I would really have preferred to keep on cycling but thought that after 9 days it would be prudent to have a rest. Maybe my body will thank me for it later but I didn't really feel I needed a rest. I had seen most of the city centre yesterday so I mostly covered some of the same ground.
Having said all that I did enjoy a lie in bed for an extra hour and I got sorted my next two nights of accommodation at Bourbon-Lacey and Montceau les Mines. I also have ideas about the next couple of places after that but that seems far too organised so I won't book that far ahead.
I changed into the room next door, it has a single bed instead of a double but it has the luxury of a toilet (too much information). I went out f the hotel to forage for my breakfast and I found it in a Carrefour store round the corner. The weather has been sunny spells but there has been a cool wind so I walked around fairly aimlessly to keep warm. I did find the city concert hall but nothing seems to be on tonight. I looked around the shops and found a little cafe for morning coffee where it was sunny and sheltered from the wind. I had a sandwich for lunch and sat in the sun reading a Jack Reacher novel on my iPad. Daytime reading, yes, that is something I should do more of instead of leaving it to the end of the day, reading 3 pages and then I fall asleep. Reading in the day doesn't seem right when I have other things I could be doing but it is a good way of slowing the busy pace of life.
I took some photos of the church of St Pierre and also an Arch at rue de Colbert. It reminds me of studying European History for A levels when I studied Colbert and Mazarin. I remember one of the exam questions - Colbert's reforms were inanarchical or inconsequential? Discuss. If anyone can explain what the question actually means I would be grateful.
A mid afternoon ice cream beckoned in another cafe in another square. Then I visited the Espace Brigidette. It is a religious community that was the home for Brigidette before she was canonised (it means she was made a saint, for those people foolish enough to think she was fired from a canon). There was a nice story about her coming from Lourdes and seeing the spirit of the Virgin Mary.
I will be glad to be back on the bike tomorrow. I should be able to go faster tomorrow. Not because I have rested but because I will be more streamlined as I have had a shave for the first time since I set off and I should be less wind resistant. When David was with me he kept saying that I was talking like my Dad, well I dispute that 'to some extent' but the beard did look like my Dads and I'm not that old!! No comments please.
I will be popping out in search of nightlife that was totally non existent last night. My hopes aren't high.
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