I'm Not There

Today’s French patisserie is nougatine (Miel, Amandes) from La Tourrettoise in Vence. A tastey square piece of flakey crust with a layer of honey and several layers of almond slices. I’ve never been a big fan of honey, but this was good. Not overly sweet. The almonds provide a nice crunch with the flakey crust. Rating: 6 out of 10. Click image for larger version.

Arrived in Nice around 1:00 in the afternoon about three hours later than when I was scheduled to arrive, so overall not so bad. I checked with baggage people there and they told me my bike and bag would be coming in that afternoon around 3:00 or 3:30. Great news, as the London folks had told me they wouldn’t arrive until the next day! I headed over to Terminal 2 to pick up my car at Europcar. There was a very long line, but fortunately it moved at a reasonable pace. I was a little concerned that my bike box wouldn’t fit in the car, but everything was great. I got a fantastic car, almost brand new. It is a Renault Megane, a four dour hatchback and very modern. No key, just a credit card sized piece of plastic that you slide into the dashboard and a button that you push to start the engine. I got it at a great price, just $200 USD a week, with unlimited mileage. Plenty of room in the back for my bike box once I put the two back seats down.

I headed off for Vence. I’ve ridden there several times on my bike, so I know the route. It’s only about ten miles from the Nice airport to Vence, so I was there in twenty minutes or so. However, I could not, for the life or me, find my hotel, La Closerie des Genets. I searched and searched, going back and forth down the street I thought it should be on. Finally, I decided to park in a parking garage and ask someone for help. But as I was walking up the street I found the hotel, tucked down a side street. The door was locked and no one answered. I was finally able to rouse the owner after some more knocking and he checked me in.

La Closerie des Genets is a fine little hotel if you are looking for something inexpensive and don’t require much. My room is very small, there’s not much in the way of drawers and storage areas. No desk. No phone. But, it’s clean, quite and cheap. I’m only paying 40 Euros per night, which is very, very good. So, I can live with the lack of extras as I’m trying not to spend too much money on this trip. There are certainly better hotels in Vence, but even the next step up is about twice the price.

I got settled in, upacked most of the carry on stuff I had with me and gave the British Airways lost luggage number a call. They said that, yes indeed, my luggage and bike had arrived at the Nice airport. I asked if they were going to deliver it to me that evening. Well, they couldn’t really say. I asked if someone could call me and let me know. If they were not going to then I’d come and get it myself. They said they would. About three hours later, no word. I called again. Same runaround. They weren’t sure when it would be delivered, but they’d have someone call me and let me know if they were not going to deliver today. An hour later I realized no one was going to call me and there was no telling when they’d get around to delivering my stuff. It was almost 7:00PM by now, so I hopped in my car and headed for the airport. Picked up my bike and bag and headed back to Vence, getting very tired now, as I’d only had about 2 hours sleep in the last 24 hours.But, I was very happy to have my bike and luggage.

Back at the hotel I put my bike together (for the most part), gave Carole a call and went to sleep.

So we arrived late at the London airport. I had an hour and 10 minute layover here in London before my flight to Nice. By the time I was able to get off the plane, travel through the various terminals, go through security yet again and make it to the gate my plane was gone. I was put on the next flight, which luckily was only about an hour and a half later. Of course, that flight got delayed as well. I spoke to the ticket agent about my bike and luggage. She was able to look them up via the computer and told me they probably wouldn’t be getting to Nice until the next day (Saturday). Had breakfast at a great little place called Giraffe. Wandered around the terminal a bit, looking for a Wi-Fi connection, but couldn’t find one. Finally got in the air and was off to Nice.

Well, this is not good. Just as we were about to land in Miami the pilot aborted the landing and took us to Ft. Lauderdale instead. Apparently sudden winds at ground level had made it unadvisable to land. Now normally they would just circle around awhile until it was safe to land, but, as the pilot explained, we had used up all of our fuel flying around storms between Nashville and Miami. So, off to Ft. Lauderdale we went to refuel. We were on the ground there about an hour and then a 10 minute flight back to Miami. By the time we landed, deplaned down stairs, collected luggage and took a shuttle bus to the terminal it was now 5:10 and obviously I was never going to make my connection to London at 5:15. I went to the British Airways desk and asked them what to do. They explained that the flight had already left and they would try to put me on “standby” for the next flight. At this point I had to ask myself why I was being put on “standby.” To me I should be given priority, as they were the ones who caused me to miss the first flight. But, I kept my questions to myself for the time being. The ticket agent phoned someone and then said suddenly, “It’s still here. They’ve been slightly delayed, but they are leaving any minute. You need to run as fast as you can to the gate and they will try to hold the plane for you.” OK. Unfortunately, I had to go to a new terminal and I had to go through security again. The ticket agent at least waved me to the front of the line. And then it was a mad dash through three terminals. I arrived in time, they put me on the plane, covered in sweat and at almost immediately we were off. It was apparent though that my bike and my luggage did not make the flight. The best thing to come out of all this was I found myself in a three seat section with on one else! This is almost unheard of on overseas flights these days. They are almost always completely full. What this meant was that I could lay down and sleep on the flight, a true luxury, which is exactly what I did. I managed to get a couple hours of sleep I think, it’s not easy to sleep on those seats. Next stop London.

So far, so good at the Nashville airport. Checked in fine. An extra $60 for my bike, which is much cheaper than I’ve paid before. Previous years it has been anywhere from $120 to $225. Of course, they wanted to open my carefully packed bike, which is always a drag. Luckily, the woman doing the inspection couldn’t figure out how to close the box so she let me come behind the counter and close and secure it, so I feel OK about it now.

Flight was supposed to leave at 11:15, but a sudden thunderstorm put us behind. We changed gates, waited for a plane to move out of the way and finally left Nashville about an hour late. I’m on my way.

I don’t know what it is about this drink, but I’ve never found anything that refreshes me better and faster during or after a long ride than Orangina. I can drink a full 12oz can in a few seconds, literally. It’s delicious, it goes down smooth and easy and it really quenches my thirst.

I first discovered Orangina during my first trip to France in 1973 and I really only drink it when I’m in France, but when I’m there I drink a LOT of it. It’s a lot like a typical carbonated soda, but, to me at least, much, much better. I love to throw a really cold one down during a ride and after a ride I can drink two or three easily. It’s great with pizza and pasta as well. I buy the cans by the six pack when I’m in France. They’re very inexpensive at grocery stores and markets, but restaurants tend to charge ridiculous prices (at least compared to what you can buy it for elsewhere). You can get cans, plastic bottles, or the classic, famous little pear-shaped glass bottles.

These days there are a variety of Orangina products (Regular, Lite, Rouge) and they all contain at least 12% citrus fruit juice, 10% orange and 2% lemon, grapefruit and mandarin. Additionally, they contain 2% pulp and zest (though I think you can still get a version without pulp). The regular variety is my favorite, though I’ll drink one of the Rouge (red) once in a while for a change of pace. The drink was invented in 1935 by a Spanish pharmacist who sold the concept to an Algerian who launched it in Algeria. The Orangina trademark was registered in 1936 but it wasn’t until 1951 that it became easily available in France. These days it’s available almost all over the world, including the US. It’s not hard to find here (it’s available locally here in Nashville at Harris-Teeter grocery stores), but it’s certainly not as prevalent as it is in France, where almost every store and restaurant carries it. Even though I can find it here I don’t drink it in the US. I guess I just like to keep it as one of French experiences.

Visit the official Orangina website.

Well, my main cycling buddy, Les just emailed and said he is going to have to bow out of the France cycling trip because of really bad back pain that has developed in the last few days. What a drag. This is the fifth trip Les and I would have made to France for cycling and I can’t believe he has to cancel at the last minute. It would kill me to have to do that. So, it looks like it’s just Connie and I this year. We’re hoping Les might feel better in the next few days and decide to join us after all, we’ll have to wait and see.

Leaving for France in the next few hours. Flying from Nashville to Charlotte, NC. Short stop then on to Paris. Usually we fly into Nice or Lyon, but this year we found cheap tickets to Paris and so we’re going to drive from Paris to Nice. It’s a long drive, but in the end we’ll save enough money to make it worthwhile. I’ve been “training” for this trip since February, and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in in my entire life. And, I lost over 30 pounds since February 1st, so that’s making a big difference as well, especially when I’m climbing. Everything is packed, including my bike. My good friend Hervé is going to meet us in Paris and store our bike boxes for the trip which will give us a lot more room in the little van we have rented.