Paris
Dear Reader,
I know you, only now you started to take me seriously, believing I will actually get to London. Let’s be honest, it’s not so challenging what I’m doing. There’s people that got all around the world by Vespa , and some that does something like that cycling. So.. why be surprised?
The difference is that you know me, I know barely how an engine looks like (Michael, the guy that hosted me and Antonio in Avignon, just explained me what a 2-strokes engine is), I’m not able to do anything really special but enjoying my life. I’m basically a guy like everyone. Furthermore, there are other reasons why people didn’t believe in me at the beginning.
I’m driving a 27 years old Vespa (two months older than me) with drum brakes and no fuel signal. A Vespa I didn’t know before this trip and nobody (but Elia the mechanic) could guess his actual status. Moreover, I never drove so much before this, neither by car, and October is not exactly the perfect choice to approach such a travel. We also didn’t go for hotels, but we always asked for sheltering, even to people I didn’t know at all (and it was maybe the best choice). This meant that so far I slept on couches, armchairs, airbeds and yes, sometimes on a proper bed, but always between 3 and 7 hours. As I told at the beginning Paris was the border between Victory and Defeat. And getting here by il Tappone (big stage), made this much more significant. How it was? Well, after Antonio’s leaving let’s introduce the new fellow-traveller first..
Erwann, unlike most of his compatriotes, is a French that doesn’t translate Vespa as scooter to show off outside some some cinema d’essay. Instead, he drives it as well as he would approach a Ducati. Bending down at each curve till hearing it clattering, pulling the gear till make the engine screaming, and considering the gearing down equally as a shame. After taking confidence with the foot brake and the rotating grip served gear shift, he managed to straighten the Bourgogne wavy roads into a pleasant swinging rigmarole. Under that amazing sun, it was so good that I could rest a bit on the rear seat, recovering from the few hours slept during the previous days and getting even into drowsiness up to the point to find myself dreaming. After 200 km we swapped again and the approaching of Paris (and of the sunset as well) pushed us to speed up till 80 km/h. Adrenalin started pumping in after Auxerre, when the arrival began to be clear, and more and more when the kilometers countdown got under the 100. At 7.30 we got to the doors of Paris, and then Erwann, so keen as copilot in considering the Vespa a moto, made me get into the highway. The light was already over, and given the poor Vespa illumination, I experienced the most dangerous moments if this trip. For each blinking and hooting I sweared at him like hell. After three exits I got out of there, even if he was telling he didn’t know where we were about to go (as you might not know me, Antonio, and now Erwann, we agreed to travel without any map..)
Finally we found the way, and he got me into the city, parading past the Champs Elysée, the Arc de Triomphe and then under the tour Eiffel, where we took that picture. To be honest, in that moment, as well as when we were getting into Marseille with Antonio, I kept singing la Marseillaise for ages.
We then got to Erwann’s place where his mother was waiting for us with the dinner already prepared, and I could taste again the lovely Epoisses, a wonderful french cheese. It was funny because Erwann’s parents don’t speak english and, as you know, I don’t speak french but, after having some of the Amaro del Capo I’m bringing with me, we managed to have a small conversation. Yves (Erwann’sfather), made me know about the Argot, the french slang born in Paris around the 17th century, used at that time only by criminals to don’t be understood. Victor Hugo defined it the “Language of Misery”. Given my only possible criminal intentions, I’m just bearing in my mind the verb “draguer”, that in Argot means “flirting”.
One of these days, it could turn to be useful..
Posted by Curi at km 1057
