I think I lost my fillings!

The Neubeck’s have stretched their lead into the Forest of Arenberg! The field isn’t anywhere in sight!  Not another bike racer.  Not another RV.

So, we’re pretty sure the Forest of Arenberg isn’t high on the Lonely Planet’s “must see in France” list.  We only found the place after receiving some very general directions from Freddy Maertens who curates the Tour of Flanders museum (Yes, the Freddy Maertens!).  We actually drove right by the entrance without noticing it and bumped around the creepily sleepy town of Wallers for quite a while before figuring it out.   We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves and a few other local runners.

After finding the place we had a nice ride through the French countryside before finishing with some bumpy fun on the gruesome cobbles.  I’m pretty sure my fillings will need replacing when I get home.  The Arenberg cobbles make the Flandrian cobbled climbs look like well paved superhighways. I can’t imagine flying over those things with 200 other guys bouncing all over the place around you.  Its no wonder mayhem usually ensues.

After our Arenberg adventure we found our way to Paris where we made the obligatory walking tour of the Eifel Tower, the Arc de Triumph, the banks of the Seine and Notre Dame.  Our poor cyclist feet were fairly aching by the time we met Hannah’s old friend Cheryl (a ex-pat Parisian of many years) for a lovely dinner in the Marais.  I got to hear some great stories from Hannah’s younger years and we ate a very fine meal at a very French little sidewalk bistro.  Hannah had smoked Haddock and potatoes as a starter and duck breast with capers for a main.  I had a delicious appy of sardines and tomatoes in herbed olive oil followed by a very nice steak (the cut was some uniquely French thingy suggested by Cheryl).  Cheryl had the steak tartar (to my disappointment she skipped the raw egg).  And of course we shared a lovely carafe of house red.   I think need to come up with some more “flavorful” adjectives if I want to become a food writer!) Hopefully, we’ll solve the camera situation soon and you can experience our meals visually rather than having to read about them.  

Its morning now on the 4^th of July and we’re hopefully going to celebrate our Independence Day by reaffirming our modern day servitude to electronic communications.  On yesterday’s jaunt around Paris we spotted the cell phone shop we need and hopefully by the end of today we will have both telecom and internet access.   We’ll keep you posted.  Over and out from the Starship Enterprise.

PS.  Check out our first blog...we added photos!