It took only a few hours to fly my bike and myself to Bulgaria but returning to the Netherlands from Noirmoutier by train is a matter of days, not hours. And so it happens I end my journey with a cultural weekend trip.
Saturday morning I take a hot pink bus from Noirmoutier to Nantes. My bike gets hung on the back of the bus. I find this a very scary setup but all goes well. Saturday afternoon and evening I am in Nantes, in absolute awe of the Machine Company and the annual summer art installation route. Just follow the green line on the street! It goes for some 15 km and leads to a wide variety of cool art pieces, contemporary architecture, and make-shift restaurants. It pours but I don't care. I am officially waterproof by now.
Today I am in Lille, after taking a TGV from Nantes (interestingly enough the special TGV bike wagon was not high enough to hang my, indeed large, bike from the ceiling hook.) Lille is very photogenic. It seems the entire city is made up of shades of grey and blue and purple. It's a true gourmet paradise: I have spotted savory macrons looking exactly like its sweet pink, yellow and green sisters but made with foie gras and truffle instead. There are butcher shops cum restaurants with gleaming chandeliers, serving house-smoked Burgundy beef and artisan blood sausage in very chique surroundings. And what about creme brulee gelato on still warm, homemade wafer cones. (The latter was my Sunday lunch!)
I can not stretch this trip any longer. Tomorrow I am taking the final leg of the train journey back to my parents' house. Eating home-cooked food and sleeping in my own bed suddenly sounds really, really good.
Congrats Heidi! Quite the adventure! Thanks for letting us ride along!
ReplyDeleteCopngratulations, Heidi--what a journey! Your photos are stunning and really share your experience. I would have been worried about my bike on the back of the pink bus too, so am glad it all turned out well.
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