gare de Lyon and then take the train to Fontainebleu.  All went as planned, remarkably enough.  Though I never really felt confident at any point during the day, we successfully managed at least enough minimal communications needed to get us on two trains, a bus, into a hotel, a café, and to obtain directions at least four different times.

Our plan was to start biking in Fontainebleu, but by the time we arrived at about 1 PM we were both too tired to think of anything other than to find a room and fall asleep - which we did until 6, after which we arose and set off on our bikes to explore Fontainebleau and the woods. 

The woods are quite lovely oak forests that seem to go on forever.  We did not easily find our way out, taking several wrong turns.  Fontainebleau itself is immense and stately; the surrounding town, although supporting a busy tourist trade, ---.

Hmm.  I dozed off at that last thought, and don't know where I was going with it  Memorable images from the day:

  • the prostitutes near Gare du Nord
  • the density of the shops, the narrowness of the streets and alleys in Paris
  • the number of streets which suddenly turn, abruptly and at odd angles
  • the marvelous carousel at Fontainebleau
  • the pedestrian, and later the dart player at a pub, who helped us find our way back to the hotel in the near dark
  • the wonderful character of many of the old stone and brick houses, often faced with ivy
  • the fact that we are both so tired - I just dozed off again!
  • the schoolboys on bicycles playing with the carousel by pedaling up beside it and stepping on its lip to pick up speed
  • the lack of lighting in the Hotel de Foret, making it hard to find our room and its keyhole in the nearly total darkness
  • the jackhammer outside our window which awoke us at about 6 the next morning.
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