Fontainebleau Diaries

I arrived here in Fontainebleau late yesterday after a few wrong turns on the network of highways surrounding Paris. I met Pascal, my Airbnb host in front of my little house, and he showed me around my little flat. It’s not much to see—just a small room and a bathroom. Pascal took a suspicious amount of care to explain a small locked door in the hallway. Nothing but electrical panels in there, apparently. But when I told him I didn’t bring a duvet cover, he pulled out his keys and opened it. A narrow brick stairway led down into darkness. He could see that I was curious, and offered a look. I went downstairs expecting to find a dirt floored cellar, but when he turned on the light I found myself looking at a hot tub. The room was completely tiled, and there were some cases of wine stacked in a corner. “this room is not included” Pascal told me, and then, changing the subject quickly, offered me a couple bottles of wine.

Today, I picked my Mom, Ellen up from the train station in the early afternoon. She’ll be here for the next week, and we’ll hit some of the sites around Fontainebleau and Paris, which will be great, I’m sure. After we ate, I left her at her hotel, and went climbing.

I went to a little area off the beaten path called Mont Ussy, and just climbed whatever looked good and protectable with one pad. I did Gazoline immediately, and then a couple of other 7a’s just as a couple of cars pulled up. The sun was setting and I was enjoying just being. The light in the forest. Little nuthatches flitted around the oaks and pines, chirping softly. The people from the car got out, and their golden retriever sniffed around as they began to play Bocce. I sat and listened to the satisfying knocks of bocce balls coming together, to snippets of French, and to the rare car driving by someplace out of site, their motors muffled by the trees. I’ve spent good amounts of time in Scandinavia and Italy, places whose native languages are not so pleasant on the ear, so listening to French is a real treat. A few rain drops started to fall, and I sent the problem I’d been trying. The sun had set, and while the Bocce game hadn’t stopped, I decided to call it a day. Tomorrow I’ll try a more popular area, depending on the schedule with good old Mom.

Au revoir!