Dolly's Bike Blog

Musings about fun between my legs

2014 Tandem Through France

After my Southern Route cross country trip, Don and I began taking about together – on the tandem. We settled on taking another trip to France.

After much discussion about taking an organized tour, a supported tour, or organizing a tour ourselves, we decided to try to something on our own. A friend recommended we look into the Tandem Club of France to join some of their weekend trips around the country.

We joined the Tandem Club and found two weekend rallies not far outside of Paris and then made B & B arrangements nearby. In between, we had flexible days to tour and cycling in Normandy. After our weekends with the Tandem Club, we had a week with no definitive plans except to visit with our longtime friends, Christine and Patrice.  They invited us to their beach house for some of that time, and great adventures ensued!

Here is a chronological archive of my blog from the entire trip.

  • September 4, 2014
    Headed to France
    It has been a long time since I wrote at this Blog site.  A certain friend named Jim requested/suggested that I write about Don’s and my trip to France. We fly out of Dulles Airport (Washington DC area) on Tuesday, September 9, arriving September 10, to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.  If all goes well, ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 7, 2014
    Step One
    To get to France, we chose to fly out of Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia.  We drive to Fairfax, VA, to stay with Ralph and Karen, Don’s brother and sister-in-law.  And we get to see our daughter Sarah, husband Matt, and grandson Mason. While we are in France, our car will “rest” in Fairfax. The drive  generally ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 11, 2014
    We made it!
    Today is Thursday, September 11, and we are comfortably settled in Paris.  And we have had almost 12 hours of sleep!  Anyone who has traveled to Europe knows about losing six or more hours of a day(s). We had lunch in Fairfax with Ralph, Don’s brother, before heading to the airport.  Our check-in went smoothly.  The ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 12, 2014
    Around Paris
    After a wonderful night’s sleep, we were ready to explore Paris. Our first destination was the Musee des Arts et Metiers, “a store of new and useful inventions”.  On the way we stopped in the Mairie de Paris, the borough offices for the 10th arrondissement.  Certainly more personality than our township offices.  We are seeing ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 14, 2014
    "Lost" photos
    Some of the photos from Paris were on my camera, instead of my phone.  These have now been uploaded. Mairie of 10th arrondissement, exterior and interior Statue of Liberty model outside Musee des Artes et Metiers.  See some of the exhibits below: Model of a foundry Paris Subway – not at rush hour Funicular to Sacre Coeur Basilica de ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 17, 2014
    Serious internet problems on IPad and Apple, so no composing , no photos to share. We are having a great time, lots of walking and biking, super weather, yummy food. Lots of details when we can get a good connection. Dolly and Don
    Continue reading →
  • September 17, 2014
    I am embarrassed to say, but we have found a reasonable Wi-Fi connection at the McDonald’s in Isigny sur Mer.  So, we will forfeit the photos (I have taken several hundred) and just give a quick time line from Friday: Friday:  Drove out of Paris to Mauquency, near Forges les Eaux to our gite with Jean ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 21, 2014
    Wednesday, after our McDonald’s experience, we went to Arrromanches, site of the British D-Day landing (Gold Beach).  The British experienced minimal resistance when taking the beach and set about creating an artificial harbor. They sank old merchant ships to create a breakwater, then added huge concrete boxes, built in England and towed across the Channel. ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 23, 2014
    Sunday evening we enjoyed dinner with the owners of La Petite Ferme. He is a trained cook and we enjoyed squash soup, salmon in papillote with shrimps and rice and beurre blanc, with tiramisu with pears and a chopped nut crust- a very enjoyable meal. We studied Rick Steve’s book on the Loire and decided to see three ...
    Continue reading →
  • September 26, 2014
    Photos at Last
    Friday, September 12, Forges les Eaux Saturday, September 14, with the Tandem Club of France in Forges les Eaux
    Continue reading →