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The Flight to France

After much anticipation the day came for our trip to France. We were flying out with Dave and Julie so with the shuffling of cars and the help of our friend Gail we all got to Dulles with our luggage for the flight to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. The flight was uneventful and the next morning Paris time we found ourselves in France.

Paris Day One  |  Paris , Rodin Museum ,  Invalids ,  Eiffel Tower

We arrived in France at about 5:30 in the morning. After getting through luggage and customs we grabbed some funds from the ATM and took separate cabs to our hotel just west of the Latin quarters. As was the pattern our cabbie was unable to understand where we wanted to go. Until I showed him our hotel reservations two times was I able to explain our intended destination. We dropped off our luggage at the Holiday Inn and started our tour. First we stopped at a cafe for breakfast. We all had omelets that lived up to our expectations for French food although it was much more omelet than I was prepared to eat. We then moved on to the Rodin museum. There we got to see “The Thinker” and many other of Rodin's works.  Next we moved onto the Les Invalides. This contained many artifacts of early French wars and the highlight was to see tombs of Napoleon and Napoleon II.  The most beautiful part of this museum was the golden dome above Napoleon's tomb that could be seen from outside the museum and the alter that adorned in inside of the building.

We then continued our stroll to the Eiffel tower. This was understandably the most tourist intensive location that we had run into in our day’s travels. The crowds were rather heavy but the lines to buy entry tickets were not too bad and moved quickly. We took the two elevators that got us to the top observation deck. This is where I realized my fist mistake of the trip. I had forgotten to get spare memory cards for my camera. I had my smaller camera that I used for the rest of the time until we got back to our hotel. We got back to the hotel and then found a place for dinner and to retire after a long day.

On the next day we had breakfast at the hotel then started our trek toward Notre Dame. Our walk took us through the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is a large park with incredible gardens, landscaping and art work. As we exited the park we found ourselves in the Latin Quarters. The neighborhood was quite upscale and we had a pleasant stroll past many of its shops. We stopped at Sorbonne the college area where we grabbed a few lattes and soft drinks. Once we started again we were soon at Sainte-Chapelle, a 13^th century royal chapel. This was a beautiful church with fabulous stained class windows that told many of the stories of the bible.

After the tour we walked past the book vendors on the left bank and onto St. Louis island. There we had lunch and afterwards walked past the Louvre through the Jardin des Tulleries and out to the Champs Elysees. We them hopped a tour bus that took us back to the Eiffel tower where we picked up the river cruise ride on the Seine.  The ride started in daylight but ended in the dark just as the strobes on the tower went off.  We then hopped a taxi to the Latin Quarters and had dinner then walked back to the hotel.

Chateau Thierry: The Aines-Marne American Cemetery  |  Belleau, Chateaus Thierry 

Kathie and I woke up in Paris at the holiday Inn just outside the Latin Quarter. We grabbed a quick breakfast at a local cafe then went back to the hotel to call a cab. We took the cab to CDG Airport where we checked into the Sheraton. There we dropped off our bags and picked up a rent-a-car and drove to Chateau Thierry.

At this point I need to explain that this was a true bucket list day for me. In the early 90’s I was a Prodigy on-line service user. Through that service I discovered my father’s cousin John. We had many electronic and snail mail correspondences and in one John sent be an article from a local Richland Pennsylvania newspaper. The article was about several Richland residents who gave their lives in World War I. One of the soldiers was my grandmother’s bother Calvin Weaver. The article was interesting because it was something I never knew about my family and it interviewed my grandmother who was in her 90s. The other striking part of the article was a picture of my great uncle who my father strongly resembled.

Some years later after my grandmother passed I was working on an Army contract at Army facilities and I ran across a bulletin board that gave information about on-line sites that had honor rolls for those who died in American wars. I searched the World War I site for Calvin and found out that he was an MIA / Unidentifiable from the Belleau Wood battles. I also found out that he was memorialized in a chapel at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, a small village outside of Chateau Thierry.  It struck me that his parents were Mennonite farmers who probably never got a chance to see the memorial. It was then I added seeing this memorial to my bucket list.

As I got close to starting our vacation I contacted the American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC) where they gave me advice on my visit. They also gave me the chance to have a spray of flowers placed under my uncle’s name for the day that we visited.

We arrived at the Cemetery in the early afternoon.  We were greeted by a French woman named Flora, who gave us a great talk about the last years of the war and how Belleau Woods was so important to the outcome of the war. She also showed us on a map where my Great Uncle probably died in battle. We went up to the chapel in the cemetery were my uncles name was memorialized as a MIA / Unidentifiable. She explained the history and Mission of the cemetery and placed flowers under my uncles name in the chapel. She left and Kathie and I explored and took pictures then at Flora's advice we went into the small town of Belleau. They had a small 2-room museum on WWI. The building where the museum is housed was used as Pershing's HQ for part of the war. There we took a few minutes to explore and asked about the Devil Dog fountain. This is a sacred spot for Marines. It is a legend that if a Marine drinks from the Deveil Dog fountain, they will get an extra 20 years of life. Flora told us that the fountain  is in the back yard of a small farmhouse near the museum. The woman at the museum gave us the key to the gate to get into see the fountain. This was our first chance to see a small French country farmhouse up-close. This was quite a memorable experience.

After seeing the town and the museum we went up to the woods in Belleau to see a park that had some German canons and a trench that was still in tact. We then went to the town of Chateau Thierry and bought sandwiches then drove back to our hotel at CDG where we had dinner at the Sheraton and retired.

Pont l'Eveque  |  Pont l'Eveque, St. Hymer   |  Map

We woke up this morning in the CDG Airport Sheraton and had breakfast at the hotel Restaurant. Here we got to meet a few of the couples that would be joining for the next two weeks. We recognized those couples that rode the Tuscany trip with us and met a few couples we had not met before. All together there were 7 couples from the tour that stayed at the Sheraton and waited for Rich and Ina to pick us up to start the tour. On the bus to Pont l'Eveque we had a great time just talking to old and new friends. We got to Pont l'Eveque at about noon. Our Friends, Jim and Sonya had been in Europe with their children for two week before and found their way to Pont l’Eveque a few days early. The luggage truck got there ahead of us and Jim started unpacking my bike before I arrived. Jim and I worked on the bike while Kathy went out and bought lunch at the local shop. We finished building the bike and got ready for the shake down ride. The shake down ride took us south of Pont l’Eveque to the small town of St. Hymer. There was a small church with a cemetery on the grounds. After the ride we had a 6:00 ride meeting where Rich explained the rules of the road and we formally introduced ourselves to each other.

We then had a 5-course meal at a local restaurant.  We had Wine, Cider, Mild Liquors, Salmon, and a few courses where we didn't quite know what we were eating. There was a cheese sampler plate that included Camembert and Pont l’Eveque cheeses. We had to split up to different sections on the Restaurant where we sad with Jim, Sonya, Bob and Kay, Bill and Karen, and Dan and Heather. We had a great time finishing with a walk back to the Hotel and some long conversation in the parking lot.

Honfleur  | Honfleur | Map          

On day two we got up for breakfast and the morning ride meeting.  The breakfast at the hotel Lion D'Or had bread and cheese on your plate and you had to cook your own eggs. We ate quickly and got to the ride meeting. We then got the bike out and prepared it for a day in Honfleur. A ten-mile ride with a few minor challenging hills got us to the port town. It was a beautiful old world port town with many picturesque buildings and sailboats on the bay. We explored the town including St. Catherine’s Church, which is a wooden constructed chapel, that looks like two upside-down boat hulls. The church is dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria. Outside the church, an outdoor market was in session. This had mostly booths of crafts and antiques.  We explored and had a ham and cheese (Jambon and Fromage) sandwich for lunch then took off for a town south of Pont l’Eveque, Chateau Breuil, and the Calvados plant for us to tour. Calvados is an Apple brandy that is made in this part or France. On the way there Kathie and I got lost and it took us about 5 miles of exploring to get the route correct but we made it and had a nice tour. The grounds were very impressive with beautiful landscaping and a small mansion. We sampled a Calvados / Wine mix and 15 year old straight Calvados. The straight Calvados burnt all the way down.  After the tour we took the quick trip back the hotel were we showered, put away the bikes then had a happy hour that takes place on most days after a ride and before dinner. We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant, which seems to be commonly available in France. We had pizza and good conversation then walked back the hotel were we Skyped Rachel, packed for the transfer day ahead of us, then we hit the hay.

The Road to Bayeux  |  Beaumont-en-Auge, Beuvron-en-Auge  | Map

Today we started the day by getting packed for our first transfer day. It is a tricky proposition getting all equipment and clothing in the right bag for the day before you take off, but we manage. We had our last breakfast in Pont l’Eveque and started out for Bayeux. This would be a 58-mile ride for us.

Our tour guide Rich gave us quotes about travel on our daily queue sheets. One of the day’s quotes that we all could relate to was a J.R.R. Tolkien quote “Not all who wander are lost”. I would like to offer a corollary postulate to this quote, “Not all who reach their destination know where they have been.” This comes to mind because on this day, I had a series of small but memorable encounters that all appealed to my sense of what touring a foreign land should do for you.

We first stopped in a small town Beaumont-en-Auge where we stopped to see the small town and few points in the town that offered a view of the valley out to the English Channel. One of the points was behind a church that was under restoration and the other was in a small park near the center of town. Upon leaving the park I noticed a statue and walked up to it. I discovered that it was a statue of Pierre-Simon Laplace. Laplace should be remembered by anyone who has taken a differential equations course in his or her life. He was an 18^th century mathematician and astronomer who has a rather famous (for us math nerds anyway) a transform named after him.   I took pictures of the statue and guessed that this town must have been where he was born. I later confirmed this fact on the web and realized that I had been missing an entire facet of touring that may offer quite a bit of interest for me. And of course that would be math and science history tourism.

Our next stop was in the town of Beuvron-en-Auge. In this town our tour leader (Ina) convinced the creperie owner to open early since 40 of us were coming through town. One of the couples (Jeff and Alice) in our group, rides a recumbent bike that is actually a tri-cycle that rides low to the ground. This bike always attracts attention even more than our normal tandems. Jeff gave a French tourist a ride on the back of his tandem. The interaction with the group of tourists was very cute. At one point, one of the tourists pointed to the back seat of the tandem then put his hands on the side of his face while saying something in French. I laughed because I knew that he was accusing the stoker (rear rider) of not having to work. This is a common insinuation of stokers, which by the way is not true. Stokers work or the tandem ride does not last very long. When the man heard me laugh he asked if I spoke French and I told him no, but it was funny to me how I knew what he was saying.  We also saw a man from North Whales on a collapsible bike who was a tandem fan and couldn't believe his eyes when he came into town and saw so many tandems. He told us how his wife could no longer ride tandem and how he would fold up his bike and travel around to escape the tourists in his home town.  He demonstrated how his bike could be folded in less than a minute.

We continued on our journey seeing our first WWII memorials. We saw the Pegasus Bridge memorial, and a Canadian memorial cemetery along the way. Pegasus Bridge was one of the bridges that needed to be secured before the allied invasions to allow the easy transport of men and materials to the front lines. This museum chronicled the glider landings that allowed this bridge to be secured. After leaving the Pegasus Bridge Museum we met Rich on the road, he stopped us to tell us to go through the detour we were about to run into on our path. We found the detour and took it and a few miles later there was another detour that I wasn't sure that we should take so I passed the detour and stayed on the road. Soon we ran into Dan and Heather who had stopped because they thought they were off course. They followed us bit but soon we were all convinced that we were off course. We turned around to retrace our steps and found Dennis and Cindy who were working there way around the detour in town. In the town we got behind Lou and Elaine and started to follow them out of town. At this point Kathie and I were lost as to where we were on the cue sheet. So I decided to stay behind Lou and Elaine until we got our bearings. For about six miles we were riding heads down trying to keep up with Lou and Elain who are faster riders than we are. We finally came to the Canadian Cemetery where we saw other tadems parked outside the cemetery.  This gave me the confidence to stop, take in the cemetery and regroup before finishing out ride. As we arrived in Bayeux it started to rain and we had to stop and cover our trunk and camera bag with “shower caps” as we call them. We entered the town and got to the Hotel Churchill. We got in and showered then soon had dinner with the Orr's and Jody and Paul at a local Creperie.

Touring Bayeux  |  Bayeux Tapestry, Notre Dame, WWII Museum

Day 4 was a no ride day. We started the morning going the see the Bayeux Tapestry. This is a tapestry that tells the story of the Norman invasions. We then walked around Bayeux just taking in the sights. One stop was at the Bayeux Cathedral of Notre Dame. This was or second Notre Dame cathedral on the trip. The spires and the insides impressed me more that the Paris version. We strolled back to the hotel and picked up laundry to take to the local Laundromat. Here we took an hour to clean up our first week of clothing. After the Laundromat we met the group to go to the Museum of the allied invasion from WWII. Outside of the museum was a cemetery honoring British and Canadian soldiers from the invasion.  After this Kathie and I returned for a rest then went to the happy hour and dinner with the Orr's and the Peterson's.

Normandy Beaches  |  Normandie Beaches

Today we did not ride due to inclement weather. Cold and rain made it very undesirable riding weather. So we rented a car with Jim and Sonya and visited the D-Day invasion sites. We started in Arromanches where the British successfully assembled the debarquement, a port large enough to handle the allied materials deliveries and exports in several weeks. We also saw a 360 movie the tried to contrast today's freedoms against the WWII sacrifices.

Next we went to Omaha Beach and saw the most famous of the WWII cemeteries. We also went to Point du Hoc where Americans scaled a steep cliff against enemy fire to take out a German gun emplacement. Then we saw Utah beach and got some idea of how far out the tide went and how small the dunes were. We drove back to Bayeux for happy hour and dinner with Bob and Linda.

Balleroy and Coutance  |  Balleroy  |  Map

Today was the ride from Bayeux to Coutance. Our first stop was Balleroy, which is an old chateau now owned by the Forbes family. It contained a hot air balloon museum and beautiful grounds outside and antiquities mixed with a few Malcolm Forbes less traditional touches inside. This included a giant photograph of himself in the main hallway amongst all the classical paintings. We had lunch in the basement then pushed on to Coutance. On the last leg of our trip we stopped in a small town for a rest and took a quick peek at the town church and adjoining cemetery. We finished the ride at our hotel just outside of the city of Coutance, had dinner in the hotel to get ready for riding the next day.

Coutance and Pirou  |  Pirou  | Map

On day 7 we started by biking into the Countance and getting a tour of Notre Dame Cathedral their. The cathedral was a Gothic cathedral covered by a Romanesque cathedral and we were given a tour that allowed us to climb through many places in the upper structure of the church. This was Notre dame number 3. After the tour we took off for a quick ride to Pirou, an ocean side town where there was quite a bit of oyster trapping and other activities associated with a waters with a deep tidal pattern.  We had lunch at a seaside restaurant where we had smoked salmon and a white fish whose name we did not recognize in French. Others had an appetizer that translated to “Fruit of the Sea”. It was an assortment of shell fish.

After lunch we stopped to tour the Chateau Fort de Pirou that was built in the 12^th century. The chateau was surrounded by a man made moat and has the legend of occupants turning into Geese to avoid Norman attackers. The church in the Chateau contained a Tapestry that was made in the 20^th century in the style of the Bayeux tapestry.  It told a more modern story. We return to our hotel near Coutance to have a happy hour and another good meal for the evening

The Road to Mount Saint Michel  |  On the Road  |  Map  

Day eight took us from Coutance to Mt. St. Michel. The trip had no major tourist stop but at mile 10 we stopped in the small town of Cerences for sandwiches and pastries to get us through our day. I was looking for more apple tarts but was convinced to try an éclair that looked like a small meatball sub, but instead of meatballs and sauce the éclair had strawberries and icing. From that day on I looked for this instead of apple tarts but never found any. The town also had a cute little church that we explored and used for tandem parking.

We pushed on until we reached a small seaside town about 20 miles from our destination. Here we saw our first glimpse of Mount Saint Michel. We were only about 5 miles away as the crow flies but had to travel 20 miles to get around the bay to get to our destination. This is where we ate or previously bought lunches. 

We finished our trip at about 2:30 to find that the hotel did not yet have our rooms ready, so we had a beers with the Orr's then moved on to our rooms. We showered and explored then went to dinner in the hotel. We had dinner with Conrad and Barbara, and Karen and Bill.

Mount Saint Michel  |  Mount Saint Michel  

Day 9 was a no-ride day. We all left the hotel at about 08:30 to walk the causeway to Mt. St. Michel. On the way over the causeway we ran into a classic car club getting ready for a road rally. Upon our arrival to the island we were given an extensive tour of the monastery and island that gave us an interesting view of the island today and its history.  Through much of the tour we were directed to watch the tide as it was coming in. These are the most extreme tides in Europe. After the tour we walked around the souvenir shops and had a crepe and a sandwich for lunch before walking back to the hotel to do laundry and rest for the day. We had dinner at the hotel again.

Mortain and Saint Hilaire |  Mortain |  Map

Day 10 was a transfer day starting from Mount Saint Michel and ending in Saint Hilaire du Harcouet. On the way we stopped in the town of Mortain were we had lunch and took in 2 water falls located in the town. Both waterfalls were very scenic and worth the time for the stop time. We stopped for lunch in the town where the only restaurant that was open got inundated with bike riders. Lunch took a long time since there was one cook for about 8 or 10 people. I ordered a sandwich on baggett that had chopped beef in it. After ordering it I was a bit concerned because the reputation of the French to under cook beef. When the sandwich came the beef was actually over-cooked and the sandwich tasted somewhat like a Whopper. We landed in Saint Hilaire were we showered and explored the town before dinner. The town had a church that was quite beautiful. 

Domfront  |  Domfront  |  Map

On day 11 we got up for another transfer day. This one was to Bagnoles de l'Orne. We first stopped at an apple and pear orchard that had a small shop and a good place to rest. We then ventured to the medieval town of Domfront where we explored the town. The ruins of the old town are from the 11^th century. The town was on the top of a hill making way for some beautiful panoramas. Lunch was at a Creperie, fast becoming my favorite choice.

We finished in Bagnoles that was a beautiful resort town with a casino and spa. We had dinner with Rich and Ina and Dennis and Cindy to round out a great day.

Bagnoles  |  Bagnoles

On day 12 we took a tour of Bagnoles and one nieghborhood of houses in the town. We also toured the church it town. This was slightly different from all other church we visited. It was built in the 20^th century and the exterior was art deco. It was a rainy morning giving way to a partly sunny afternoon.  We decided not to ride but take in the town and lake near the Casino. We went shopping for wine and water just outside of town and had lunch at one of the creperie bars. For dinner we joined Dave, Julie, Barb, Conrad, Dave and Nancy.

Sees and Belleme  |  Sees, Carrouges  | Map

Our longest day of riding started early and took us from Bagnoles to Belleme. This took us to the town of Sees that had a beautiful Episcopal cathedral. The church’s history went back to the 5^th century. This was Notre Dame number 4.  We had lunch at a small restaurant in Sees with Ross and Donna. I ordered pizza Tuscana that had a sausage that was very “old world” and used intestines for casings and was made of parts of the animal that I was not used to eating. Quite an experience. After 62 miles we arrived at a country club outside of Belleme. This is where we would celebrate our last days in Normandy.

One Last  Ride in France  |  Belleme ,  Manoir de Courboyer, Ecomusee du Perche  | Map 

Our last day of riding took us through the French countryside for one last time. We stopped at two museums, one of a Chateau and one that depicted French country life. After 24 miles of riding we returned to pack up our tandems and have our last dinner with our tandemming brethren. This was a special dinner with many salutes to our tour leaders Rich and Ina and the many goodbyes started.

Return to Paris  |  Mountmontre, Champs Elysees

Today we got up early and packed our luggage onto the van for the last time. Rich and Ina gave us the option of getting dropped off at a train station not far from Belleme and taking the train into Paris while they took our luggage to our last Hotel at CDG Airport. We took this option with several other couples, and took the Metro from the train station to Mountmontre neighborhood. There we took in Sacré-Cœur Basilica and some of the shops then had lunch with Dave and Janine, Dave and Julie, and Lou and Elaine. After lunch Lou and Elaine and Dave and Janine went there own way while Dave and Julie and Kathie and I took the Metro to the Champs Elysees. Then we walked the avenue, visited many of the car museums and visited the Arc d' Triumph. At the Toyota Museum / Show Room they had a display demonstrating how hybrid car engines work. They used riders on a tandem bike to make their point. This was a quick reminder to us of why we came to France. We then headed to the L'opra neighborhood for dinner and to catch the bus to the airport. Just before we got on the bus there were two young guys riding a tandem through the intersection. This was one last goodbye from Paris to the tandemers. Kathie and I were staying at the Hilton and when we arrived we got to see Rich and Ina and Bill Schwartz for one last time. We got settled and ready to our flight out the next day.

One More Day in France  |  Roissy

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:25 on Sunday so we got up and took our time getting ready to leave for Terminal One at GDC. Breakfast took longer than expected and we ran in Dave and Patti while eating but we found time to be a little tight getting to check-in, but we arrived at about 10:30 and got in line. The line wasn't moving and after about 45 minutes of waiting we were told that the flight was canceled due to mechanical problems and that it would be rescheduled to Monday morning. For the next 4 hours we spent our time waiting in line to get our vouchers for food and lodging, getting on the shuttle bus, checking into the Millennium hotel and waiting for Lunch. Later Kathie and I walked around Roissy and returned to the Hotel to relax.

Going Home

We woke up on Monday morning grabbed breakfast and got on the shuttle bus to Terminal One of CDG airport. Here we checked our bags and moved to our departure gate. The flight was supposed to leave at 09:30 and we got out at about 11:00. We had an uneventful flight and back home at about 3 in the afternoon eastern time.