A Wonderful Group + Full Days

Although this blog is about travel by bicycle, in a sense, it is about meeting new people, visiting new places, and trying to balance actual experience with recorded thoughts and observations.

Since I do not have a film crew, and – since my companions (especially my wife, Joy), are so delightful, it has been hard to find time and coherence for a bit of blogging.

Friday (29th of May) – Logistics / Travel day

A reasonable start for a day of non-bike travel to prepare for bike travel… Pack, check out, and – finally – go.

Go – in the sense of walk to Châtelet – Les Halles – the connecting point for the RER train to Charles de Gaulle Airport. Nothing is easy the first time. Or, even if retracing backwards steps from a week ago. But, no problem. And, the Bank of America credit card (chip and signature, but without the pin) works in the ticket machine! </whew>

Of course, as happens in some subway lines, the track forks: This train to This end point; the Other train to the Other end point. Therefore, exit train at first station; wait for next train to good ol’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. Easy.

Shuttle to hotel (1^st of 3!) Novotels. Correct one. </whew> pause and breathe…

Back to Charles de Gaulle Airport for bikes.   pause and eat lunch… Shuttle again to correct Novotel hotel with two 70-pound bike boxes. Great fun transporting bike boxes on an airport shuttle bus.

Most of an entire day to move all belongings to a hotel a few miles away.

Isn’t Bike Travel fun?

Just as “Southern American English” has extra verb tenses (Present Preparatory: “fixin’ to do that next week…” And, Future Indefinite: “might could get to that real soon…”) – travel has special time sequences.

We have a moment to appreciate a 4 Star Hotel – and, attend a meeting in the lobby at 6:30 to do a first food event with ½ of the bike group.

Late, of course, with animated conversations about world politics ($ + power + alliances + resources…) and realpolitik. Anecdotes of BAC trips to Vietnam, Australia & China!

We should have an extraordinary number of fascinating insights as the trip unfolds.   And, since we are in the environs of the Charles de Gaulle Airport, a real remnant of the Concorde fleet mounted on a pedestal, and a much smaller modern art sculpture of the plane (stone & metal with hints of the shape of a pterodactyl). This is the land of pervasive aesthetics…

{photo of Concorde}

Saturday (30 May) – Logistics / assembly day +

We have a reasonable start from the posh Novotel… Pack, check out, go on bus with all stuff.

3+ hours to by bus to Tours. There we assemble our bikes! Rather than repeat comments about how to move a bicycle across the Atlantic ocean as if it were mere baggage, I suggest a visit to an earlier post: Leaving for Europe – May 2012.

Dinner with gang… lovely Chateau, I guess! But, if you read the May 2012 post, you may realize that trying to assemble two bicycles in a patch of grass in a courtyard as the sun sinks behind the trees, takes 110% of one’s energy. Not much left to admire a lovely view.

Sunday (31th) – 1st ride day

A reasonable start… a 40 km ride to Azay-le-Rideau.

In Paris, museums are obligatory; on the road, stops at Chateaux are quite natural. so, a stop at a classic chateau; Villandry. Exquisite gardens, extraordinary beauty.

Lunch on the road, with conversations & enthusiasm.

(No, not real lunch area – a dining hall within Villandry.)

We wander Azay-le-Rideau for another chateau… in renovation state. Oh, well. Some of us are still vibrating from Villandry.

Dinner: delightful resonant connections with fellow travelers. Some greater compatibility than previous trips. More mellow? More aware of the good fortune of people to see the world from 2 wheels with rapport with others? I’m not sure – but at moments like this, travel seems a blessing.

This might have been posted earlier, bad Internet connections can happen even in lovely hotels. And, even blessed travel can create exhaustion.

Monday (1st of June) – 2nd ride day

Another reasonable start… a 36 km ride to Chinon.

Unfortunately, enough time for an early check of email: Secretary of State John Kerry Cuts Europe Trip Short After Bike Crash (in France!).

Better weather – no rain..   Easy distance.

Therefore stop for coffee (almost everyone, at the logical coffee shop on the road!).

Remember, this is the Loire Valley…

And, time for a leisurely stop for lunch.

Easy navigation with Harold and Judy (helps to be doing this tour for the second time).

Lovely hotel (Hotel Diderot) with exquisite charm for 2 nights.   Loop ride(s) tomorrow.

Tuesday (2nd) – 1st non-ride day

A slow start… The specialty of the Hotel Diderot is home-made jams & jellies. Guess what breakfast is like?

Since we have two days in this hotel, rather than get back on the bikes, a bit of laundry in the sink. One could discuss at length the logistics of a bike ride where there is a new hotel (almost) each night. And, days are quite full… And, sweaty bike clothes eventually ripen…

So, rather than loop rides, we opt for a gentle walk to the center of Chinon. A free ride in the town elevator up the cliff to the Fortress of Chinon.

And, an increasing appreciation for both François Rabelais and Joan of Arc, the patron saints of Chinon.

A stop at the Wine Museum of Chinon. (Did we mention that we are starting to make wine in Decatur, GA? Wine Workshop) The museum turns out to be the Animated Wine Museum. Imagine a Walt Disney of Chinon with not much money, but great enthusiasm for the history of wine in the Loire Valley… Animated figures in the sub-basement of a charming restaurant / bakery.

Complemented by an audio track with endorsements by François Rabelais. Very weird; very entertaining (especially after the complimentary wine and a few detached comments at lunch.)

Back to rest feet before the formal, narrated walking tour of Chinon. And, wine tasting. And, overwhelming dinner.

As Lance Armstrong said: “It’s not about the bike.” For BAC folk, life off the bike is OK.

Wednesday (3rd) – 3rd ride day

One challenge of travel is health. How to stay healthy in a world with new environments and frequent stress? How to get adequate sleep, food, serenity, and enjoy only moderate amounts of superb local wine…

Especially within a group of fellow travelers whose health deteriorates.

Two of the 24 members in the group were coughing on day 1. Hmmmmm. One of those recovered quickly; the other seems to have contracted some variant of the plague.

Now several of us are ill, and were it not for a rental cars for non-bike travel, this group would seem less like a victorious Tour de France team – rather, the rag-tag army of Napoleon returning from inglorious defeat in Russia.

I managed the short 37 km to Saumur (including the 15% descent into town), and was delighted to rest in an extraordinarily beautiful room with a view of the local Chateau from the window. And, to discover, down a short flight of steps, the most anatomically correct bathtub in the world.

Thursday (June 4) – 4th ride day

Despite my variant of the plague, I managed the short ride (33 km) from Saumur to Brissac-Quince. Hooray. No longer cold in the morning; no longer slight moments of rain. Now the reverse: bright skies and hot afternoon temperatures – 88 degrees.

We arrive before the heat of the day – and, after lovely rolling hills of well-tended agriculture and horse farms. (We did not see the Cadre Noir of Saumur – the French National Riding School – but the local horses in the fields are gorgeous!)

Another superb bit of navigation by Harold, one of our fellow riders. Illness is not so bad without the worry of getting lost.

And, almost time to post a blog entry. However, to use the sort of politically incorrect humor that results from frustration, finding “free time” on an organized bike tour and a solid internet connection at the same moment, makes the task of a blind pig finding a truffle seem easy.

{courtesy: http://deliciousconnections.com/truffles-foie-gras-dordogne/ }

(In the U.S., the pig is often in search of an acorn, but we are now in France.)

Perspectives of the arts of Paris

 Although this blog is about travel by bicycle, preparation (getting ready) and reflection (what did I discover) are part of every journey.   In fact, these processes are an integral part of life.  But, life itself is in strong relief when travel and new perspectives are involved.

It is not possible to be in Paris without museum visits.  Beyond the the Jewish museum of art & history, there are many others.  One visit was to the Musée d’Orsay – astonishing – especially the exhibition of Pierre Bonnard!

And, since our hotel is across the street from the Pompidou Museum, we took time for a visit.

Serendipity for me (information architect) – a special exhibition of a real architect: one of the most influential of the 20th Century, Le Corbusier.

The Centre Pompidou is devoting a retrospective to the work of Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, aka Le Corbusier. Not only a visionary architect, urban planner and theorist of modernity, but also a painter and sculptor, Le Corbusier made a profound impression on the 20th century in dramatically changing architectural design and the way people lived in it. The Centre Pompidou invites audiences to grasp the output of this major figure in modernity through the idea of human proportions, the human body being essential as a universal principle defining all aspects of architecture and spatial composition.

Interesting to have one of the most influential architects of the modern era exhibited in one of the most controversial architectural structures in Paris.  The building would have looked much better if he had designed it.  And, it would have been more beautiful – retaining great simplicity.  Oh well, the current one is functional, and in keeping with much of the post modernist permanent collection…

Nonetheless, a breathtakingly sensitive exhibit showing the full range of Le Corbusier’s genius.  Including his small pilgrimage chapel at Ronchamp whose evocative penetration by shafts of light is symbolic of the nuanced, subtle, and dynamic effulgence of a supreme being.  Evocative spirituality by an atheist architect.

After several days in Paris, where aesthetics is celebrated and functionality is tolerated, I have found an irreverent distinction between classical art and modern art.

In classical art one wonders in an astonished appreciation of evocative splendor, “How did he do that?”  In modern art one asks in an astonished awareness of jarring metaphors, “Why did he do that?”

Sunday – an almost normal tourist day

A short walk from our hotel in the Marais area of Paris to the Jewish museum of art & history – up the street (Rue de Temple).

A sensitive exhibit of artifacts of Jews in France (including deportation documents during the Holocaust): before the Reformation persecutions; during 1800’s; during the Dreyfus Affair, and celebrating the establishment of the nation of Israel.  Art and culture as a joyous tribute to faith-based civilization.  Anti-Semitism as an ebb and flow of horror and bizarre identification of difference.

What is the a sane reaction to unreasoned horror and hatred?

What is the reaction to irrational & nonrational events beyond reason?   Events of random pain & death (Frank Barham)?  Behavior borne of hatred?  Attacks by humans?  Attacks by demons?

How does one answer?  Prayer?  Abandonment of faith?  Addition of mysticism & magic to a belief in the unknowable essence of the universe?

Just as Frank’s death has made normal inconveniences seem trivial, the collective agonies of the diaspora and intermittent persecutions of the Jews have given a longer view to the inconsequential difficulties that harass us all.  And, to the extent that the horrific persecutions are not mere accidents, but the evil that has plagued mankind throughout recorded history, a mere bike trek for a vacation seems frivolous.

But, a journey of any consequence has unintended resonance with the world beyond static reality and current understanding.  We travel to learn – even when the lessons are hard.

A week can be a crossing of barriers – even without leaving home.  And, just as some endeavors go well, some do not.  A heroic mission and solid plans never guarantee safety.  And, transiting rural roads in south Georgia in a manual wheelchair can be hazardous, apparently.

I was sure a week ago that my good friend, Frank Barham, would succeed in his epic expedition, just as he had succeeded at all previous endeavors.  And, the rigors of the road would be tolerable.

This morning’s NPR news described his death in a horrendous accident.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a full description.

Within a day’s travel of his destination, Savannah, his contributions to the world ended.

This tragic loss is both personal (he was a friend for more than 25 years), and societal (communities of fellow musicians and people with disabilities have posted moving tributes on his Facebook page).

May his good energy and passion for life be an eternal blessing.

Rest in peace, Frank.  Your life has enriched the lives of all of us who have known you – and, our sadness and loss will echo down our future paths.