so I had set the alarm to 8.30 since I knew the man was coming by around 9.00 to show me the way to the pilgrimage walk... I packed up and made a little coffee from the supplies provided.. I also ate my baguette chips with slightly stinky Camembert..but is it not better that way? The man came while I was still eating.. I hurried and cleaned up and got my stuff together to go..first we walked through the back downstairs of the pilgrimage into the church..the same nun who had brought me to the pilgrimage was there and she wished me luck again as she was preparing the church for service.. I was a bit surprised in a way that there was no pressure to stay for service, after all it was sunday and was I not on a catholic pilgrimage?, perhaps they assumed that because I did not speak french it was not something I needed to do.. or perhaps I had too many bad experiences with more proselytizing forms of Christianity in a certain culture that I am leery of pressures to convert..not that I would mind sitting through a service..inhaling what ever spiritual energy there might be when you get a gathering of faithful.... but instead out of the church we went, he guided me to a car, which I had not expected.. he then drove me to the start of the pilgrimage map after giving me a copy of a hand drawn map for the walk.. he said it was about 20 something kms via this way to Salon, via road he said would be 15kms.. so I thought okay so its a little over and hour difference.. he and I agreed it would be better to walk this way than the road... when he helped me get my pack out of the car, he hissed concerned he said it should only weigh 8kg...i thought to myself geeze i'd have to get rid of half my stuff..and this is already the lightest i've packed for a long trip...'I said I know! I know!' to him... and took my bags from him and he wished me luck chuckeling at me...
he had dropped me off at the beginning of a trail head.. he said ten minutes uphill than flat.. he promised that the path was well marked and if I had doubt there would be plenty of joggers, hikers and bikers on trail to ask.. the trail started as he said...way in the distance once I climbed for a bit I could see a little of the town I had just left..and the near by lake... the landscape was dry white rocks with green scruff... I saw the markers of the pilgrims shell and was happy to be on this trail... it was nice to be on a trail again and not along a road.. I did not run into much of anyone... there were a lot of branching paths,off the trail... the hand drawn map was more or less accurate as to which turn offs to avoid and I could find the shell symbol gold on blue, every time I had doubt... at one point I was to look for a cistern which I found but it was on the other side of the trail from what the map indicated.. and there was another trail near by but I got it sorted anyway..again finding the shell symbol...i saw cool looking beetles scuring past me way to fast to photo..i came across a giant sculpture in a circle overlooking the valley it seemed to be a memorial to a fallen soldier... then some planes shot past, they were in the color of the french flag.. and looked military..but then they did artistic smoke trailing loops over a near by village looking more like exhibition planes... in seattle we get the annual blue angels doing their noisy aerial tricks overhead...these were similar... then I descended into the valley and eventually crossed a road and the trail itself became more like an un tared road..then I crossed over a highway ..there was a directional marker once I got across but then all markers stopped... and would not reappear....since the man had told me the trail would be well marked I was concerned.. but I knew I had followed the directions carefully and I ran into no one to ask... so on I went full of doubt for another hour or so... doubt makes me walk slower I noticed... this was a dirt road now leading through farm country..wheat fields mostly ..some already getting golden..
I was fretting a bit more since I could be doing serious negative miles... but eventually I heard noise of a car road... once I got on it.. I saw the golden shell sticker on blue on a traffic sign.. I shook my head at it..'sure now you show up'... then as per instructions I fallowed this road towards Pelissanne and Salon de Provence signs.. I was a bit dismayed how far they still where... the road had little traffic but also no curb...so when cars did pass it was a little tense.. also storm clouds seemed to be brewing over head... I think once I had finished my nature walk having to deal with a car road again..made me not be 'in the mood' ...but of course it was choice-less... the road I needed to follow to Salon de Provence did not go into Pelissanne proper but just passed outside of it by maybe a km...so again I might have missed some charmingness... it was not even that late, but once I rolled into Salon I started looking for accommodations... I was done...i found a really cheap hotel called f1 if you wanted to you could do automated check in just using your credit card and you'd get assigned a key code to let you in to your assigned rooms.. since the front desk was still open I went to it instead..there were two hotels next to each other affiliated.. f1 was the cheaper one with bathrooms outside.. so I got room...showered did the laundry... rested... and waited for 7.30 when the restaurant would open next door...since I had nothing to eat all day except for my little breakfast...and it was sunday so the supermarket across the street was empty the restaurant was in the slightly more upscale hotel next door... they had actually two items on the menu listed as what sounded to me totally vegetarian ..so to be safe I ordered the veggie lasagna ..my waiter was very chirpy and spoke english.. there were a few other people in the restaurant ..we were all solo dinners and the others where men.. I had a japanese man next to me on one side and a french man on the other... after dinner and after the japanese man left...the french man next to me approached me shyly asking if I was the american woman named Karen something... I told him, 'no I was not'... he said he was waiting for an american woman like me... I was surprised that he knew I was american...usually people do not guess that with me right away.. I had wondered why he had continued to wait around after his dinner was over... I know people relax here and enjoy their meals but this was different... then I wrote a mental letter to this Karen something... 'dear Karen, as you know, Americans do not have the best reputation abroad, especially in places like France... Please do not inflict further injury on our reputation, by standing up a lovelorn french man without even calling the front desk of the hotel with some excuse...seriously...standing up dates is just rude.. and perhaps could lead to further mistrust and dislike for people from our culture... sincerely, a concerned USA passport holder..'
growing up in europe i found the rules of manners at times oppressive and like i could never master all the codes of conduct..it seems in America these codes of conduct are now viewed as old fashioned...but having been away from the a long time.. i find some of them refreshingly helpful and even friendly at times... as dinners were leaving the restaurant, they would say good evening to the strangers at the other tables out of politeness but it also helps connect people in a friendly way..so i really thought it was a nice touch...as I left to pay my bill at the front desk... the lovelorn man was now in the lobby watching tv, still waiting... the young waiter took my money and then proceeded to give me very wrong change... it wass very short... I kinda looked at him ...and then tried to help him do the math... he apologized saying he was bad in math... and I did get right change.. more or less...but it's gotten me wondering a bit about the money thing here, and more conscious about my cash here...i do believe he was sincere, in his claim of bad math..but too bad its not been in my favor yet... I went back to my little room... and watched a bit of french Law and Order... and slept quite nicely thank you...
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