Don't Worry Be Happy

At Dijon we rented a car and made our way up through the champagne region and eventually into Belgium. We've tried to avoid the big highways and instead have taken a lot of side roads into interesting little villages. It sometimes takes us 2 hrs to travel 50 kms and that’s not just because Marj drives slowly! Another village another carousel.. I think this was in Dijon. I can actually buy all this mustard at Butcher Boys: Of course Bruges is basically beer, bike, boat, waffles, chocolates and lace making.  Lots of tourists, limited menu items (moules frites everywhere).  We made truffles. Travelling along the Normandy coast of France brought us to great, expansive sandy beaches, full of sun seekers. So many little villages swarmed with tourists and locals alike. But also a lot of high rise apartments lining the way   The further we got down the coast the less English is spoken which forced me to try a bit of French. Not that successful but with a bit of help from Google t...

As soon as you turn onto Rue de Canada  near Vimy, France, a bit of patriotism takes over. Then to see the memorial - much larger and grander than one could imagine - and to hear the stories, it’s very sobering.  The monument to the First World War battle, where Canada had its greatest losses, was built in the 1930s and stands alone on the ridge where the Germans held force until the Canadian assault in 1917. We also did a tour of the tunnels (the deepest were up to 35 meters underground) and the trenches, some were only 25 meters from the German's trenches. It’s extremely difficult to even imagine the living conditions of the thousands of soldiers that took part in this battle.  There is also a LEGO replica in the visitors centre. 11,285 pieces. Zoom in to check out the detail. Monuments like these honour those who sacrificed all, but also highlight the horrors and senselessness of war.  A lesson not easily learned apparently.

With the exception of Paris we’ve done a pretty good job of avoiding crowds. Most of our cycling took us through very quiet, almost abandoned looking villages with maybe one cafe. Then we came to Beaune which is the capital of the Burgundy region. I wouldn’t say it’s crowded but it’s definitely built for tourism.  From our window in the centre of town Beautiful buildings and little plazas filled with restaurants. Within steps of our airbnb are several boulangeries, many wine shops,  fromageries, and gelato shops. Anything you want to know about burgundy wines is here.  At the gelato place you order via touch screen - first the type (cup,cone etc), then the flavours (chocolate almond, cherry, pistachio for me); pay, then pick up your order.  Quite efficient. I’m fighting a bit of a cold so our activities here have been a bit on the slow side. By the time we got up on Saturday morning the market outside our window was in full swing despite a bit of rainy weather. The v...