Caen is a medium sized city in Northern France. I arrived there yesterday evening after an impromptu invitation from a cyclist who I had met on the road several days earlier.  

He and his partner proceeded to host me for the evening with fabulous generosity that I simply can't get over. Perhaps it was because I had simply expected to camp on their lawn that night, perhaps it is because such simple things as a shower and doing laundry are such fabulous luxuries for me.  Regardless,  but it was an incredible visit with two kind and interesting people. 

The shower and the laundry out of the way, they treated me to two great meals replete with French cuisine, wine, cheese, aperitifs.  I again, was simply expecting to heat up my left over rice!    However, the real treat were our  fascinating conversations on French culture and history late into the evening and the next day into afternoon.

Before I left, Alain, a retired professional corrector for Le Monde, showed me around Caen.  This include attending an afternoon choir, visiting two cathedrals, and the cemetary of 27 Canadians exucuted just before the end of the war.  That was particularily moving.  More on that in my next entry.