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.