JAPANESE
I got up at 6:40, I knew I would oversleep.
I quickly washed up and ran to the station to catch the 7:20 train for Poligny.
My day would have been ruined had I missed this train, it was a close call.
Arrived at Poligny at ten past eight.
Poligny had the atmosphere of a close-knit community; it had only two commercialised streets and a small square with a fountain in the centre.
All the shops were indigenous, bakeries, small super markets, cheese shops, butchers etc.
As I walked towards the town centre, I saw a big cross on top of a hill.
I waited for about half an hour till the information centre opened at nine.
The lady at the information centre was able to speak English to my great astonishment and delight.
I asked whether there's any hiking tracks around the area.
They had dozens, ones for cycling, another for walking.
I chose the 8km route that led towards the north of the town and back.
The lady told me to follow the red and white sign on the track.
Thus I followed the sign and started my day off.
I went through an old French town, with vineyard spreading around their houses; it was beautiful.
The route I've chosen included a hike up a small mountain, from where I was able to see the panorama of the country side.
It was so beautiful.
At the end of my small escapade, I went up the hill where the cross I saw from the town was.
From here I had a great view of the town and its surroundings.
From top of this hill, I saw a little village far in the distance towards north.
Comparing the direction of the village with my map in hand, I thought that was Arbois, my next destination.
So I decided to walk to Arbois, after all it was only ten minutes by train...
So, after buying enough water for my journey, I started walking towards north.
The sun was blazing hot and I was sweating like waterfall.
But I was so thrilled walking between the patches of vineyards, one after another.
I can still smell the grass and hear the crickets making buzzing sounds, it was lovely.
After walking for nearly an hour, I noticed that I slightly got lost, facing a dead end of a path.
Since I had no map to rely on and no sign to tell me the direction, I decided to go back the way I came, to Poligny.
Took the 2:01 train to Arbois.
It was a small station which trains stopped only every two hours.
From the leaflets I got from the information centre, I learnt this small village is famous for wine production.
It had met my expectation as I saw dozens of wine shops here and there along the street.
I bought two bottles of wine, red and white, my backpack now being so heavy.
I wanted to go to the 'wine museum', but it was closed being Tuesday.
Instead I entered the 'La maison de Louis Pasteur', a house of a great French scientist.
He was born in this town and studied here till he was 18 or something and using his vineyard as his specifmen,
he discovered the existence of bacteria and the mystery of fermentation,
later I found that the English word 'pasteurise' came from his name, from a method he discovered.
Got back to Besancon around six.
It was such an amazing day.
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