April 14th.
A refreshing shower in 12-degree warmth woke us up. Breakfast on the grass. Coffee with bread. We decided to postpone yogurt and muesli until lunch. The weather is improving – it’s time to switch to summer clothing.
After a slow morning, we set off around eleven. Around noon, we stopped to admire the medieval city of Langres. It was known as Andematunum even during the Roman Empire.
The city, built on a high hill, is surrounded by tall stone walls. In the heart of the city stands a magnificent Catholic cathedral. The narrow streets allow for cars, but not for trailers. We walked and enjoyed a French Sunday!
We continued our journey with medieval thoughts. We traveled through smaller toll-free roads, passing through dozens of similar small villages. In between them, there were magnificent fields and forest landscapes. Yellow, green, and dark brown shades were still strongly represented. Occasionally, the straw manure piles brought an additional scent to the strong smell of rapeseed!
In the evening, we started looking for smaller villages in mountainous terrain. We could see that France lives a different Sunday. Here, people don’t work 24/7 on Sundays. Here, Sundays are spent with family and loved ones. All the cafes were closed – even though the internet said they were open! When we inquired, we got shrugged shoulders and apologetic smiles. Persistent trying led us to a slightly larger center where we found open pizzerias. They were run by people of another faith. We ordered two seafood pizzas with our nonexistent French, which the staff cooked in a magnificent wood-fired oven. Impressive work. And we could eat the pizzas – partly. We packed the leftovers to eat on our way to our overnight stay, so that we could at least drive to our destination in some kind of light. Eva found a bush parking spot by the Loire River online. There’s no one else here – not even lights. I doubt anyone even knows we’re staying here. Of course, we locked the doors! I’ll keep the knife within reach for the night! France is different from Germany! I’m eagerly looking forward to Spain and especially Portugal!