Having made this middle-of-the-night decision about my travel, I got up in the morning and found the tourist office, got a stamp, tried to confirm where the bus stop was, found a laundromat!!, where I washed nearly everything except what I was wearing, which was the least amount I could manage without being too cold.
I had several coffees, enjoyed the sunny day, wandered back to the main square, found the putative bus stop (I say putative because there was so little public transport it was difficult to know if this was only for the one circular bus that would go around about once every couple of hours, or if it was also for the rare regional bus like the one I was waiting for – no one seemed to know. I got a tuna baguette, sat in the sun at the bus stop and read email and news. Had an exchange with the auberge, which wondered what had happened to me and advised that the amazon.fr cheap sunhat I had ordered had arrived. I offered to come and get it as it wasn’t far and I still had time. Lo and behold – 30 mins later, a car pulled up – you are Mme Golitzen? said the young man – Yes! and there was my new sunhat – kindness of strangers (for a hotel where I didn’t stay!)…
The bus came a couple of minutes late, as I stood watching, thinking every truck rumbling that way was it. The driver was a friendly woman who put the chariot into the under-carriage (a big bus) and I was the sole passenger as we drove through the wheat fields to Chaulnes – I remarked as how they must be beautiful at harvest time and she said yes – in June, it’s so nice, all golden.
By now I am a pro at train ticket purchasing, so I was all set and had a nice train ride to Laon, during which I looked at places for the next stages and figured out where I could walk and where I might need to take a train. Google said it was a 19-minute walk to the hotel from the station or 14 minutes with the bus. When I arrived at Laon I laughed – the station is in the plain and the cathedral rises on the high plateau of a medieval fortified city, about 400 feet straight up! Google clearly does not account for elevation in its walking calculations. Bus for me….
Laon is a cool little town, and I was in a cool little hotel in an old part of city. A couscous for dinner, then work and a much better sleep. (You may wonder why so much couscous. Well, for one, it has lots of vegetables, which are not easy to come by in restaurant food. For another, lots of salty, spicy, broth. Very restorative after a long walk and need for plenty of fluids. And usually not particularly expensive. And if you’re wondering why it’s so easily available, North Africa was once under French occupation and many people from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco have settled here.)
a few photos (more tomorrow!)
