Due to our early morning departure from Montenegro we stayed in a hotel close by with a shuttle. The front desk assured us that arriving 45 minutes ahead of time for our flight was fine. We all know that if you arrive that close to your departure time in the States, you will miss your flight.
The front desk lady was right and our timing was perfect. The hotel even packed us a lunch "bucket" since we would miss breakfast. In typical Montenegrin fashion, the portions were huge and we only took one "bucket".
An easy short flight to Belgrade, Serbia then on the Paris. We booked our flight into France through one of the many discount airlines in Europe where the plane lands at a small suburb airport instead of the major ones in the city. This made our arrival super easy. Short custom lines and an easy transfer to a bus which dropped us off downtown. We were on a time crunch and needed to catch a train South out of the city so we grabbed a cab. Our taxi ride passed the Arc de Triumph before meeting a traffic jam. From there we jumped out and walked the rest of the way along the Seine River passing Notre Dame.
Automation makes traveling so much easier. Shadow has an app (Maps Me) on his phone that is awesome and has saved our butts when it comes to directions without wifi. Most train and bus stations have an "ATM" style machines that can be changed to English for buying tickets. My Google Translate and Lonely Planet Translate app is perfect since I seem to have been placed in charge of communications...
Shadow laughs when I try and speak a different language. But when I order his pastry and Americano coffee in French with no problems, I'm cool again.
The train was packed heading out of Paris and moved too fast to take photos. Every time we met a train traveling in the opposite direction the pressure wave of speed shook the cabin and scared the crap out of us. Across from us sat two fashionable young French girls. Just before their stop they quickly opened their packs and rolled two cigarettes like professionals. At least they smoke outside here, unlike Central and Eastern Europe.
It was 8pm by the time we arrived to the town of Chateauroux to change trains. Across the street were a few small motels. We found a room, but the kitchen had closed for the night. The nice lady directed us down the street for a place to eat. We unloaded our backpacks in the room and stopped at the first restaurant we found. A Trip Advisor sign hung from he door with 4.5 stars. Perfect we thought. After walking in we discovered it was a Jamaican restaurant. It's not what we had in mind for our first meal in France, but we are hungry and tired. The red wine went down like juice and the food was delicious. Full of spice and flavors we had dreamed of these past few months. Not what we planned, but sometimes that's the best way.
Every time we travel like crazy people, as we did today, I think of the Amazing Race TV Show and Shadow's aunt that want us to apply.
Shadow says, "If we aren't seasoned travelers by now, we will be by the time we are done."
It's midnight. Remember that wonderful wine and meal full of spice? Well, I spent the evening depositing all that into the sewer system.
A long time ago Shadow and I agreed to eat local style foods wherever we traveled. I think that agreement started over some raw oysters in a small North Carolina mountain town. Tonight was a good reminder of that agreement. The next morning Shadow and I check the schedule and found a train leaving mid-morning which gave me time to rest a little before heading out.
An hour more on the train and we had arrived in St. Sulpice-Lauriere. A quiet town with a bakery, meat and cheese shop, pharmacy, and bar. The only place in town to eat was the bar which was also the magazine shop, cafe, and all around convenient store. After asking for a menu, we quickly figured out that serving lunch was not a regular occurrence here. In the end we said that we would take anything to eat. The owner's husband headed to the bakery to buy bread. Much to our disappointment, our lunch consisted a large loaf of French bread sliced in half and potted ham smeared in the middle. Seriously? First off, where's the French country fromage? Secondly, my stomach is pretty sketchy right now and potted meat is dangerous territory.
What are we doing here? Well, we had time left on our Western Europe visa and were tired of doing the tourist circuit. After some research we discovered a website called Workaway.com. There are many other sites similar. Where homeowners look for travelers to stay at their house and work a few hours everyday in exchange for a free place to stay and free food. We sent resumes to places that would be relatively warm and English speaking. A lovely couple 3 hours South of Paris responded. They both left their careers in the UK to find peace and a less stressful life remodeling an old mill as their home and bringing the overgrown property back to life. This was exactly what we were looking for.
Shadow and I had been in deep discussion about our own life lately. It's been 6 years since we had an actual home. We both missed being involved in a community. Staying here would get our feet wet. Andrea and Joe picked us up in their right hand drive VW and took us 30 minutes deep into the rolling hills of the French countryside. Old stone houses dotted farmed fields and gardens. Grass fed cows grazing between forested property. This is exactly how I pictured France in my mind, just better.
Belgrade, Serbia airport.
Shadow found his new car.
1 comment:
Glad your newfound resource worked out and scored you a place! I am bookmarking that one!
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