Basel, Switzerland.

Since Belgium I have been on a rather intense roll. I am already in Switzerland. I caught a ride across part of the Ardennes to Luxembourg and then made a line due south, couchsurfing/warmshowering (two hospitality websites, the first for general travelers and the second specifically for cyclists) my way through Metz, Nancy, Epinal, Belfort and am now staying with a couple in Basel, just over the border from France. Temperatures have ranged from -8 to a whopping +13 (Celsius), and days that have started with light snow have ended in monsoon rain and bitter wind. I absolutely wore myself down toward the breaking point on an 80km day that took 11 hours of nonstop mountain cycling in torrential rains and gale force winds that forced me to walk long sections.

There have been a couple of really interesting surprises along the way:
In the Ardennes, I had the privilege of meeting a man who had kept photocopies of the correspondences sent between the local Belgians and the American soldiers who had liberated the country in WWII. It was quite something to go through a region were so many American soldiers had perished, and where memories of the Battle of the Bulge still existed.

I have slept all of the past nights indoors, thanks to hospitality websites. Also stumbled upon some gorgeous landscapes and villages in Lorraine. True, there have been some real shit holes (or as the French say "sheet oles"), but even they have yielded some great conversations with locals and perhaps my greatest surprise: apparently I can speak French. I always thought I lacked the ability because I was always surrounded by people with no patience to speak the language slowly (Parisians). But so far I have burned through my French grammar book and am communicating (although it is fairly hilarious that I can't correctly express the future tenses). But alas, just as I was getting the hang of it, I crossed into German speaking Basel. Spending a day doing some maintenance, laundry and letting my legs recover (I could barely get up the stairs this morning). Walked through Carolyn and Kurt's community garden across the border in France and am now doing a bit of Russian studying in a cafe in central Basel.

A logistics post has been requested, and I think it will be coming soon (but it is fairly difficult to determine when I will have internet access again).

Happy New Year
James