It rained a little and the waitress at the lunch spot was crying. I don't know why. We ate bread and cheese and beer for lunch and then found out that the campground we were heading for no longer existed. Surprise! We had to bike on to the next town. While beer is delicious and should be drunk at lunch when one is on vacation and eating at an outdoor cafe on the banks of a river, it is cryptonite for biking. As we prepared to saddle up and slog on, a German couple hit us up. Where we from? Why did we leave California to come to Europe? Why were we riding bikes the whole way?! They thought we were crazy to pick Europe as a destination when it was their dream to go to San Francisco. And as for bike touring, they could barely believe the loads we had strapped to our bikes. We told them it was the best way to travel and to try it for themselves. There's really nothing like going somewhere you've never been before on your bike. You aren't in the bubble of your car. You really are out in the world, part of your surroundings.
We biked out of town past monuments to Joan of Arc for organizing an army and saving the city from the British.
The Bastille day fireworks started that night and we saw several different large shows going on up and down the river. There were at least six other couples camping near us who were also on bike tour. Seeing our counterparts we felt validated that weren't crazy for liking to bike camp. In the morning we met a couple from Sweden and struck up a friendship. They were photographing all the other bike tourists they ran into. After taking our picture, she took this picture of us.
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