Finding Our Way in France

Great news – we made it to our AirBnb, luggage too! After one poor experience with luggage getting left behind in Ireland, we always remain grateful to see our bag push out on to the baggage belt. And we slept a lot on the plane between Iceland and Paris, so we have a second wind to get us through the day

From the airport, we take a train… and then another train from Châtelet – Les Halles … and then another train at Gare de Lyon, which was supposed to take us to Fontainebleau, but there was service, requiring us to get off one stop early in Melun, and then finally an Uber to our destination. The Uber gave us our first taste of the forested area of Fontainebleau. The leaves are varying in color – some still a vibrant green, some orange, and some are extremely dry from the hot summer the French just had.

It’s about 6:30pm at this point. A hot shower and brushing your teeth after almost 24 hours of travel is euphoric. Restored and ready for dinner, we find a restaurant, or I should say brasserie, called Les Smiles. We have an avocado and salmon salad to start, followed by a duck entree for myself and a lamb shank entree for Asa, paired with a Bordeaux wine, and followed up with homemade French vanilla ice cream and an apple tarte for dessert. All of this delicious food, and just a 5 minute walk from where we’re staying – unbelievable.

And finally, we have made it to an appropriate bed time and rightfully fall asleep instantly. The first night of sleep went surprisingly well. The sun starts to rise around 7:30, later here than what we’re used to back home, but our first morning brings pale pink hues in the sky and warm air to officially welcome us to our first full day in Fontainebleau.

There’s a bakery, or boulangerie, just a stone’s throw from the apartment. This is dangerous. Baguettes line the back wall, croissants fill the front display case, and the line rushes through one door and out the other. One woman orders a baguette for herself, a man orders a croissant for him and a pain au chocolat for his young son. For us, Asa chooses a slice of spinach and Brie pizza, I get a jambon and fromage sandwich, plus a pain au chocolat for breakfast dessert. Because that’s a thing that seems right to have in France.

And onto the highlight of the day, the Sunday market! Vendors filled the pavement – clothes, shoes, vegetables, meat, cheese, bread, bags, the quintessential European market We do a loop first, pointing at what we want to get and coordinate the logistics of who’s going to say what. The French start every conversation with “Bonjour!”, I feel most obligated at this point to say “Bonjour” to everyone, even the birds! And I feel most honored getting a question in return in French, but this ultimately leads to a completely petrified look of confusion, hoping this conveys to that person that I unfortunately did not understand a word they just said, because God forbid, I have to come out and say… “Can you speak English??” This feels like the utmost French sin. However, we have survived and have had 75% friendly interactions. (The other 25% I must run from their store, never to return again.)

But back to the market, yes… we buy meat, cheese, a shirt, tomatoes, mushrooms, grapes, and bread… and an extra stop for flowers and wine. Just the usual Sunday shopping list.

Safe to say, our fridge is complete now that it has the smell of a dead body coming from it with the cheeses we bought. After some sampling of our goods back at the Airbnb, we head back out to finally see some rocks in Fontainebleau Forest.

Just a 20 minute walk away, we find our first crag. It features the blue, orange, and yellow circuits – all consisting of a certain set level of climbs, so you can make your way through the boulder field and try out different climbs within your skill level. Our main goal was to get our bearings today, gain an understanding of the setting, but we couldn’t resist touching some rocks.

The weather has been beautiful, even if not perfect climbing conditions. We finish our day with some lazing around, some SMOSH YouTube, and a dinner made up of our market haul. It’s been a great day to kick off our trip, we feel settled in to this life for the next week and a half.

Tomorrow, we get the car and our crash pads to set out on first full day of climbing!