FRANCE 2009: Americans in France – Day Two

PHOTOS TO COME

Hi All —

August 24, 2009 (Besancon, France)

Started out fairly early this morning in an effort to make it to Besancon (about 500 kilometers/300 miles ±) from Cairanne by early afternoon.

Naturally, getting out of the area took longer than calculated (and we were a bit tired from the very intense socializing last night until the wee hours)… But the drive was fairly smooth — passing through cities and villages we’ve been to in the past — Lyon, Dijon, Beaune, etc… But the drive was also definitely longer and more trying than we expected, and we didn’t arrive in Besancon until about 5 pm (We were shooting for 3!).. Lots of traffic; lots of construction on the roads (maybe France got our stimulus money); a bad decision to stop in a very cute small village, Apse, for a quick lunch (forgetting that the French don’t do anything quickly — especially food); a few detours due to construction; and a very very long tunnel around Lyons where about 5 lanes (cars are practically riding on the bumpers of the cars in front) have to merge into two lanes (where it is required that you keep certain distance — about 3 car lengths – from the car in front — it’s marked on the road and there is a big fine for being closer)…  Anyway, made it to Besancon.

Took a long walk around the town; it’s totally delightful — tomorrow we’ll leave a bit later than originally planned for Basel (since we’ve been there before) to see more of Besancon. .. several walking streets, bridges connecting two sides of the town and an amazing citadel at the top of the hill that we’ll attempt to hike up to..

Had dinner at a rather chic (but casual) restaurant.. outside on a plaza (there are many plazas in the town).. Food was great, but at about 10:30 it started to rain.. complete with lightning and thunder… The restaurant — rather efficiently — opened the awnings.. and we all continued with dinner… unaffected by the rather strong rain (except for the noise).. but the rain “dampened’ our intention to take an after dinner walk through town to the river… so instead I phoned the office and caught up on some lingering work that I know people are expecting from me.

Take care —
More tomorrow.
Au revoir
Fern