Being in Paris has confirmed a suspicion of ours.  Before coming to France we had a number of people tell us that they would start a conversation with a new person in French, but the local person would quickly change to, and continue the conversation in English.  We have not been experiencing that, until today in Paris.

 

I think it is safe to say that in the countryside we have found very few people who can speak in English.  In fact, it was a little strange today, as we arrived in Paris, to once again hear people speaking in English.  This has not been our experience for the past 5 days, in both northern France and Belgium.

 

Our most difficult situation so far, was in attempting to purchase our TGV (high-speed train) ticket from Arras to Paris yesterday.  No one at the ticket counter spoke English and it took quite a while to determine what we needed to do in order to get our folding Tandem bicycle on the train.

 

It was difficult, but we managed to negotiate the TGV and two subways in Paris to reach our hotel.  Jon carried the folded Tandem in its bag, and Mary Carol negotiated our 75 pound trailer/suitcase from train to train and then to the Minerva Hotel on the left bank in Paris.

 

It is a wonderful location!  Just a few blocks away we found a series of outdoor shops called Au Vieux Campeur.  The one specializing in maps was amazing: rooms and rooms of detailed maps for any kind of travel anywhere in the world!  We were finally able to find maps with detailed road information specific to what bicyclists need – covering the Loire Valley and Normandy.