tourism

Now that I have had a few days to unwind from the long trip I am going ahead and taking off in the morning on yet another. I am going to be away for a few days playing tourist. With not needing to train for a week, I would find it quite atrocious to be in France so close to many exciting things and not make an attempt to see them. How fun is it to just sit around in your room doing nothing? So, basic itinerary is heading out early in the A.M. tomorrow to take the train to the ancient town of Bayeux. It is on the Normandy coast and quite close to much of the history surrounding D Day and World War II. I am going to do my best to check out as much as I can in a few days and pay my respects to those who served and paid the ultimate sacrifice. There is supposed to be a youth hostel where I am going too, can't beat 9 euros a night can ya. Who knows what kind of conditions it is, but if all goes to plan all I need it for is a few hours of sleep at night and the rest of the day is spent all over the Normandy coastline. If this sounds vague to you, trust me it does sound vague for me too. I am jumping in headfirst and banking on a bit of American ingenuity to help me out along the way. As an extra, the Bayeux tapestry also lives in the town of Bayeux. I remember learning about it in 6th grade and doing a report about it. It was embroidered in the year 1066 and is over 70 meters long. One can imagine an immense medieval weaved comic strip.

As I have mentioned many times before one of the neatest things about this sport is getting to travel the world and see so much, but when focusing on trying to race as best as one can, often they only get to see the insides of numerous types of hotel rooms and never go sight seeing. Many people who know me know that I love random bits of information and love to read up on history and learn as much as I can. Frankly I am salivating at the mouth to go and learn more as this little trip is something that I have wanted to do for many years. It will be nice to get away from the bike for a bit, and not think about much else other than living a normal life for a few days. While it will feel weird to be missing the National Championships back home for the very first time I can rest assured knowing that I am on track and growing by leaps and bounds.