Monday 17/02/2020 — Day 33
Ahh, the simple things in life… like a lie in 🙂 Then I made pancakes for me and Vivette which make a nice treat to a rest day!
I worked out what I wanted to do on my day off before heading into town to explore and tick things off. The thing that was most important to me was trying to find somewhere to look at the bike… but odd thing in France is that most of the small shops are actually shut on Mondays, so I had no joy with that. But it was really nice to explore the city, and I picked up a couple of maps for the next stage of the journey.
Pancakes are yum 
Main street 
Fountains in a garden 
Multicoloured statues 
Bright colours in a small garden 
One of the main entrances to the town 
You will not fall down! And seemed to be people still living in it! 
Joan d’Arc Statue 
Loved the name of this restaurant!
During my wanders I saw lots of street art including a whole set of bicycles in different places stuck into walls! It was fun to see and I wonder what is going on.
First Bicycle climbing a wall 
This one has lost its wheeel 
One half of the bike… 
And here is the other 
Cool crab 
I like the use of the cracks in the wall 
Swim mister city whale
I visited the old medical gardens as well, but they were shut. Got some nice views from the road though. I stuck my head into the Medical University as well, the door was open and no one told me ‘Non’. The university is connected to the cathedral so I had a look at that. I think I end up visiting a lot of churches and cathedrals because they are free and I find the Catholic imagery really interesting coming from Protestant churches at home.
Medical Gardens 
Looks really interesting, even in Winter 
Entrance to the Medical University… I am told it is the oldest in Europe 
Entrance hall with its cool stairs 
I think this is a lecture theatre or maybe the Anatomy Musuem (Not suitable for children under 11 :O ) 
View of the Cathedral from the courtyard of the Medical building 
Entrance to the Cathedral has to be one of the more impressive structures I have seen so far 
Straight on view of the entrance the towers are really tall. 
Altar end of the Cathedral 
Massive organ with some really good lighting I like the shadows on the ceiling 
Another of the entrances… I really like the towers
From there my bimble took me into the old town again and I ended up loving the little winding streets. I grabbed some postcards and wrote them up in a little cafe, which quite by accident turned out to be an English book shop… but it had these cool nooks of Harry Potter stuff that made me laugh.
Little courtyards tucked away with fountains 
Narrow streets which I love to explore 
Another running fountain which was making the street wet not that you could tell in the rain 
I like the colour of the streets in the rain and the signs hanging for each shop 
Fancy newer building in the city 
Old Tower building with a little off shoot 
I like the mix of slightly run down and shine new 
Rainbow Street leading to the cafe/bookshop I hid from some of the rain in 
Hot chocolate and post cards a nice change of pace 
Service shaft at one point now a interesting feature 
Harry Potter corner 
Bathroom with a twist, no I didn’t try to go to the Ministry
I then headed back to Vivette’s flat to get started on the blog post catching up on the last week, and to chill, drink as much tea as possible, and hang out with Vivette. We had a lovely dinner together again and I tried something new — salsify — which I don’t remember ever seeing before (maybe the dandi-trees that seem to thrive in the back garden are actually an untapped resource?!)
Thank you Vivette for being an awesome host and letting me have a good rest day.
The plan tomorrow is for a slow start and go straight to the bike shop for when it opens at 10 to ask someone to look at my chain and maybe my handle bars. Then I will see how far I get. I would like to spend a little time in Arles as it is just off the route and has some interesting Roman stuff. Or maybe I shouldn’t worry too much as I will be in Italy soon and I am sure it is everywhere…
I hope you have enjoyed these two updates, and like the use of galleries rather then having the images all in a line? Next instalment soon… (hopefully!)
PS — realised I’m now further North than when I started in Santander… ?!
5 Comments
Add Yours →Awesome! Looks so pretty there Ruth.
Massive thumbs up for that HP corner. I want that portrait of the fat lady on my bedroom door 🤣
Much love xxx
Enjoying your updates and gallery photos Ruth. It’s great seeing the tracker and your progress too 👍
Christine
Great photos ! Good to see that you are already almost done with France.
Yes, the galleries are better this way, now we just need the planned route to be plotted on the tracker screen and that will be perfect !
Yikes you have gone into italia. Come stai. If you’re going to diano marina past San remo. Camping marino. This is a site beside the disused railway station. Under floor heating in the showers lol. Cheap site open all year. The old railway line maybe part of your route.
I love all your photos and nice words! Very inspiring. Hope you have fun in Italy xx