Ascent and Fuga

High atop Genova there is a grand statue of the vir­gin Mary, nigh as tall as the Christ of Świebodzin, loom­ing over the faraway sea … nearly as high we had to climb to our Genovese couch­surfer, but, all of a sud­den, without any effort: we are still sus­pi­cious wheth­er it’s just been some­thing we’ve […]

Notes from behind the counter

Pontarlier, by Leon Friederichs

Le pon­tissa­li­en” is the loc­al hip­ster café: sterile atmo­sphere, fur­niture in a pois­on­ous green, one pop­u­lar offer con­sist­ing of luke­warm water with a sep­ar­ately served teabag. Featured on far­from­ready today: its bar­keep­er. 2nd of August, 14:00 Three men on three bikes are walk­ing to and fro in front of the café. Finally one comes in and […]

Missive from the midway

Dijon meal time: tuna, sausages and bread

Fancy lunch – tuna and wien­er saus­ages on, for lack of baguette, crumbly bis­cuits – in the vast empti­ness between Châtillon and Dijon. Appropriately, the closest vil­lage is named “Salives”. Nothing says “bike trip” like absurd last meals before insur­mount­able climbs of (cen­sored, so as not to fright­en my com­pan­ions) metres. Imagine, a land­slide would […]