Daily Archives: Tue August 28, 2007

Vesoul – small but nice

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Just a quick bit about Vesoul. The tourist information place is really helpful and provides a small map of the town and some directions for walking around it. These are well worth getting and read like an audio tour, pointing out little features of all the things.

Also take a walk up the hill and see la Motte, a little statue / chapel thing erected to Notre Dame (Our Lady) in thanks at only a small number of people being killed in an epidemic in the late 18th century. It offers a nice view of the town and surrounds, and has the coolest map I’ve seen at one of these sights.

While we were up there, we found three teeny kittens. They couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks old and there was no sign of a mother. Philippe and I played with them for a little while, but when we came to leave they started to cry and chase after us. The only conclusion we could come to is that some ******* had dumped them there.

We were discussing where we could take them (animal shelter, vets…) when small family walked past and we got talking. They decided to take them home and adopt them. I’m just glad that most people are good enough. But if I got my hands on the retard who chucked them up there, I’d find myself running rather than walking out of Vesoul to avoid arrest…

My time in Vesoul was brief but as ever I was made to feel very welcome by my host and his friends. Bizarrely, I met four people besides Philippe – two French women who didn’t speak English and two Romanian women who did!

Also, there’s a video of the view from la Motte on YouTube.

Sunny (not) Besançon

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Besançon is a very nice place to visit but apparently doesn’t get too many tourists. A shame as it’s definitely got a day’s-worth of wandering in it. It’s a very old town with huge fortified alls still standing all over, some towers down near the river, a Roman gate and a huge citadel overlooking it.

I’d intended on seeing a fair bit, but due to the weather being atrocious on my one day here, I had to cut short the touristing. There is a video on YouTube… kind of. I uploaded it over an hour ago and it’s still “processing”.

Most things here do cost money, sadly, including the citadel and the museum. They’re not that expensive, though – maybe a fiver for an adult. The museum’s closed on Tuesday as well!

Besançon’s claim to fame is that it was the birthplace of Victor Hugo in 1802. Unlike Vernante with its Pinocchio fixation, however, souvenir shops here don’t have little Victor Hugo puppets to sell you. I’m not sure if this is a shame or a relief.

My host here has been Jean-Etienne, though I had two fallbacks: Jérémie and Gael. We all met for a drink last night and hopefully for dinner tonight before I set off for Vesoul in the morning.

Prior to getting here, I stopped off in Champagnol and was the guest of Florent who – as with every couchsurfer so far – took great care of me.

In both places I have been well fed, had a comfy bed, been given directions or taken around, had fantastic company and not felt the least bit embarrassed that my hosts speak better English than I do French. OK, maybe not the last bit.

I have a host sorted in Vesoul then I think it’ll be a matter of breaking out the tent again for two to three nights before I reach Nancy.

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