I got up when Pascal's wife started her car and drove off to her job at 8am. Since it was a holiday, the household was slowly waking up. I went inside and met Pascal and his son's girlfirend (who also spoke English) at the breakfast table. We talked about a wide range of topics, though mostly about our own lives and experiences, as we slowly ate breakfast. After that, I took a shower, took down the tent, and got everything packed up. We talked some more.
Just before I packed up my camera, I took these pictures of Pascal's house, him and his art. Here is the view out this dining room window.
Pascal's art is inspired by an abstrat artist named Marc Rothko.
He insisted that we take a picture together. I suggested we use the triangular window as a backdrop.
It was just before noon when I finally left, as I had a full day's ride ahead of me. For the first time, I realized that spending a single night with people was going to be frustrating as it didn't leave me enough time to get to know them better and enjoy their hospitality, which is the whole reason they invited over in the first place! In fact, as I was biking out of Pascal's driveway and he was walking to wave me off, I was trying to convince him to bring his wife to San Francisco for a visit!
I had discussed my route with Pascal and we tried to pick one that went with the rivers not across them! Pascal lived next to his father-in-law's farm and there were no stores of any kind near by. The first town where I could get some bread for the day's fuel would be in Thiberville, about 8 miles away. Since it was a holiday, I needed to get there before everything closed.
The maze of roads I took to get on the road to Thiberville were more like bike paths.
I arrived in a deserted Thiberville just in time to buy the last bagette and a pastry from the only boulangerie still open in town. I ate the pastry in a parking area that was in the middle of the downtown while the flowers kept me company.
I rode all around Thiberville without finding the road I wanted to take. Eventually, I found a well-dressed woman who pointed the way. This is memorable because it was the first time I was able to fully understand what someone said to me in French.
There wasn't much traffic, even on larger roads and the biking was peaceful. The main town on my route was Lisieux, which I passed to the north. However, I had to climb out of the valley of the Touques river that runs through Lisieux. While I had to ride down some larger roads, once I turned toward the hills, I was alone on very small roads.
This was very pretty country with meadows and grazing lands intermixed with forested hills.
I rode next to a stream for a few miles.
The blooming cherry trees added a nice color and a noticeable scent to the wonderful vista. Note the trees that are blooming up the hill in this picture. It was a magical view.
Later in the day, the sky began clouding over and it looked like it might rain, which it did briefly just as I was riding into Caen. I rode into the city from the northeast along the river Orne that connects Caen to the ocean. It is a long, uninteresting bike path. I arrived at the touristy port area and called my host for the night.
As it turned out, he lived 2 blocks away. He walked over, met me, and we walked back to his apartment. Antoine was 24, an actor and amateur poker player who lived with two other people. Lucky for me, one of his roommates was away for the weekend and I got a room to myself.
We talked for quite a while and then went out looking for a place to eat. We walked for a mile or so and decided to eat at a chinese restaurant that was both expensive and mediocre. After the meal, we return and went to sleep.