Country 9: France

The first night in France was spent in a small town called Auxonne. This was the first time that Micke had troubles communicating with the locals. For most of Eastern Europe if you can converse in German you are good to go. Moving to the Western part of Europe German does not help you, and particularly in this small town, neither does English. But we managed.

I was reminded of my fathers stories of his trip through Europe so many years ago when I entered the bathrooms- and to my dismay I saw something I did not want to see:
squatters toilets.

I was not impressed. But thankfully they were not available in the larger campsites that we stayed in, I only had to deal for one night.

Krista (a friend from university) joined us in Paris. For three days it was three of us and then on the Friday Micke left to drive home and Krista and I continued on our adventure with the train. We spend 3 days in Paris, seeing the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Moulin Rouge. We drank wine in the park, chatted about old times and new time. Basically had a great time.

Backpacking is much harder than driving around in a car. It is an experience, one I will never forget. It is exhausting however- constantly trying to find lodgings for the night- usually on foot with a heavy bag. This was not my idea of a good time.

After Paris it was
a night Bordeaux
a day on the beach in Biarritz
a day hiking in the hills of the Pyrenees
and then off to Spain.