It has been a long week here in Chambery. With the record setting heat wave and my bicycle needing a repair, it hasn’t been the most exciting week. I tried to pass the time by doing some exploring locally and getting caught up with some reading, but mostly I just sweated an awful lot. While it has not been the most exciting week, I did feel the need to check in with everyone since it has been awhile.
I have also been doing some logistical work.. I am now in my last month here in France so I was trying to do some planning for my departure. I inquired at Europcar about a rental car for returning Paris, but wow!. It seems that the rental rates for rental cars go up a lot in the summer! It was going to cost about $400 to rent a car for two days to drive to Paris. That alone is bad enough, but then you have to add in the toll fees that you pay to use the Major Highways and the cost gets really expensive. I decided to attempt the train. The only drawback to the train is that the risk of having my bike stolen off the train is a factor, but it is a lot cheaper. Around $40. An added benefit is that I get to Paris a day early so I can go visit the Musee d”Orsay so I can go see one of my favorite paintings: Van Gogh’s “Starry Night Over The Rhone Arles” before I get on the plane for Iceland. And I get to ride on the TGV, the French “Bullit Train”. WooHoo!
So with the plan now being to take the train, I needed to see about taking the train. On Monday, I “practiced” by taking the train to Lyon. I wanted to buy some new books to read and Lyon was the closest place i could find with english books. Plus, it will help in traveling to St. Etienne later this month to see the Tour de France which finishes one of the stages there on July 13th. It is my plan to be there to see it. I thought about going to see the Women’s World Cup Soccer match between the US and England in Lyon on Tuesday, but the matches are played so late that there are no more trains to Chambery at that time. It was an intriguing thought though., even if it was just for an instant.
The other big news was that the heat wave ended!. Well, the 100F days are over for a while anyway, but it is still warm. The heat wave officially ended with some thunder storms that rolled through on Sunday night. It rained pretty hard so I went outside to just stand in the rain, for no other reason than it felt really good! And I wasn’t the only one either. I think everyone in Chambery was ready for it to cool off.
The biggest news is that today, I got my bike fixed. Just needed some new bearings in the bottom bracket and all is now good. And with the epic heat wave now abating, it is time to think about doing some more riding! And believe, I miss riding my bike.
So now it is time for a road trip! I went to the CarGo! rental car place and was actually able to rent a car for a reasonable price for 4 days which surprised me a lot after seeing how much it was going to cost at Europcar. I will leave the destinations for your imagination for now, but it does involve some epic bicycle riding. I also get to see some more of France and drive across (and hopefully photograph) the Millau Viaduct Bridge, the highest span in the world and quite a stunning engineering feat if I do say so myself. What can I say. Once an engineer, always an engineer!
It is going to be an exciting week coming up, but unfortunately not so much for this last week. I would have included some photos, but I don’t think anyone would be interesting in seeing me simply sweating which is about all i did last week. I will have photos for this coming week and I think they will be worth the wait.
Glad you’re back on track.
Happy 4th of July. Might not be a big celebration there, but Bastille Day is coming soon.
Glad to hear all is well now with you and your bike. Good timing with the heatwave. At least your bike was broke at the same time as the heat rolled through. Enjoy the coming week of riding.
Always good to hear of your exploits, and glad you got your bike fixed. I’ve been hearing about the heat wave (Africa hot?) and wondering if you were affected. the train travel opportunity sounds exciting, but traveling with your bike is also risky. Glad you were able to secure some bike food provisions. I’m intrigued at your photos and descriptions- keep them coming! I’m also impressed that you have a favorite painting and bridge. I live a very sheltered life.