On Monday
the 21st, we had booked a train to take us to Sedan. We decided to get
to the station an hour before our train, and that was a good thing
because it took half an hour to get through the line to pick up the
actual tickets. After that everything went super smooth. We took a TGV
to Charleville-Meziers, where we transferred to a local train to Sedan.
The TGV was very nice. Plenty of leg room, sizeable overhead bins, tray
tables, cup holders. There was a food cart but we didn’t visit it. The
local train was almost as nice. It was actually nicer because it was
almost empty and we took a “booth” for just the two of us. (The blog
entry for Paris was written on the TGV, btw.)
In Sedan we
were met by Ann-Flore and her friend. We had met Ann-Flore through
CouchSurfing when I was looking for a
small town to spend a few days in. She was as friendly as could be, and
quickly had us back to her apartment. We just sat around and talked
through the afternoon, waiting for Tim, a couchsurfer from Berkeley who
would be there for 1 night. Ann-Flore is very critical of the town she
lives in, and told us at great length how burning cars is the local late
night entertainment. Despite this, she also says the town is completely
safe. The locals just like burning cars. Tim came, Ann-Flore’s friend
left, and we had a nice long dinner whose main feature was home-made
quiche. Afterwards we went on a short walk to the local castle.
The next day
Tim left early, while Danielle and I bummed around a bit. We wanted to
relax a bit after running around in Paris, and the apartment was perfect
for that. It’s on the 10th floor, has a nice balcony with a great view
of the castle, the town, and some of the surrounding countryside.
Inside, Ann-Flore has done a great job decorating, giving it a really
distinctive and fun feel. To top it all off, the world’s softest rabbit,
Odule, lives there as well.
Danielle and I wanted to cook dinner, so we all went to LeClerc grocery
store, which is what would happen if a grocery store grows into a
WalMart. We found almost everything we needed for chili and guacamole,
except for cilantro (we substituted parsley) and jalapenos (we
substituted some other pepper). Finding chili powder was a little
tricky, but we found packages of “Mexican seasonings” which seemed to be
about the same thing.
That
afternoon Danielle and I walked to the castle in town, whose claim to
fame is that it’s the largest fortified something-or-other from the
medieval period in Europe. It certainly was impressive to see the giant
walls at the bottom. Large chunks were missing, but the walls were so
thick (70 feet or so) that it didn’t seem to affect things at all.
Inside, I really enjoyed seeing the stalactites that had formed on the
ceiling. You know your house is old when there’s stalactites hanging
from the ceiling. (You also know it’s damp and not well-insulated.)
While I was off on the beans, and made a last-minute swap for rice, the
chili tasted very nice. The guacamole without cilantro tasted like it
needed something extra, but was still fine. We ate all that at another
lengthy meal. We talked about various things, but I really should
mention again (because she did) that Ann-Flore does not like Sedan, or
most of the people in it. But we enjoyed the place. It must just be that
living somewhere gives you a different perspective than visiting.
We had
planned to leave the next day, but lack of and poor planning made it
easier to stay another night, and our generous host was fine with that.
So the next day Danielle and I visited the local farmer’s market, which
also included fishmongers, butchers (buy a half rabbit, eyes and all),
and lots of clothes vendors. It was nice to see a real local market,
where you can see people meet (and kiss on the cheeks) their friends,
and just chat a bit. We’d bought too much food (as always), but still
made a very nice lunch salad.
After lunch Ann-Flore drove us to Bouillon in Belgium. As a sign of how
tired I really was, I hallucinated a spider walking down my leg while in
the car. I freaked out enough (well, mostly I cursed loudly) that the
car was stopped to investigate. I don’t think I’ve ever done something
like that before.
In Bouillon
we toured yet another castle. This castle was much more impressive than
the one in Sedan. It looks much more like a castle is supposed to look.
For one it has 3 draw bridges in a row and a portcullis. Near the
entrance it also has a very cool staircase whose rocks are cut so
perfectly that no mortar was used in its construction at all! Inside the
castle we had a variety of great views, and learned a little bit about
its history. We also saw a raptor show, which was very cool. They had an
eagle, some hawks, and some falcons all fly directly overhead. If I’d
raised my arm and had really fast reflexes I could have touched one.
They also had, just sitting there on a leash several other birds. The
most interesting was an Andes Condor, which is really ginormous. The
sign says it has a wingspan of 10 feet, but I didn’t actually get to see
that.
After the
castle (and a stop at a Belgian chocolate store), we took a drive around
the countryside on the French side of the border. It really is totally
different than what we’re used to. There are lots of tiny villages (just
a few streets) which all have their main square and church. Then as you
leave them there is maybe 5 miles of farmland, until you encounter the
next small village. It’s a layout that really makes sense if you imagine
life when most people just walked to get around, and reminds you that
people didn’t always have easy access to cars.
Finally we
stopped at a pair of World War II bunkers, where a small group of French
soldiers held out for 4 days against the German Blitzkrieg. The place at
one time was covered in barbed wire, while only a small amount remains
today. Seeing the damage that German bullets and artillery have done to
the turrets (which appear to be about 15 inches of steel) is really
amazing. I’ve never seen that kind of damage before.
So now we’ve
seen 3 fortresses in 2 days, and it’s interesting to think about their
differences and similarities. And while it’s been relaxing, it has not
really been restful. So fairly tired but not stressed out, we set off on
the next leg of our journey to Landshut, which involves train, overnight
bus, and train again.
