Arrondissement de Montbrison

Yay yay yay, today we woke up and it wasn’t raining. Such a better feeling for the day. Though we expected some rain during the day, it only tried a couple of times and mainly was lovely and fine. We had ordered bread from the campsite – chose a ‘pain’ but didn’t know how large it was – it was huge! By the time we decided that it was a lovely day, and that we would go off on our bikes it was pretty late. We biked into Strasbourg old town, and it was just soooo pretty. The cathedral was marvellous from the outside, and like many others, the pictures just don’t do it justice. They are very high, so it is hard to get that perspective with a camera. We locked our bikes up and walked around everywhere. One thing we were really surprised at was the amount of gingerbread men toys, ceramics, etc that there were. We had no idea that it was such a thing in the province of Alsace, but apparently it is particularly in December. The toys were very cute, but I restrained myself – oh it would have been good to do that for the rest of the day!

Our first real shopping stop was Pylone – we had been to this store in Italy as I was trying to get something for my nephew that I had bought there before, but had no luck. Though we both found some other pretty cool things to buy – the cutest little gumboots for a toothbrush holder was one of them. We walked quite a way, had fun with some wandering policemen who weren’t keen on Jody taking a picture of them. The patisseries have the most amazing food, and I had a lovely raspberry concoction from one of them. The serving lady was lovely, and when I said I wanted to eat there, she quickly put a reserved sign on the only free table before I did my order. Couldn't find the market we had googled, but stumbled on it by mistake. Hmmm, how did another linen jacket find its way into my bag? Also managed to have a lemon and sugar crepe. Then we found our way to Little France which is the old part of town with some stunning buildings near a river. It was really still today so we got to take some lovely pictures. We were both a bit tired by this stage, and wanted something to eat (that a chair came with), but it was 3pm and everything was closed.

So we made our way back to our bikes, and just beside there found a pub that was open. We had a nice quiche lorraine with salad for a very late lunch. When we both googled where we were, one word flashed up – Uniqlo. This is a store that I love to visit when in London, and where some of my puffer jackets have come from. So yes we used googlemaps to find out way there, and after going in the wrong direction as per usual found the store very near where we had been earlier in the day. We both might have made a few purchases there (I think I won!). We have both been a bit curious as to what KFC tasted like overseas, and there was a store opposite Uniqlo so we gave it a try. The hotwings were like NZ, but the fries were not – no chicken salt on them, and not very nice. Oh well, we have done that now and won’t be doing it again! So then it was time to get back to Nico. We had also been to a supermarket during the day – requirements were tomatoes, and a shower sponge (as mine had disintegrated). We achieved that as well as a few other items (I came back to France really just for the Cote D’or chocolate!). So our bags were quite full and heavy. So on our way back to Nico of course we headed in the wrong direction so it took a while to get back, but it was a lovely evening so it didn’t matter at all. There were a lot of lovely historic buildings on our bike trail which looked to be deserted. So back at Nico in a new pitch site – when we said this morning we wanted to stay another night we had to move. It is a nice campsite here, but not quite as nice as the one in Freiburg. Those damn push button showers again.

During today I mentioned the chicken thighs in the fridge which we had both forgotten about. Jody cooked them up for dinner – I think I will have to try this slow roasting of them at home some time. And we played some 2 handed 500 which I haven’t done for years which was fun. We would like to stay here for longer as it really is lovely, but it is supposed to be raining again tomorrow, so we will reassess in the morning. If raining we might just start making our way to Luxemburg – I don’t wanna leave France tho!Weiterlesen