Day 5 - Ride Day

Upon awakening, we opened our curtains to check the weather:  raining and wind blowing.  Checking on the internet, it said there would be light rain all day and winds from 13-17 mph.  Ouch.  Originally, Mark and I intended to ride the 100 mile route and David would ride the 50 mile route.  From the beginning I had some misgivings about David riding alone in a foreign country, but we had arranged for him to have cell phone coverage in Europe as well as Mark’s phone.  But with the weather, we decided that we would all ride the 50 mile route together.  That way, if it got unbearable, we could all bail together.

Outside the hotel the VIP group of cyclists gathered for picture taking.  Everyone looked like serious cyclists.  The way I tell serious cyclists is when they have words on their jerseys AND shorts.  That was my first clue that this was going to be a completely different ride than I had been on before.  With our new attire we looked the part.  Hah!

Start time for the 100 mile bike ride (162K) began at 8:30 am.  Leading off the pack was Laurent Jalabert and Bernard Hinault, two of the most famous names in French cycling. Everyone had been given ankle straps with chips in them (like for marathons, etc.) that would record the time you left the start and returned.  That was my second clue that we might be in over our heads!  In the organized rides we’ve done, you just start within about a 30 minute period of time and it’s more laid back.  Also the demographics are very different.  This ride was about 95% men and a much younger crowd.  At the dinner the night before we had learned that many would finish the 100 miles in 5 hours or less.  That includes any time off the bike.

 The start time for the 50 miles route (82K) was at 9:00 am.  We began and were with a very large group. 

We were riding though the downtown areas of Nevers and had gendarmes stopping traffic for us which was fun.  On an incline, David shifted out of his big gear and dropped his chain.  We stopped and put it back on, but by that time the group had whizzed on by.  We followed along what we thought was the route, but because of stupidity on our part in not realizing that the streets were marked on the asphalt with arrows, we became lost.  It also started raining harder.  They had not provided us with turn by turn instructions like we have had in other rides, but Mark knew some of the names of the towns we were supposed to go through, so we headed in the direction of one of those towns using the road signs.  At that point I was glad that we were with David, but worried that the rain and the uncertainty of where in the heck we were would diminish the enjoyment for him.  I shouldn’t have worried.

After about 16 miles, we realized that we were going in exactly the opposite direction of the route, as cyclists started whizzing past us going the other way.  But we wanted to ride at least 50 miles so we continued on, meandering through the French countryside and towns, calling out “bonjour” to the people we saw who would call out to us in French.  We had no idea what they were saying.  Probably something like, “you stupid idiots, you’re not supposed to be in our town, you are going the wrong way!”  By this point the rain had stopped and the sun even managed to break through, so we were much happier.  The wind was still a factor, however.

We rejoined the ride and headed back to Nevers.  At one point, David got ahead of us on a fast downhill and we weren’t sure he made the sharp left turn so we spent some time looking for him.  We were glad to have cell phones.

At the rest stop, some of the groups from the 182K were coming through:

The rest stop was at the bottom of a climb and after that group went through, we started up and were passed by another large group.  Man, they go fast.  It made me nervous having so many whizzing past me while I’m cranking uphill.  Oh, and let me interject here that I really hated the components on my bike.  It is a famous maker that starts with a “C” (but I’m not mentioning brands, remember?).  I could not keep it in my easiest gear without holding the shift lever all the way over the whole time.  Also it would shift to a harder gear whenever it felt like it.  I was not impressed and more than a little frustrated.  I also think our tires were under inflated, but we had packed our CO2 cartridges in our carry-on and they had been confiscated at the airport!  The last thing I will whine about is that after more than half of the ride I discovered that my front brakes were causing drag on the front wheel - when I tried to spin the tire, it would stop!  Not good.  It is always hard to ride a new bike.  One guy we met from V*elo News said he never rides an unfamiliar bike. He always brings his with him.  (He did the ride in 5 hours.)

This area is so lush and green, it is truly amazing.  I love the white cows we keep seeing in the fields (right behind Mark.)  They are called Charolais cows.

 We stopped many times to take pictures, it seemed that there were so many gorgeous places I probably could have stopped more, but then I would have never finished!  David actually finished about 20 minutes before us.  He absolutely loved the ride, thought it was perfect, actually, and now wishes he had a nice bike.

The last climb into the old city:

Notice the rough brick street – not fun on a bike!

Our total mileage was 100K (62 miles) so we sort of did our own bike ride.  We're calling it La Ostler.

Ending spot for the ride:

The young man that handled all of the arrangements for us (Pierre) greeted us at the end.  David had admired the t-shirt Pierre was wearing with the company logo and before we knew it David had one to take home.  He also scored a company jacket which is not sold in stores:

He keeps speaking with a French accent and wishes he had taken French in high school.

Day 4 - Chartres, Nevers

We left La Ducrie this morning and headed to Chartres Cathedral.   Mark had read about an old English gentleman who gave really good tours of the Cathedral.  When he had mentioned this to his sister, Nancy, she said Malcolm Miller (the guide) had given her semester abroad group a tour 35 years ago!  So I guess he knows his stuff.

We raced to make it to the Cathedral by noon.  We followed our GPS lady’s instructions, but we became concerned about the route she had chosen for us.  We seemed to be going along many country roads.  This was nice for seeing quaint French towns, but we were under a time crunch.  It dawned on us that we needed to change the setting on the GPS from “shortest route” to “fastest route.”  We didn’t have a good map of France, also a mistake.  We remedied that at Chartres. (pictured below)

Our tour with Mr. Miller was very good.  He pointed out lots of architectural details and talked about the building of the Cathedral.  Then he explained some of the stained glass windows.  I just love stained glass windows.  He pointed out one stained glass window depicting in panels the story of the Good Samaritan.  In the same window is the story of Adam. 

I remember reading an article in BYU Magazine years ago about this very window.  The author of that article and Mr. Miller both emphasized how in medieval times everyone realized the connection between those two stories.  The parable of the Good Samaritan is about Man’s journey to earth.  Going down from Jerusalem (heaven) to Jericho (earth) he falls among thieves (sin).  The Samaritan (hated, shunned) takes him to an inn (gospel) where his wounds are taken care of (repentance) by the innkeeper.  The Samaritan gives the innkeeper money to take care of him and promises to return in 3 days to pay the debt (atonement).   That’s just a brief summary, but you get the idea.  Here is part of the Good Samaritan panel.

 

Here is part of the Adam panels:

 

I also love the sculptures on the sides of the doorways.  Here is one with (from left) Melchizedek, Abraham (with Isaac), Moses, Aaron, and David.  Did you know that the outside sculptures reflect the subject matter of the stained glass windows that are just inside on the same wall?  I didn't!

Back in the car again, this time with a map AND GPS, we headed to Nevers.  The main reason for this trip is because we have been invited to participate in Mark’s client’s bike ride.  Headquarters for this company is in Nevers, France and this is where the ride will take place.  We are considered VIPs for this event, which is always good.  I will forgo mentioning the name of the bicycle company (learned a lesson from the car rental company’s comments on my blog!) but you’ll be able to tell from the pictures.

When we got to our hotel rooms, it was like Christmas morning!  Our bikes that they were providing us with were in our rooms as well as a gift bag for each of us containing new bike outfits and water bottles.  Here is a picture of Mark and David looking very tough:

 

Our hotel is right next to the Loire River.  Here is a view from our window:

We attended a dinner for all of the VIP.  There were a few other English speakers who sat with us, including the president of the company and his wife.  This was another very long dinner with all of the courses (cheese course comes just before dessert!) and we promised David that it would be the last long dinner he’d have to sit through.  But he’s been doing well and has been such a good sport.

Oh, and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

Day 3 - D-Day

Today was an incredible day.  Eight years ago, when we were here in Normandy with Jeff, Laura, and Rebecca, Mark worked up his own tour of the D-Day sites for us and he is very knowledgeable about World War 2 information.  But this time he decided to sign us up for a guided tour by an Englishman who has spent his life, really, immersed in the history of D-Day.

 La Ducrie

 David with a friend at La Ducrie

We began our day by having breakfast in the sunroom at La Ducrie.  Ducks and black swans waited outside the glassed-in porch for their breakfast.  We then hopped in the car and drove to Ste. Mere Eglise where we met our guide, Elwood. Elwood lives in a house that faces the church and town square.  He took us in and gave us about an hour lesson on the historical events leading up to the invasion as well as information about the landing, the things that went wrong, and the things that miraculously went right.

Paratroopers were dropped over the inland areas of Normandy in the night before the invasion on June 6, 1944.  Pilots miscalculated where they were and many paratroopers were dropped in the wrong place.  Ste. Mere Elgise is the site of a famous miscalculation.  Germans occupied the town and when they saw the paratroopers dropping (and heard the planes overhead) a battle broke out.  One paratrooper was caught by his parachute on the spire of the church and hung there for two hours as bullets flew around him, pretending to be dead.  They have a parachute and fake paratrooper on the church now.  Only three men survived that drop.

We visited a museum with lots of weapons, uniforms, an airplane, a glider, a tank, etc. from the battle over Ste. Mere Eglise.  Along with Mark, David, and I, we had three others in our group.  One couple were both in the Navy and each had been a commander of a ship, so they were very knowledgeable.  After our museum visit, Elwood showed us his own collection in an upper room of his house.  He had rows and rows of military helmets of both Germans and Allies.  He also had different types of guns, uniforms, and other equipment.  Very often during his ongoing lectures he would ask questions to test how much we knew, and as he held up one of his guns, he asked if anyone knew what kind it was.  David answered correctly.  Apparently playing Call of Duty has its advantages!

After a lunch break, we piled into Ellwood’s van and headed for the beaches.  Our first stop was Utah Beach.  This was a fairly successful landing.  We had been told about how the Allies wanted to land at mid-tide so as to reduce the distance from the landing crafts to the embankments, however, it turned out that it was low tide when they landed and because of artillery fire, most of the boats didn’t go in far enough which meant that many men drowned before they even got to the beach and then there was about 200 yards of beach to cross (and to be shot at).

The Germans had fortified the beaches by dropping “Hedgehogs” along the beaches from Brittany to Belgium – 10 million of them.  These were placed down at low tide, preventing boats from coming in at high tide (damage the bottoms) or mid-tide (block their path).

Our next stop was Pont du Hoc.  This is between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach.  It was a natural stronghold and believed to be impossible to assault. 

There were many cement emplacements (widerstandnest – German, meaning “stand against) and very big guns that could hit either beach.  The assignment to scale the cliffs were given to the Army rangers, but thought to be an impossible task.  They were successful.  They were helped by British bombers who dropped 2,000 lb. bombs creating huge holes that create an undulating terrain and two destroyers who came down from Utah Beach after that assault was successful.

We next visited Omaha Beach, which was the site depicted in the movie “Saving Private Ryan.”  It is a HUGE beach and stretches for a couple of miles.  More than 2,000 men died on the beach at Omaha and survivors have said that the sand was red with the blood of those men.

Our last stop on our tour was the American Cemetery.  It is reserved for those who died in combat or wounds from combat sustained during June through August of 1944.  It is moving to walk through and see those crosses and Jewish stars all lined up and realize that each of those represents a mother who had to be told that her son would not be returning home.

At the American Cemetery there is a wall with names of the MIAs from this assault:

 When we returned to Ste. Mere Eglise, we described to Elwood the problem we had been having with our rental car GPS and he confirmed what we suspected – that it was probably the cigarette lighter fuse that needed to be replaced. (Yes, we had already called Hertz customer service who suggested that we return the car to Paris for a new one.  Um, that would be about a 3 hour drive….) We asked Elwood if there was a place in the small town of Ste. Mere Eglise where we could go for help.  He recommended Olivier at the local Renault place, so with a hand-drawn map in hand, off we went.  Olivier was most helpful, found the fuse box, replaced the fuse and charged us 1 Euro!  Within 10 minutes we were on our way with a working GPS.

Upon returning to La Ducrie, we quickly changed clothes and joined the other 8 guests and our hosts for gourmet night.  Viv is an excellent cook, and we were served “nibbles” to start in the sunroom and were introduced to the 4 couples that were also staying at La Ducrie.  Apparently they all worked together at one time in New Jersey, about half of them were British, and some had returned to Britain.

They rest of the food was delicious as well.  My salad was beautiful. 

We had a sorbet to cleanse the palate, then a lovely beef, potato, and asparagus dish,  a cheese course, and some yummy desserts.  David was quite a hit with them all.  He tried out his British accent on them (remember that Joe and Viv are also British) and they thought he was quite entertaining.  There was much laughter (it helped that they had a fair amount of alcohol as well) and they all decided that David should go into the theatre.

We began the hors d’oeuvres about 7:30 pm and finished dinner just before midnight!

Day 2

This morning Mark went to the car rental place and got us car with a Garmin navigation system as an add-on. We headed for a little market and bought 2 baguettes, butter, water, clementines, and a yogurt and hit the road for Rouen.

In Rouen, there is a cathedral called Notre Dame (not THE Notre Dame) that Monet painted in different light over 30 times.

In it is the tomb of Richard the Lionheart – but it only has his heart in it. Apparently, the remainder of his body is in England. We also saw the square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. It has kind of a modern church and plaza to mark the spot.

We walked around the downtown area for a while and also went into a little courtyard that was the site of a plague cemetery.

The surrounding buildings are decorated with skeletons and bones carved into the timbers. Many of the houses are half-timber in design.

There is also a very old clock with only one hand. In the olden days, no one really cared about minutes, just hours, so only one hand on the clock was needed.

We left Rouen and shortly thereafter our Garmin said the battery was low and eventually died. We had it plugged into the cigarette lighter, but I guess it wasn’t getting any juice. So we got off the freeway at Caen, found our way to the center of town and went into the TI office (tourist information) and asked where we might find a Hertz car rental place. We were directed to go to the train station and after a very long time looking and asking, Mark was finally given a new navi. He pointed out that it might not be the navi, but rather the car, but the young lady knew nothing about cars and shooed him away with a new navigation system in hand.

The countryside is so green and lush here. Very beautiful. Our stop in Caen was a 1 ½ hour detour, so we got back on the road trying to make Mont St. Michel before it was too late to see it. Luckily, it doesn’t get dark here until about 10:00 pm and we arrived shortly before 7:00 pm.

It was fun to walk around this quaint little fortress/city/abbey. One last bus was leaving the parking lot on the west side of the causeway when we arrived. As we left about an hour later the parking lot had disappeared under the incoming tide. Because the causeway is built up on higher ground, the incoming tide no longer makes Mont St. Michel an island. One good thing about arriving so late in the day was that there was hardly anybody walking around, so it was like we had the place to ourselves.

We had a quick dinner in the neighboring town and then drove an hour to our lodgings for the next two night, La Ducrie. On the way, the navigational system ran out of battery again. It is definitely a problem with the car.

La Ducrie is a charming chateau (with a mote!) B&B built around the 1400s and is run by a British couple. We stayed here in 2002. More on La Ducrie and the beaches of Normany tour tomorrow.

Bonjour!

Today Mark, David and I flew in to Paris.  We arrived just before 5:00 pm (local time).  We flew British Airways and the day before we left, their employees walked out on strike.  Fortunately, our flight was not canceled.  That would have been a real damper on our trip.  Mark was able to snag perfect seats for us.  He and David had unfettered leg room.  Our flight left at 7:30 pm from SFO and we were dead tired.  The night before our trip I only got about 3 hours of sleep.  I was busily finishing up David’s collage for grad nite which I had to turn in before I left.  That, coupled with the fact that I was making cinnamon rolls and quiche for my last morning at seminary (hurrah!), made it hard to get sleep time.  But we slept well on the plane even though we were flying coach.

After arriving here in Paris, we checked into an airport hotel, went to the ATM, walked to a Creperie for dinner, and tomorrow the adventure begins!

Granddaughter fun

I should have posted this sooner….. right after Rebecca’s graduation, Allison and her family came for a visit.  They were here for Mother's Day, which was wonderful.  This visit prompted Rebecca and Laura to make a trek home to join in the fun.  We certainly missed having Sarah, et al with us!  Miss Annabelle made her debut appearance for Mark, David, Rebecca, Jeff and Jess.  She was such a good baby and we all declared her the easiest baby ever. (In this picture her hands are blurry due to madly flapping.)

Emaline was her regular charming self and full of energy.  Every time Rebecca and Laura sat down on the couch, she’d say “So, what are we going to do now, guys?”  We really loved having our granddaughters here.  We enjoyed Allison & Dave, of course, but having the chance to read to, squeeze, and tickle two little girls was fabulous.

Five down, one to go

Last Thursday we flew to SLC to see Rebecca graduate from the University of Utah.  She received her Bachelor of Nursing and we couldn't be prouder.  When she first said she wanted to major in nursing, I smiled and nodded, but in my head, I thought, "Really?  Because in high school I thought you hated science."  I wasn't sure she had it in her, but I'm glad I didn't discourage her because she's done fabulously and absolutely loves the work.  So, three cheers for our fifth college grad!