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December 19 Monday Bicycle touring France from Adrets France to Cannes la Bocca France People began to arrive for work at 7:15 AM. As I poked my head out of our compact bicycle touring tent's fly, a woman comes over to ask questions about our trip. She tells us this is a school parking lot. We pack up our cycle touring equipment and head back to the phones. It is raining quite heavily. I run out to buy bread and groceries for breakfast which we eat while standing under the overhang of a Mairie, to keep out of the pouring rain. Several times we are wished "bon appetit" by people going into the Mairie. Sharon tries twice more to call the hotel number and gets the same results as last night. I decide to try the other phone -- maybe something is wrong with that phone -- although we used it to call Mme Mayer. On my first attempt with the new phone, I get through to the hotel. Roger and Suzanne are registered in Room 608. There is no answer at their room. I leave a message that we called and will be arriving at noon. We hope they're not in Italy. We cycle down the mountain into a cold drenching rain. We found Rue de la Verrie on our tourist info map in La Bocca beside Cannes. It's a short street, only a couple of blocks long. As we enter a street, we see a bike shop. Since our feet are soaked from our worn out cycling shoes we go in to check out new cycling shoes. Prices range from $100 - $400. And they don't look as well made as the ones we have. A woman comes and tells me not to touch the shoes. Great customer service. We leave. We find Rue de la Verrie. No numbers are on the eight-story tall hotels. We go into one that we figure should be six and ask for Roger Lanteigne in Room 608. The desk informs us Monsieur "Tan" has gone out. We sit in the lobby reading and waiting. The desk personnel go for lunch. We have begun to be suspicious of our Monsieur "Tan" and ask for clarification. Is this 6 Rue de la Verrie? No, it's the next building over. We move our bikes over and go inside. Yes, Roger Lanteigne is registered in 608, but he's gone out. No message. We sit down to wait. We are still wet and now we are freezing in the lobby as a stiff breeze wafts through the open windows. After an hour Sharon's lips have turned blue. We both have to go to the washroom. We wonder if we have missed them and they have gone to Italy for a week or something. Sharon suspects the worst with our luck. Voyage of the damned. They left this morning, with our luck. What to do? I decide to tell the new desk clerk that we are staying with Roger and Suzanne, but they have gone out and I don't know when they will be back. Can I get a key to the room? He looks in the slot for an extra key. None. He asks for my passport as he checks the computer, then confirms names and calls for a maintenance man to open the door for us. We go with him up the elevator and voila! Inside. The heat is cranked up to 90 and its blast furnace hits us like a wave when we open the door. It feels good. We wearily sink down onto a couch. We're here! Finally! Hmm. As we look around, it doesn't look as if they've packed up to be away for a long time. And the dishwasher is on. Sharon sees a key for Room 606, so she checks it out. She says no one is there, but reports there are lots of shoes, clothes, and school books. I write a note to stick on the door warning them we are inside and not to have a heart attack when they stumble in on two beleaguered cyclists. Sonia is the first to arrive. She laughs at the note and says they were wondering if we would ever get here. Seems they have a bet going. Roger thought we would never find the place unless we asked a cab driver. Roger and Suzanne are out buying groceries. In about ten minutes Roger and Suzanne arrive. We pour out our heartfelt thanks and relief of finding them. Roger is hyper. He takes me over to Room 606 and shows me the bedroom where we can stay. He is going 90 miles an hour and says they are planning on going to Paris for four days, then Italy to Rome and Florence. We can come if we like or stay here. We're pretty bagged from our train ride ordeal and decide to sleep on it before affirming one way or the other. We take our bikes up the back way into an elevator and then put our touring bikes out onto the balcony. They tell us they have been starving since they arrived on the thirteenth; they've eating nothing but "stupid baguettes." They hate them. The crust is too crunchy. We go with them to buy groceries. They start to go into a little street store. We tell them there is a supermarket a few blocks from here. Suzanne says sure let's go there if the prices are cheaper and there's more selection. We assure her it will be both and we walk down the street. Roger and Sonia stop into a travel agency to check prices and times for planes and trains to Paris. They meet us at the Intermarche as we stockpile a grocery cart. By the time we're done the cart is heaped and the bags are too heavy for us to carry home. We decide to take the grocery cart back to the hotel which solves our carrying capacity dilemma. Roger pushes while I pull the front end over curbs. We rattle down the street pushing this cart past people gaping as we continue past policemen standing on corners. It's illegal to remove carts. We put the cart in the elevator and head up
to the room. Once the groceries are unloaded, Roger and I return
the cart in their rental car. I want to tie the cart behind and
ride in it, but roger says no. Roger and Suzanne complain that the hotel doesn't supply toilet paper and they have to buy their own. We celebrate Sonia's birthday. |
