April 15
"A stranger invites me into his home, offers me wine, cheese and cooks me chicken"
Since I didn't have so far to ride today, I took the time to go to a museum, La Cour de Or, a historical museum containing many Gallo-Roman sculptures, artifacts and exhibits. Learned about the Cult of Mithras, an early competitor with Christianity in the region.
I noticed on my map that a place I had to cycle through had a stonehenge-looking icon next to it. It indicated the presence of a menhir, a stone-age human monument that is usually nothing more than a stone, sometimes carved, put in an unnatural position. While looking for the menhir, I had to ascend a hill that was very difficult with my full pack and on such a hot day. I befriended a Frenchman on a bicycle who asked me what I was doing. I told him I was looking for a menhir. He told me it sucked and was not worth the effort and invited me to take a break at his house which was nearby. He told me that his house was up on the hill and that it would be hard getting up there. He was right... but I just kept it on the lowest gear and trudged my way along. He cooked me chicken and I met his mother. Delicious wine and cheese. He told me he was disappointed that his kids were lazy and not doing well in school. His mom, a native of the area could speak both German and French. He could speak it fluently as well, but it was not his native language. I couldn't really tell if German or French was the native language of his mother. Because my French was still really rusty at this point, I said about half the stuff in German, because he assured me he could understand it well, even though he couldn't always find the right words.
Spent the night at an American's home in Toul whom I met using Couchsurfing.com. She is married to a Frenchman and arranges storybook marriages at castles in France for American clients. She told me I was going to love the Loire Valley, because of all the awesome castles and chateaux.
Museum fee 4.60