CPO2402 - From Paris to Omaha
What a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Paris as the host city of the Olympic Games. an opportunity that Bill and Jim accompanied by Alberto did not miss. With virtually zero traffic visiting the Ile de la Cité and the historic neighborhoods around it was very pleasant. After lunch we used the electric bicycles. How much fun to be able to pedal undisturbed on the Champs Elysées! Time flies because in Paris you are literally surrounded by beauty and culture, it's time to go back at hotel and meet the others members of this amazing tour at the welcome briefing.
Rain gives us the “bonjour” in the morning of the first day Our riders face the heavy Parisian traffic before breaking free into the open French countryside. Uwe from Germany, Scott, Jim, Bill and Michelle & Eron from U.S.A., Jürg & Beatrice from Switzerland. are all very experienced riders and the traffic doesn't scare them off, so after a quick pass in front of a crowded Palace of Versailles we finally reach the open roads of the French countryside. The first coffee break is a good opportunity to take nice pictures of the Château de Dampierre. For lunch we go to Chartres, and we visit the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, a stunning example of French Gothic architecture. The cathedral, built primarily in the 12th and 13th centuries, is renowned for its remarkable stained glass windows, intricate sculptures, and well-preserved architecture. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. After lunch we head quickly to the Loire Valley to visit one of the most valuable castles in this region, "le chateau de chambord". and we continue following along the Loire River to reach our Hotel in Rochecorbon, a cozy castle and former monastery carved partly into the "tufa" rock formation.
The morning in the Hotel, an old Monastery, started with a nice breakfast buffet. Afterwards we crossed Tours an ride between the Loire and Le Cher to our first stop of the Day. At the Chateau d‘ Azay-le-Rideau we took some pictures and had a coffee break. We also discovered a bit of the little alleys around the Castle. After a short ride we stopped quickly on a parking lot to get some pictures of the Chateau de Chinon. We continued our journey to Fontevraud were we visit the abbey. The Old buildings of this very huge areal are very impressive. We learned also a bit about the history of the abbey and the time when it was used as a prison. Our lunch stop turned out as a very nice surprise. We had a brilliant Picknick directly at the riverside of the Loire. The variation of cheeses, cold-cuts and salad was a very delicious meal and everybody could continue the day very satisfied. After another picture-stop we had a short coffee in Saumur to get the needed energy to arrive safely in Angers in our hotel in the middle of the city. We went to a nice restaurant close to the hotel to have dinner and a very nice evening together were we could remember on this successful day.
Today we ride west to Bretagne, the morning passes quickly as we cross the countryside of the “Pays de la Loire” region. We reach St. Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire River in the Atlantic Ocean, known for its strategic importance as a major shipbuilding center and a key naval base, especially during World War II. we park at the impressive WWII submarine base that now serves as a cultural venue. We “dive in” to visit the famous French submarine “Espadon,” the first French Navy submarine to sail under the ice of the North Pole. Lunch time has come, and the sunshine accompanies us to the table at a lovely restaurant overlooking the ocean of St. Nazaire. in the afternoon we pass through “Pornichet” and “La Baule,” two elegant coastal towns that give us the image of French “savoir vivre”. We cross the salt marshes of the Peninsula de Guérande, where "fleur de sel," a high-quality sea salt, is harvested using traditional methods. This is an area with scenic landscapes, coastal areas, and a rich cultural heritage. A drawbridge divides us with Brittany. past which we quickly reach our destination hotel in Carnac, on the Atlantic white-sand beaches.
Even if it was called a rest-day we startet early in the morning with the breakfast and hit the road straight afterwards. Our first stop was on the famous stone-alignments of Kermario. We took some pictures and continued from there to our next destination. In Sainte-Anne-d´Auray we had a coffee and visit the Basilika of St. Anne. Afterwards we made our way to Joselin, a beautiful small village with old architecture. There we had a lunch snack. Of course a crêpe, we are in Brittany though. A slight rain encouraged us to leave and we made our way back to Carnac where we fuelled the bikes before we arrived at our hotel. As welcoming committee, a bunch of Ferraris where waiting on the parking lot.
We leave the departure hotel beneath a leaden sky and head west, today we will cross Bretagne from south to northt and we will reach the westernmost point of our tour. we pass from the department of Morbihan "little sea" to the one of Finistère crossing the Laïta river. First stop of the day is in the picturesque village of Pont-Aven, with its mills and artists' workshops, takes us back to the past when the greatest exponent of French Impressionism, the painter Paul Gauguin, lived here, and the village is so beautiful that it itself looks like a painting. we then stop for lunch in the perfectly preserved medieval village of Locronan, it feels like we are on the set of a historical film, after luch we reach one of the highest point of Bretagne, the hill of Ménez-Hom, from the top of which we enjoy a spectacular 360-degree view of the surrounding area. in the afternoon break for the last coffee in Gumilieu, near its churchyard, considered as one of the more splendid of the Elorn Valley. The weather is sunny but when we reach our ocean view hotel in Roscoff it is definitely raining!
After the Breakfast in our Hotel in Roscoff we started our todays journey. Soon after the Departure i started to rain already. Still everybody was quiet motivated to see some of the sights of today. After an hour we stopped for a coffee, it was still raining. After a short check-in with the group we decided to keep on going as planed. We arrived 40 minutes later on our first sight of the day, the pink Granit coast. It was raining continuously, so everybody visited this sight with their helmet on and full raingear to get not too much wet. Afterwards we made our lunch stop in a beautiful village named Paimpol directly at the harbour. Since it was still raining and the weather forecast wasn‘t promising any good, the group decided to take the shortest way to the hotel from here. Even though we did accordingly, we arrived soaked at the hotel. Probably all of us were very happy to see the hotel and to get out of these cloth.
We leave the shores of St. Malo along windy, winding ocean shorelines. This morning we will visit the famous village of Mont Saint Michel, with its abbey and ramparts, imposing on its islet, is the second most visited site in France. It is spectacular to see how the tide can change the appearance of these coastlines. We spend all morning here and after lunch we get back on the motorcycle. Quick coffee break in Coutances, in the English Channel department, then we cross the Normandy countryside in the direction of Bayeux, in the Calvados department (hence the wine of the same name), our final destination of today.
On Our second rest-day in Bayeux we decided to let the bikes rest a bit from all the mileage they did already. We had the opportunity to go on a tour to get an impression about the invasion of the allies during the 6th of June 1944 at the french coast. Better known as the D-day. The Guide which we particular booked just for this tour had a immense knowledge about everything what happened around there. He guided us to the most important places of this history. In the very end we got the opportunity to be present at the ceremony on the cemetery of the US soldiers. A very silent moment. It was a very full day with a lot of information and after all everyone got tired to bed.
Penultimate day of riding, we move north to reach the last coastal town before returning to Paris tomorrow. First coffee break at Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the centrepiece of the Memorial Pegasus museum at nearby Ranville. It was replaced in 1994 by a modern design which, like the old one, is a bascule bridge. The Café Gondrée was the site of first combat during the D-Day invasion, and is best known for its role commemorating those events, is right next to the bridge and is an opportunity to sip coffee while admiring a parade of sailboats passing under the bridge. We continue to Honfleur, city with character, during World War II it was graced by bombing and thus retains its early 20th century charm. Located on the southern bank of the Seine estuary, it is worth a visit and a lunch break. We cross the Seine on the Normandy Bridge, one of the largest in France to follow on the Le Havre bypass and follow the coast northward to arrive in beautiful Etretat, a charming village set in white granite cliffs, a spectacle of nature that steals our gaze during dinner.
Our last day startet with a very nice breakfast buffet in our Hotel in Étretat directly on the cost. It has been getting cold the last days and everybody is wearing an extra layer beneath the riding gear. But still all of us are looking forward to the last riding day. To make the good bey from the Ocean a little bit easier we will follow the whole day the Seine, so their is still a lot of water around us. After a short ferry trip over the Seine we are heading to our first coffee stop. Our first picture stop for today brought us a wonderful panoramic view over the Seine. From there we had only a few minutes to arrive in Les Andelys where we had a good lunch in a resataurant directly at the Seine. The view on the Château Gaillard is from here already a highlight. But of course we had the chance to take our pictures of it from an even more stunning view point. We continued our route towards Giverney to visit there the last living place of Claude Monet and his famous garden. Unfortunately was the Garden very crowded and we had not enough time to really have a change to visit it. Instead we had a look around his former neighborhood. The tiny houses al around are very nice. We left Giverney behind and continued our Journey towards Paris. After a very last stop at the gas station we arrived finally in our Hotel in Paris. The fairwell evening gave us the chance to remember on all our experiences and speak about the personal highlights of this tour.