Paris to London, August 3

This was our last true day of vacation. We'll spend all day tomorrow (from @ 2:00 AM PDT until 8:00 PM PDT) enroute from London to Portland. Oh, how I'm not looking forward to that!

Today, however, we flew from Paris to London and arrived @ 11:00 AM. It took us longer to get from Heathrow to our hotel than it did to fly from Paris to London (@ 2 hours via the Tube). Tomorrow morning we'll take a taxi from our hotel to Paddington Station where we can catch an express train to Heathrow. That should cut our transit time to @ 40 minutes.

We spent the afternoon at the British Museum amongst Egyptian pharoahs and mummies and Greek gods and goddesses. Although we saw a huge statue of Rameses II, 3 rooms of mummies, and pieces from the Parthenon, the most impressive thing was seeing the original Rosetta Stone. We also spent an hour or so at the British Library, where they have one of the original Magna Carta manuscripts, as well as some of Shakespeare's handwritten plays.

Dinner was at a typical English pub down the street from our hotel. Although this has been a wonderful trip, both Rich and I are ready to come home (although not quite ready to go back to work)!

Last Day in Paris, August 2

We spent our last day in Paris shopping, primarily at the Gallerie Lafayette and Bon Marche department stores, but we also stopped at some of the smaller boutiques along the way. The picture is the interior of the Gallerie Lafayette.

Paris weather the last few days has been chillier than what we've been used to and quite overcast. At one point this afternoon, just as Rich and I were about ready to leave our hotel for another round of shopping, the skies opened and it started to downpour. We scurried back into the hotel and spent the next few hours reading (I think Rich much preferred this to the shopping I had planned).

We had also thought about taking a Seine River cruise on our last night in Paris, but decided against that also due to the inclement weather. Instead, we had dinner at a small bistro in the neighborhood and spent the rest of the evening rearranging our suitcases for the trip home.

Chartres, August 1

We took a train trip to Chartres today, a small town @ an hour outside of Paris with a stunning, world-class cathedral. I've never seen so many stained glass windows (although the church was so dimly lit, our pictures aren't the best). Notre Dame is nothing compared to Chartres!

We wandered around the town a little, had lunch, and then headed back to the train station to catch the 2:30 train back to Paris, hoping to have time to see the Orsay Museum in the afternoon. Little did we know that admission to the museum is free the first Sunday of the month and it was mobbed! We both decided we didn't want to see Impressionist paintings bad enough to stand in line for an hour. Instead, we wandered to the Tuilleries Garden and the Place de la Concorde and sauntered back up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Trimphe. This is definitely not my kind of street - way too crowded!! In fact, I think I'm done with Paris. The big city is getting to me (it's either that or the weather's taking its toll - 60 degrees and overcast). I think I've reached that point in our trip where I'm ready to come home.

Paris Sights, July 31

Back in Paris again and we spent the day wandering through a few eclectic Parisiene neighborhoods. We spent the morning in Montmartre, at the Sacre Coeur Basilica and wandering through Montmartre's bohemian streets, ending at the Moulin Rouge. The Place du Tertre is still filled with street artists as it was in Van Gogh's and Renoir's day. I bought a small oil painting of the Restaurant Mere Catherine (the oldest bistro in Montmarte) from one of the artists.

We bought a baguette sandwich from one of the boulangeries and had a picnic in the park, under the shelter of trees as it began to gently rain. From Montmartre we took the metro to the Marais neighborhood, the haunt of the old aristocracy and now home to the Jewish quarter of Paris. We passed a number of small boutique clothing stores along the way, but I didn't see anything that really caught my eye (Monday is going to be our shopping blitz day, although I'm not sure where we'll put anything else).

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the street market and bought fresh fruits and vegetables, some Camembert cheese and a baguette of French bread and are planning to have a picnic in our room (the weather is a little threatening right now). Afterwards, we're hoping to take a stroll through the Rue Cler neighborhood, buy a gelato along the way and enjoy the Parisiene way of life.

Bike Tour Day 6, July 30

We took our last bike ride early this morning through the countryside outside Amboise. It was a beautiful 13-mile ride, but very hilly. I feel a little soreness/tiredness in my legs when walking around (especially climbing stairs), but when I get on the bike, my weariness goes away. I wonder how long it will take for my legs to feel normal again.

The rest of the day was fairly boring. Backroads bussed us back to the St. Pierre de Corps train station where we caught a high-speed TGV train to Paris. Once we hit the train station in Paris, Rich and I expertly navigated the Metro system to get to our hotel. We still had to lug our bags up and down stairs, but we seem to have figured out the best way to do this. We checked into our hotel and then immediately set out for a laundromat, as we had an entire week's worth of dirty clothes to wash. The only good thing about spending half the afternoon in a laundromat is that we discovered a street market just a few blocks from our hotel.

We spent the evening at the Eiffel Tower. I had made reservations for the elevator ride at 8:00, which meant we didn't have to stand in line waiting to buy tickets (although we did have to stand in line for the elevators, which was almost as long). The Eiffel Tower is impressive and when you're at the top you're 900 feet above the ground, with a 360 degree view of Paris. There were so many people though it was claustrophobic! I can't say it was one of my favorite memories, but at least I can say I did it.

Bike Tour Day 5, July 29

Today was our last full day of riding and I can honestly say both Rich and I are sad to see it end. We started our day off with a short ride to Clos Luce, the last home of Leonardo da Vinci and the place where he died. We were able to tour his bedroom and study and gardens. There was also a room filled with models of his flying machines and war implements (the first tank design, etc.). It was all very fascinating.

From Clos Luce, we rode @ 14 miles to a winery for a wine tasting, a tour of the wine caves, and a picnic lunch. Rich and I both agree that the Backroads picnic lunches are our favorite. Today we had 3 different kinds of salads, 3 different kinds of cheeses, crusty French bread, and a French pastry filled with either sausage or spinach and leeks. For dessert, we had a delicious apple tart and macarons. I'm still eating WAY too much food. Even 3-4 hours of bike riding a day isn't enough to work off all the calories. After lunch we took a beautiful 15-mile ride through the rolling countryside filled with vineyards. I think it was one of my favorite rides all week.

Tonight we're having our farewell dinner and then we have an optional 13 mile ride tomorrow morning. Rich and I are thinking we'd like to take the bikes out one more time.

Bike Tour Day 4, July 28

It's hard to believe we've already completed 4 days of our cycling trip! Today was a long day, although the total mileage (36) wasn't any more than other days, but our lunch and sightseeing stops took longer than on previous days.

We first visited a private chateau for a wine tasting and lunch (the owner of the chateau also gave us a lesson in wine production). From there, we rode to the Loire valley's most famous chateau, the Chateau de Chenonceau, and had an hour-long guided tour through the chateau. By the time we finished wandering around the chateau and gardens it was 5:00 and we still had another 9 miles to ride to get to our hotel. After a few wrong turns along the way and my insistence that we walk our bikes the last .5 mile to our hotel because we were in the middle of rush hour traffic and it was scarier than hell trying to navigate the narrow streets with bumber-to-bumper cars, we finally arrived at our hotel @ 6:30, sore and weary.

Rich and I are definitely starting to feel fatigue in our legs. My bike riding is getting much better though. I now have the balance where I can signal fairly well when turning and I'm actually enjoying the hill climbs (I can't believe I really said that). I haven't quite mastered the trick of being able to drink from my water bottle while riding, though. I tried it the other day and almost fell off my bike as I was trying to put the water bottle back in its holder without taking my eyes off the road.

One other thing that's come of this bike trip - I swear to God Rich and I now have permanent cable grease mark tattoos on our legs. Mine are primarily on the back of my right calf, but Rich seems to get them everywhere (those are his legs in the picture, by the way).