Bike for Orphans

We biked up to the Presidential Palace and as I was walking my bike a guard starting blowing his whistle at me to stop. A black sedan was leaving the Palace so I stopped and the car went by but it wasn't the Prince.

We continued cycling to the Italian border and passed through quite uneventfully on Friday afternoon. I am not sure what they will be doing with all the old border crossing buildings but they appear to be in a pretty sad state of affairs. Our destination for today was Sanremo, Italy and we arrived and found a nice spot along the beach to set up our tents. Simon started his trip in Barcelona and has camped in the wild every night where I tend to go to campsites. It is easier to wild camp when you have company so we both set up our tents. I have a gas stove and he just eats cold food from grocery stores so appreciated the ability to heat up some of his food.

I spent 37 days and cycled over 2,000 km's in France and have a few impressions of the country, strictly personal and based on the limited numbers of people I have met and things I have experienced. There are often stereotypes of the French as being aloof and intolerant of those who cannot speak their language. I have heard and read that description my entire life and can simply say it is another example of something that most people accept as a truth because so many repeat it and it gets repeated because so many have heard it but I have to wonder how many of those people have actually stepped out of Paris for any length of time. It's like judging all of America by stopping for 2 days in New York.

France is the most visited country in the world and you will run into cases where they are tired of always responding to the same questions from people who don't speak French but imagine if you were on your way to work and stopped regularly, in a foreign language, for directions to the nearest hotel. I know the response I would get if I were in New York, Toronto or even Bermuda on a workday. If you hear and read that people are supposed to act in a certain way there is a tendency to amplify the examples that support your preconceived notion and it then becomes reinforced and repeated to others. There are rude people in every city I have ever visited.

There can be no dispute however on the beauty and diversity of France. From the rolling green pastures of Normandy, to the warm sun-soaked vineyards of Bordeaux and the stunning coast of the Mediterranean, France can appeal to any interest. It is a cycling paradise with warm weather, easy to navigate roads, plentiful camping sites and numerous bike paths. France has something for everyone but the thing that really surprised me are the people who often went out of their way to offer a smile, a thumbs up as I struggled up the hills or a handshake and hearty bonjour to thank me for coming into their restaurant to order a coffee. I have made comments on a few occasions about how everything shuts down for 2 hours during lunch but it is hard to argue against their desire to spend long leisurely lunches and dinners with their family and friends. That lifestyle is evident in the villages but disappearing in the big cities. In North America we insist on convenience and 24 hour service but there is a big price to pay for that in terms of families that are almost strangers because they spend so little time together, particularly at meals. Maybe they are the ones who have things figured out and we could learn from their example.