By Larry and Joan Dolinski
Notre Chere Famille et Chers Amis,
So there it was, on June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of the memorable D-Day invasion of France (dedicated to the liberation of Europe) that our Odyssey 2000 bicycle group flew from Quebec City to Paris in order to mount a far smaller scale and much more benign invasion of France. The official length of stay in Paris was a mere day (actually half a day because of the usual and now familiar time consuming arrival logistics). Because of this abbreviated time frame, many of the bikers signed off route to extend their stay in Paris and caught up with the group some days later.
Because the two of us have spent considerable time in Paris on previous trips, we stayed with the itinerary and bicycled out of the city as per original plan. The bicycle departure from Paris was really neat. There were dedicated bike paths early on, then the route picked up on ordinary, but charming, city streets, passing by the Louvre, through the Place de la Concord with the familiar obelisk in the foreground and the Eiffel Tower in the distance, then across the Champs Elysses in full view of the Arc de Triomph, and then out of the city by crossing the Seine with yet another magnificent view of the Eiffel Tower. After that it was on to Versailles, the site of the infamous treaty that ended the "Great War" (WW I). Associated with that treaty were many tragic strategic mistakes of commission and omission by the victorious allies, which opened the door to the 20th Century's second great war. One of the most grievous errors was the failure of the US Congress to ratify the membership of the United States in the then newly formed League of Nations, championed by President Woodrow Wilson. That omission proved to be a significant enabler of WW II.
From Versailles we completed the day by cycling through beautiful farm country and quaint villages. Over the next few days we essentially traveled along the Loire River. This is the famous chateaux country. Most of the time we were on quiet, bucolic country lanes. Some of the time the bike path was actually atop the levee built to protect the shoreline from river floods. The space between the levee and the river was covered with a profusion of colorful wild flowers (second only to the wild flowers we encountered earlier in Portugal). We passed through villages, with classic stone houses and fences, and of course always the church whose steeple announces the village presence from a distant approach.
On one of those wonderful days, our midday checkpoint was at the popular Chambord Chateau, perhaps the most garish chateau in all of France. Nearby was another famous chateau which we had visited on a previous occasion ...Chateau Chenonceau, which occupies both river banks and also spans the Loire River atop a bridge. The long room on the bridge emulates the Hall of Mirrors at The Palace at Versailles. Chenonceau played a fascinating roll during WW II. We are told that the border between German Occupied France and Vichey France ran through the Chateau. Back and forth through the Chateau slithered people from the opposing camps, infiltrating the other's territory.
As we cycled on from Brittany toward Normandy we came to Le Mont-St. Michel, the great medieval monastery built on a small mountainous island, with only causeway access (before the causeway was built, access was limited to periods of low tide). While the monastery was extremely interesting in its own right, the approach was also special. As we walked the 3 or 4 kilometers along the causeway to get there, the focus of the monastery, looming larger and larger in our field of view, was particularly memorable. Also, we had a wonderful guide, Helene, who was as interested in our bike trek as we were in the Monastery.
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