Tour de France

I once read an article that described the French and their characteristics. One of the first "facts" was that they were described as grumpy or rude people. I would not call it a typical stereotype of the French, because I have met such friendly people and people who really want to help. Perhaps due to cultural difference or individual experiences this confusion appeared. France has been my already repeatedly assorted travel destination and has become my standard winter snowboarding destination. However, I must admit that it is always good to know an occasional word in French. Trying to use even the occasional word that you know is welcome. This is particularly true for smaller towns where English is not always the best known language. The third thing I remember is that France is a very expensive country. This is partly true, it is very easy to spend the last euro. However, the way of travel and accommodation can definitely help you save some money. We travelled through the heart of France, the capital of Paris, down to the Cote d'Azur, passed it along, and later pulled from the Atlantic to Biaritz, Arcachon, Bordeaux and back to Paris. On our way we cooked ourselves, drank cheap French wine, slept in camps and railway stations, saved a few euros, afforded some occasional luxury, learned some French, etc. Viva la France.

After some Asiatic food and a few beers in Munich, we sat on the train to Paris. In Paris, we arrived on Saturday evening when nothing worked, nor shops, nor any information on the railway station and we did not carry anything. We had found a camping site in the park Bois du Bologne. On Sunday, of course, again, nothing works, barely bought some croissants and expensive beer in the camp. We thought, ah well, tomorrow is Monday. And then, Monday, the 14th of July, a national holiday, the fall of the Bastille, absolutely nothing works. This event is a French national holiday, were they remember the 14th of July 1789 when the raging revolutionary forces took control of the infamous Bastille fortress, a prison in the Paris suburb of Saint Antoine, a symbol of royal power.

The good thing about Bastille Day is that at this day there’s an abnormal universal festivity everywhere, with a bunch of fireworks and a major firework of about an hour or more at midnight, crazy drinking on the streets of Paris and many concerts. We sat under the Eifel tower at noon, drank and lay in the sun and listened live to James Blunt. When we returned after an hour of walking, to our amazement there was no more free places anywhere. We found a small hole near garbage bags and drank. Billy & Maria from Ireland, Mateja & Me.

Drinking near garbage bags with awesome people. It is unbelievable that in this crowd, which the other day was estimated at one million people and more, police came to us cause of our drinking. Following the advice of our new French friends, we discovered that they keep the alcohol in bags and backpacks, and just pour it into their glasses.

River Seine and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in the background.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame. Here is where the fictional character rang the bells, Quasimodo, created in the imagination of Victor Hugo.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame, to some lovely, to some grotesque and frightening sculptures for water drainage from the roof. Also called the Gargoyle or Gargouille.

In front of one of the world's largest museum, the Louvre. It contains a vast collection of Egyptian and Roman art, a collection of art objects and a huge art gallery with the most famous works of art like Mona Lisa. However, in my opinion, compared to the others, a totally overrated picture. The museum is huge, and tedious. So at some point we managed to fall asleep on a bench and some tourists were taking pictures of us.
I used this picture because I like the people who posed on the right side.

For a great "chill out", resting, socializing, music, "street performance" or a short beer, I recommend everything around the Basilica of Sacré Coeur, which in French means the Sacred Heart. Around the Basilica you can find beautiful little alleys and squares packed with artists, restaurants and cafes.

Another false claim about the French is that girls do not shave their armpits. Maybe in the past, but we passed enough beaches that we can definitely refute that argument. This is the Cote d'Azur, a bunch of tourist resorts, shops and expensive hotels, prestigious destinations such as Nice and Cannes. The coast is nothing special. The only thing that saves the whole situation are palm trees and oleanders. However, we passed these places, and then chose a small town with a medieval fortress, Cagnes Sur Mer.

 

Cagnes Sur Mer, a small medieval castle overlooking the sea, narrow streets, a maze, here and there a light and people enjoying some late evening coffee.

Camping on a hill in Cagnes Sur Mer, breakfast.

Our refrigerator. Butter becomes liquid, you spill it on your bread and it just leaks through it.

Evening walk around Nice.

One of those claims about French and France, which I can still remember is that their toilets are terribly dirty. Well, here is a representative example. I do not know if this example really is from Marseilles as I remember, but we know that this city has remained a ghastly memory. Basically, in one evening we had two opportunities to attract the attention of the local East European or similar kinds of groups which ended up in the beating of a poor woman on the street. It became serious when we slept on the floor in front of the main train station and these scary guys where everywhere waking us up to sell us hashish.

Drying wet clothes.

Arcachon, a beautiful and unreal place along the Atlantic. Nearby is the largest sand dune in Europe, the Dune du Pyla. It has the incredible height of 107 m, is 500 m wide and 3 km long. People walk, play in the sand, sand-board and enjoy paragliding.

It is interesting to run down the dune.. Basically, it’s hard to break anything as the sand is soft and fine as dust..