Halcyon days
Where there's a will there's a way!
I went cycling L'Avenue Verte to test drive the place-relative, time-contesting mobile app I have in the works and to find inspiration finishing off the next one. Leaving home as Storm Éowyn was about to hit, I was excited and feeling lucky. But I needed to be careful because it had been a while since last venturing outside of Greater London from Ipswich to Snape for Aldeburgh Festival on John Craxton's centenary. So I played it safe and cut through Surrey Hills, which was quicker, but obviously steep no less.
Boarding the overnight ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe security asked why the trouble in such conditions and I could think of no short answer except that I was crazy. Free from severe weather danger, I took it easy in the morning, had breakfast in Neufchâtel and a nice café au lait in Gournay on the river Epte, which was a bit surreal to walk around as the center of town was wired with moss covered speakers chirping Ballade de Jim! It then started pouring down, but I made it to near Gisors for a pit stop, however soaked to the bone and baptized in Pays de Bray mud, no problem.
The final stretch was equally wonderful. There were moments I worried my toes would totally freeze and fall off, but crossing into Île-de-France was at least encouraged to see other riders. And in Avernes I feasted on freshly baked viennoiserie from a surprisingly well stocked village vending machine.
Along the way I debated what soundtrack would best suit entering The City of Light in triumph. Boléro? March No. 4? The Bear? Eventually, I was too tired to enjoy any music from the many slippery trails my diabolical navigator sent me on. I was also disappointed the Axe Majeur I wanted to photograph in Cergy was closed.
Reaching Belleville, colorful and busy as always, was a real shot in the arm. Definitely a great choice staying there. As I had this trip planned for months, I tried to be a good boy booking some culture in advance. Probably routine for him singing Dichterliebe, but Ian Bostridge at L'Athénée Louis-Jouvet was superfine. Oddly enough, Piotr Anderszewski used stacking chairs instead of a piano stool, which was funny to me because of Iain Burnside's accompanying James Atkinson at Wigmore Hall a couple weeks earlier kept creaking as he was getting ready to play.
The bomb I had heard about the Louis XIV levels of gold here, but to witness it IRL was truly dazzling. The amount of detail everywhere you look!
I also saw Castor et Pollux at Palais Garnier, a classic case of first I check is too soon and next too late for a reasonably priced ticket. Both too young and too old to benefit from discount rates, I was prepared a €10 seat would be more punishment than consolation considering I once forked out plenty for Tristan und Isolde at the Lincoln Center to only suffer in return. But I was wrong. And flex dancing was very impressive and I was grateful for the happy ending having had my spirits ruined listening to Tosca on the radio the day before.
I would have gladly called it mission accomplished between the tasty food and wine and making new friends. However, no fully assembled bikes are allowed on the Eurostar to London unless departing Brussels. Taking apart mine would have been nightmare and there were Recursers presenting at FOSDEM that weekend so I went. Just that I had to travel some of the distance by other means to stay on schedule.
While I was curious to visit Familistère de Guise, the fourierist community that drew on lessons from a short-lived former colony in the Dallas area and likely opposite of absolutist Fordlândia, they were closed. Therefore, I caught the TER regional train to Maubeuge at the non border with Belgium compliments of SNCF, no reservation required, and carried on from there. That gave me time to check out both the Olga de Amaral and Chiharu Shiota awesome retrospectives.
Going on the EuroVelo 3 or Pilgrims Route along the Sambre and the Charleroi Canal was beautiful. It was as if you were invited and almost forgiven to forget about all the miners in the provinces of sillon industriel and what hardships they must have faced or how coke fuel for example remains in demand worldwide today.
U-turn ages in the making From looting and the human zoo of Tervuren (1897) to supporting restitution (2022).
I have to deal with important fast approaching deadlines for now, but look forward to exploring more of the UK and the continent come spring if I can.