Week 1, June 10-16, 2012

Just arrived.  Getting settled. It is a bit of an adjustment, but not too difficult, other than being limited by my lack of French language skills.  Weather is cool and periods of rain, but nothing too difficult to handle.

We have rented bikes for the week from the Velo Stations.  It is the best option for getting around.  You can have the bike for 30 minutes without an additional charge, the only catch is, you need to find an empty spot at your destination so you can park the bike.  Yesterday, while trying to get to the Musee des Augustins, the bike rack was full.  We had to ride around to other stations to find an open spot.  It took looking at 6 stations to find 2 spots on the rack.  A little bit of a hassle, as the traffic was getting thick, and earlier in the day I witnessed a woman on a motorbike getting hit from behind by a bus.  Needless to say, I took my chances on the sidewalk a few times when it seemed the better of the 2 choices. Only one person bothered to tell me that I did not belong on the sidewalk!

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