October 24th

Will play catch up first..

The 22nd was a very "blah" day.  It was short - only 45 miles I think - but the skies were grey most of the day, with a tiny bit of rain.  The scenery was boring, the route had quite a lot of big trucks.
For some reason, this day was mostly just a matter of getting from point A to point B.
And the hotel!!  Apparently the hotel we were to stay in closed and we had to go to a nearby hotel that was really just a dump.
It rained at dinner time so we ate squashed into the hotel lobby....

But the 23rd, our last day of biking, was absolutely fabulous!!
It didn't start that way - it was cold (I could see my breath) and at first there was a thick fog.
But soon the fog cleared and the sun shone, and the miles just went along.
The first twenty miles were on the highway - lots of traffic whizzing by, but the shoulders were wide and pretty smooth, so we ate up the miles on our bikes.  And soon we were on the coastline and could see the waves crashing on the shore and the beautiful beaches..
Off the highway and onto the bike paths of Santa Barbara - including through the campus.  They were the cadillac of bike paths, and the campus was beautiful!
Sheila and I had decided that if we were to do 84 miles today and still have time to get ready for our farewell dinner, we would not stop for lunch, but things were going so well that we succumbed to the temptation and had a wonderful lunch in Santa Barbara.
Plus, we were biking though Montecito and saw Sue & Linda (my fellow Canadian) at a cupcake place... and had to stop for a celebratory cupcake!!
More bike paths, plus another quick five miles on the highway, and finally onto the last bike path into Ventura.
Thanks to the great tailwinds, and our now great skills and strength as the super cyclists we are, we were in by 4pm with plenty of time to get organized, showered and dressed for our dinner out!
Some people were a little ... happy by the end of the evening, but a good time was had by all.

And I did it!!  I don't know the exact numbers, but I cycled for 24 days - close to 1,600 miles, and the reports were that we climbed between 65,00 and 70,000 vertical feet!!
I actually can't believe that I did it!!!
and only a handful of people actually biked EFI - every f... inch!  for one reason or another, most people "bumped" a little (or a lot!)
I guess that my intensive training paid off....

And right now - the 24th, I am in a wonderful little boutique resort - the San Ysidro Ranch - in Santa Barbara.  It is one of the nicest places that I have ever stayed in : a cottage with a private patio with an outdoor shower and hot tub, plus a verandah out front, a living area with a fireplace, a great big luxurious looking king-sized bed and a bathroom bigger than most of the hotel rooms I've been in in the last month.  Back where I belong.....

October 21st

I had to look it up - we are in Arroyo Grande today.
It was a fantastic ride - we had to go on the highway at the beginning, but with six foot wide shoulders and very little traffic, it was not a big deal.
First stop - coffee in Morrow Bay - best latte I've had so far on this trip!
Next stop, San Luis Obispo for lunch.  The town was charming and full of people - we had a great lunch on an outdoor terrace - wonderful!!
Only 12 miles to go, so we hopped on our bikes and headed down the road.  Hmmm... an ambulance.
Turn the corner, there it is - along with a fire truck and a police car.
Oh - bikes and neon jackets just like ours... what a horrible, horrible feeling.  I got there just in time to see them load her into the ambulance.
One of the ladies fell - skidded on some gravel with a flat tire and fell, hitting her jaw on a concrete
construction barrier that was on the side of the row - she couldn't get her feet out of the pedals in time to catch herself.
She is back with us, but needs to see an oral surgeon asap so she is trying to get back to Milwaukee.
Poor lady - she is a funny, interesting 68 year old woman.
And only two days left in the trip.
Earlier on another woman went home.  She went out for a walk after dinner, fell and broke her shoulder..
Will be extra careful for the next two days...

56.7 miles today.

October 20th

October 19th -
What a lovely day!
We biked out of Monterey and onto the "17 Mile Drive" - which wound along the coast line, past Pebble Beach - it was amazing and beautiful and just spectacular again!
We had coffee in Carmel-by-the-Sea - I am not sure if we really looked like we belonged there in all our biking clothes, but they served us!!  We shopped a bit and continued on.
The sun went behind the clouds, but it was still a beautiful day and a beautiful ride... and only 46 miles!

October 20th -
Okay, not such a great day!  It was foggy so it was a little disconcerting to say the least; there were constant hills for the first 50 miles- and I am still thinking that I would rather bike up than bike down;
no shoulders ...  It was a challenging morning.
Lunch at Ragged Point - mediocre food and lousy service!
But the rest of the ride was pretty flat and a much easier ride!
67 miles...

October 18th

Hi Y'all!

I am now in Monterey, California!  The weather is beautiful, the town is lovely, the scenery spectacular and we had a wonderful lunch overlooking the water!
All that and an easy 46 mile ride from Santa Cruz.  We wheeled through the Salinas Valley where we saw fields of strawberries and artichokes!?? - migrant workers picking the strawberries, produce stands,
back roads - a great bike ride!  And then on to a bike path to get into Monterey - and we arrived in time for lunch, checking into the hotel, a walk around the town, laundry and dinner.
All in all, a very good day!

Yesterday was a decent ride but it was an 84 mile ride!!!  The hills were not too bad, and the weather was warm and sunny, but we didn't get lunch until almost 3pm - 70 miles into the trip!!  I was starving!!
Oh, and I had my first (and hopefully last!) flat tire.  Thank goodness, Katie & Sheila were with me -
Katie pretty much changed the tire with Sheila helping and me doing whatever I could.  Fortunately that happened just a few miles out of Santa Cruz, so we rode in and found a bike shop where they looked over the tire and I bought a couple of new tires and I am ready for the next few days!

October 16th

Ahhhh..... just spent the day with my wonderful friend, Janet Gamble.  Did you know that you can actually get around a city without pedalling??  She picked me up in her car... and we went for breakfast - had really excellent beignets (plus bacon, eggs, hash browns...)  We took the dogs for a walk at Crissy Field, I watched her make an excellent meal and then politely agreed to consume (yes, greedily!!) it all!!
And we talked...  I do miss her since she moved away from Calgary...

Okay, but maybe you want to hear about my bike ride yesterday.  It was 71 miles which sounds horrendous, but it was actually a wonderful day!!  We started off through fields and farmland, then alongside a lovely inlet, small hills, not much traffic, coffee in Mendicino (okay - I had HOMEMADE apple pie and ice cream at that first stop!)  A lovely ride through the countryside.

But our ultimate destination was San Francisco, so eventually we had to hit the urban areas.  Lunch at the Barefoot Cafe in Fairfax, and then through all sorts of little - and not so little - towns to get to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The bike routes were really well marked and so were the bike lanes, so although I was concerned about biking on city streets, it was really quite enjoyable!  I was following Virginia
(from Georgia) and she is a very focused rider and was able to follow the cue sheet so well that I did not even have to think - I just shadowed her every move.
Unfortunately, I somehow managed to lose Virginia and Sheila by the Golden Gate Bridge, but still managed to make it to the hotel on my own - somewhat of a miracle for those who know how directionally challenged I am!!
The bridge itself - amazing!!  And it was a beautiful, sunny day (all day incidentally) without any fog obscuring our view, so it was a pretty spectacular sight!!  I was on the west sidewalk which is only for bikes, so it was a memorable journey - in the best way!

Staying at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf- it's okay...
But I had a massage Monday night and sigh... it was wonderful....

Sunny, warm. All in all, a couple of great days....

October 14th

Yesterday was a fabulous day!!!  Good weather, hills but nothing horrible.  A nice lunch along the way...  and only 60 miles.  We got in in time to go for ice cream and a walk before dinner (yep - you are not going to see a noticeably slimmer Janine, but you will see a happy one!!)  And the hotel room was wonderful - a deck overlooking the beach, a huge bed, a lovely bathroom - what more could you ask for??

Today, however, was a different story!!   Only 49 miles - a walk in the park, a piece of cake, a nice, easy day....  Wrong!!  Fog, hills, lots of hills, traffic and no shoulders - a bad combination.
However, we did stop for a lovely, lovely lunch and it was a beautiful thing.  In early enough to sit outside and soak up some sunshine (finally!!)

Tomorrow - San Francisco!!  Hopefully I will see Janet - and I have an appointment for a massage tomorrow evening - in a beautiful spa....

Dinner INSIDE tonight - very odd to eat without freezing to death!

And four of us - Angela, Virginia, Sheila and I - watched the old Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds,
tonight.  It was filmed right here in Bodega Bay.  Glad we are wearing bike helmets - should help save us should we be attacked!!

PLUS : We have now biked 1, 045 miles and climbed over 50,000 vertical feet - impressive, huh??

October 12th

If this is Friday, I must be in Fort Bragg??
What a day today!!  We kept hearing about this horrendous hill that was coming up - four miles long, a real killer.  Actually it was okay - just a 7% grade - no problem.
However... they didn't talk about how cold it was going to be going down the other side - 12 miles of downhill on a twisty, steep hill with no shoulders and I froze!!  and then there was the other hill - God knows how long it was, but the grade was between 6 and 11%!!  Yikes!
Then we finally got out of the forests and into the sun - overlooking that fabulous coastline - but there were short, steep hills ...
Anyway, I made it - all 67 miles and I feel good about it!!  It felt like a real accomplishment.
We got in just in time for a quick shower and a stretch before dinner (yes, Natalie, I am still using your yoga stretches every day after a ride).  After dinner though, four of us walked into town and had blackberry pie and ice cream - life is good!!

PS  Climbed 5,200 vertical feet today...

October 11th

Avenue of the Giants -
doesn't that sound great???
That was part of the route that we did today and it is a road that goes through the redwoods.
Traffic was light and the forests were astounding!
What a treat to bike through there.
Now, it was cool and overcast in the morning, but eventually the sun came out which made a big
difference.
And it was 80 miles!
It is still hard to believe that I can do that...
15 cycling days done - 13 left to go!

Interesting note : apparently this area is known for having secret pot crops deep in the woods and it is harvest time.  There are a lot of ... interesting people hanging around town today...

October 10th

82 miles - a 4,500 ft - and one 7 mile hill to start off the day...  it was a challenging day!  We arrived just in time for dinner - they actually held dinner for us and we ate in our cycling clothes.  Yikes!  What a day!!!!  I was ready to quit at mile 55 - in the middle of the third (and last) horrendous hill of the day, but Sheila and I decided that we could soldier on.  I think that at least half of the group "bumped" today-
We have decided that we won't kill ourselves, but we are going to do our best to do the whole trip without bumping.  We have made it to the halfway mark - 12 days of cycling behind us and 12 days ahead of us.  Crazy!

But really, it is all worth it - we biked through a redwood forest today - magnificent, spectacular, awe-inspiring!  And we were back on the coast line for part of the day - wow!!

Got some stats last night - 31 women and the average age is 63.4 - 2 women in their 40s, 7 in their 50s,
6 over 70 and the rest in their 60s. It is quite inspiring actually - no, it is very inspiring!!

Our chef, Patty, is leaving us today, so Lin sang a song for her (Lin, in her 70s, sings a song that she has composed while cycling once in a while - such a treat) , and Sheila composed a poem in her honour - such an interesting group of women to say the least.

A day of rest today in Eureka, California (oh, did I mention that we have now arrived in California?)
A sad little town (is that just the reflection of the weather - cool and misty??) but I managed to get my laundry done, plus I bought a new bike seat - please Lord, let this make my bike ride less painful??!!

And six of us went out for dinner - we were looking for steak and steak we got!  Such a treat to eat sitting at a table - inside out of the cold - and able to decide what we were going to eat.  Life is good!

Another 80 mile ride tomorrow, but apparently without the hills of yesterday....

October 8th

Wow!  What a study in contrast!
Yesterday was pretty much miserable - it was cold in the morning and we spent most of the day in the mist so that there was very little to see except for the road and trees alongside the road.  Oh, except that  it is pretty hard to miss the logging trucks and RVs.               Only 55 miles though.

Today on the other hand, was bright and sunny and just a little cool in the morning.
In the first few hours, we rode up and down some hills... nothing major... but the last half of the day was pretty much flat.
But the viewpoints in the morning!  There were far too many to stop at, but each one offered an amazing view of the coastline.  Hope the pictures turn out!! And just 60 miles today.

Yikes!  I just heard thunder!!  Hope that this is just an overnight storm............

Managed to find someone in the group that has her own kettle and tea - what a treat.. and another one just dropped off a chocolate bar for me to try - life is good!!
Now just as long as there is no rain tomorrow... oh, and that I can find a new bicycle seat in Eureka!

October 6th

I was in Florence last night - no, not the statue of David Florence, but Florence,Oregon.  You know, the place that they dynamited a whale  (check it out on youtube..)
Actually quite a cute little town.
A quick 50 mile ride - but it took most of the day because we stopped to eat, and we stopped at most of the viewpoints and we stopped at the SeaLions Cave (don't go there - big tourist rip-off)...  and all of that takes time you know!

Today I am in ...  just a sec, I will look it up - I am in Bandon, Oregon (it was on the side of the cup).
A long ride today - 75 miles - and it really wasn't very interesting scenery.  Apparently we are in the area that is sand dunes all along the coast, but for obvious reasons, they do not build the road beside the dunes.

Still a sore bum - am thinking of buying a new bike seat at the next bike store - any suggestions???
advice???

October 1st

Wow!  It's been three days and sooooo many miles!!

First day after our rest day in Bremerton was only 54 miles - all the way to Elma.
A few hills - nothing terrible and I am doing okay.

September 30th we rode from Elma to Long Beach - 84 miles!!!!
And it was a terrible, horrible, awful start to the day.
When I woke up and looked outside there was a lovely mist hugging the ground - it looked quite beautiful with the rising sun...
Hah!!  It was freezing cold and damp and just plain miserable for the first two hours!  It was a
"I hate this day" kind of experience!
But eventually the sun came out and we were on beautiful roads with a six foot shoulder - with smooth pavement.  Hardly any traffic and going through forests and farmland - it was an absolute delight.
Two of us stopped for lunch at a place on the side of the road - I swear the man that served us was ...
intellectually challenged.  (cousins marrying cousins??)  He had to ask us what our order was about three times.  But that is all part of the adventure, isn't it??

Our destination last night - did I mention that it was 84 miles???? - was Long Beach and it was gorgeous!!  A wide, sweeping beach that went on for miles.  Too bad that I was too tired to spend much time out there - plus the wind was really quite cool, especially after the sun went down.

Today was almost a rest day it was so easy.  Only about 45 miles - with only one major hill to climb.
Oh, and a four mile bridge!!!  It was insane!  A barely-there shoulder, with a major drop to the water on one side and logging trucks passing you on the other.  PLUS  the bridge sloped up - drop to your lowest gear slope - AND there was bridge construction at the top, and single lane.  I got to the other side and almost dropped to kiss the ground.  It felt very much like a near-death experience.
We had to stop at Starbucks to recover - thank God for coffee shops!
Otherwise the ride was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Cannon Beach at noon, so another bowl of clam chowder and we were able to get into the hotel rooms.
The beach here was beautiful - check out the Haystack - a rock formation in the water off of the beach.
I will try to get some pictures onto Facebook.

Almost eight o'clock - I am up late tonight!!

October 4th,

Ahhhhh.... a rest day in - just a second, I know - in Newport, Oregon!  Two nights in the same hotel - what luxury!!  And I was sooo excited to see this hotel room.  Funny - if Kent and I checked into this hotel, I would be unimpressed, but after some of the places we have been in, this is the height of luxury!

So... to catch up...

I spent my 53rd birthday (October 2nd in case you didn't remember!) in Pacific City.  A .... town that has definitely seen better days!  It is very odd to spend your birthday with strangers - especially when they have no clue that it is your birthday.  They did sing Happy Birthday to me though!
And I did bike 70 miles that day! The scenery is becoming spectacular each and every day now..
We even saw a potty for fisherman out on a river - complete with a line-up!

Yesterday was a wonderful ride - the best so far I think.  There was one horrendous hill but I made it!
You just keep on pedalling!  And the uphills usually result in unparalleled viewpoints.  We even saw whales today - very, very, very far away, but it still counts!!  Only 50 miles today - it seems as though it is hardly any effort at all!
And this may sound pathetic, but last night, I went into a restaurant and ordered a piece of chocolate cake with ice cream - wished myself a silent Happy Birthday - and stuffed my face!!

Today I walked around the town - it is a quaint little place and ran a few errands.  Bought toothpaste,
and a People magazine - got a new helmet (safety first!), some Emergen-C, and a couple of new books.
PLUS I had a massage - that was heaven!!!

The weather has been warm and sunny, but sometimes cold and misty in the mornings....

September 29th

Yesterday, in the exciting ferry terminal town of Bremerton, I did a lot of .... nothing!  I ate, did some laundry, ate some more, checked out a few shops, chatted with other Woman Tour cyclists, ate, and wandered around some more!!  A very lazy day - with absolutely no contact with a bike seat!!

Today did not start out well - a couple of nasty, nasty hills!  Fortunately, we are none of us too proud to walk...
But for the most part it was a very pleasant ride - through some beautiful countryside, with very little traffic.
And my butt??
A friend (thanks Vicki!) advised me to wear TWO pairs of bike shorts - double the padding! and some cream - it was... better today!  Certainly not pain-free yet, but maybe soon???

Make no mistake...

I just wanted to make sure that you all understand that these are not your typical 65 year old women.
They are lean, mean cycling machines!!
They have strength, they have resolve and they stay on the road until the journey is done!!!
It is an inspiration to see them -
someone asked me if I was worried about going alone on this trip, but my answer was that anyone who chose to cycle for 29 days was bound to be an interesting person...

Janine's cycling trip

September 29th.

Yesterday, in the exciting town of Bremerton, I mostly did... nothing!!
I walked around, ate, walked and ate.  Wandered through a few shops, chatted with some of the other cyclists, and ate!

Today however, was a biking day and we cycled from Bremerton through to Ella, Washington:  69.8 miles!  A few nasty, nasty hills in there, but for the most part it was rolling hills through some beautiful countryside; past a lake, through forests, small towns, some farmland - it was lovely and the traffic was minimal.  A long bike ride, but not too bad.

I wore TWO pairs of biking shorts today (thanks for the advice, Vicki!) which meant, of course, double the padding!  Plus some miraculous cream...  It was better today, but I am still not pain-free by any means!

Tomorrow - 84 miles .....

Le Calabash : A cooking school experience!!

I had three or four days in France after classes finished and before I was to fly home, so I was trying to decide what to do.  Originally I had thought to return to Paris, but that just didn't appeal to me.
Kent suggested that I take a cooking class and found a website - The International Kitchen.  I contacted them (Karen in Chicago) and lo and behold, there was a cooking school in a small village just a 100km
from Tours.  I arranged to attend starting Friday morning - the chef, Sydney Bond, would pick me up at my apartment in Tours on his way to the market.
So off we went to the market and then the drive to Yzeures-sur-Creuse.  I stayed in a simple, but lovely, hotel in this small village and the cooking school itself was just a short drive away in a tiny hamlet where Sydney and his wife, Allison, live with their three children and her mother.
It was exactly what you would hope a cooking school in France would look like - a restored stone house that was hundreds of years old, with a beautiful, modern kitchen and wonderful, warm people guiding your cooking adventure!!
Unbeknownst to me, I was the only student!!!!  I had thought that there was a group that I would be joining, but no, it was just me and the two chefs ....  yikes!!!   I usually like to stay in the background when it comes to cooking courses, but here there was nowhere to hide!!
It was great!  I made macarons, risotto, duck, goat cheese souffle, creme brulee tart - all sorts of things!!
Allison & Sydney are extremely nice people, with lots of stories and a vast amount of knowledge about all things culinary.  They also took me out to see some of the surrounding countryside, plus took me to a Michelin star restaurant one night, fed me way too much food (but it was soooooo good!!) and made me feel as if I were with friends!
I would highly recommend this to anyone who dreams of taking a cooking course in France....

A quick description of french classes

Let me just give you an idea of what my french classes were like.
I was in an apartment just a quick five minute walk from the school.
Classes were from 9am until 12:15 every day with an extra 2 1/2 hours of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays ( I was there for three weeks.)
The first day we had to take tests to determine which group was best for each of us - written, reading comprehension, oral comprehension and an interview.
I must have done alright because they put me into the most advanced class.
Our teacher's name was Dany and we had from three to five students - all women - depending on the week.  Two of the women were with me for all three weeks - Wegdam from Saudi Arabia who is 23 years old and Petra from Switzerland who is 42 years old.
The first week we had an older German lady and the last week there was a 45 year old from Denmark and a 74 year old from Colorado Springs.
Every day we would talk about readings, grammar, listen to radio reports, etc. to try to perfect our written and oral french.  Mostly the mornings would fly by.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we would sign up for classes that were more fun and had other students in each class.  There were people - both men and women - from Switzerland, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the States, England, Germany, Singapore, Denmark, ....  it was a real United Nations!  All ages too - from 20 to 64.  It was interesting and people were pretty good about speaking french most of the time - sometimes just because it was the only language we had in common!

I think that I made a mistake in not staying with a french family - I had thought that I wouldn't like living with strangers for three weeks - and there were a lot of good things about living on my own, but I think that I would have learned more french living with a family.  Oh well, next time.
Why Tours?? They have a wonderful spoken french here and the countryside is extraordinary!  Truly, there are beautiful fields,  forests and a chateau around every corner.
Would I do this again and was it worth it??  Yes!

Erin arrived on Tuesday of last week!  She was tired from the flight and the train ride to Tours, so we had a pretty quiet evening...
And the next day, her friend - our family friend - Julia arrived!!  Julia in all her glory - she is very dramatic and we love her dearly!!  Out for dinner and then they retired to their futon in the kitchen to sleep!
The next day, I took part of the day off of school so that we could catch the train to Chenonceau.  This is the most famous chateau in the Valley I believe and we spent the afternoon exploring the chateau inside and out.
Thursday, I went to school for the day and the girls took a guided trip out to the chateaux of Chambord & Cheverny.  Apparently it was only the two of them in the mini van - awkward!!  But they had a great time!!  Dinner at a creperie - Julia's favourite!
Friday afternoon we caught the train (the TGV - tres grande vitesse) into Paris and somehow made our way to Versailles...  long story but Erin would be glad to tell it because I messed up!!
We didn't have a hotel reservation, of course, so we wandered the streets with our bags until we found an Ibis - great location but the rooms were very...efficient!!  The size of a walk-in closet back home.
Of course, we watched an episode or two of Downton Abbey and then went to sleep!
Saturday morning, we walked to Versailles and strolled through the gardens until the ticket office opened.
It is amazing how immense the grounds are!!!  We were among the first into the chateau so we raced ahead of the crowds and managed to be basically alone in a lot of the rooms - even the astounding Hall of Mirrors!!
Alas, Julia had to return to Prague, so we sent her off, RER map in hand, to get to the Charles de Gualle airport on her own.
Erin and I had, by chance really, decided to get the tickets that included the Grands Eaux - which turned out to be amazing!!!  They turn on the fountains and play baroque music - we must have walked from fountain to fountain plus a side trip to the Grand Trianon, for a couple of hours!!  We had, unknowingly,
timed it perfectly too.  The show was only for an hour in the morning, and it began just 15 minutes after Julia left.
Once we were tired enough, we walked back to the hotel, picked up our bags and headed into Paris.
We caught the metro from the train station and found our hotel - the Hotel d'Aubusson in the Saint-Germain district.  Erin and I had stayed there once before (she was in grade nine) thanks to a recommendation from Coco.  It is a beautiful, elegant, very Parisian hotel - perfect location and absolute luxury.  The two of us were tired and were in love with our room, so we each had a bath, walked for miles to a bakery we had read about (Poilane??) and bought ham and cheese to go with our bread - ate it in our room and tried to watch Marie Antoinette on a DVD borrowed from the hotel.
Sunday morning, we again hated to leave our room, but eventually managed to pull ourselves together, pack up and leave.
The Paris Marathon was on and there were also some big political rallies at the Concorde, so Paris was very busy!!  We went to the Champs Elysee to shop for clothes (for Erin, of course) and then headed to the Musee d'Orsay where we had lunch and wandered the galleries.
Finally though, it was time for Erin to head to the airport and for me to catch the TGV back to Tours.....
Love you Honey!!

A weekend touring around Tours!

Easter weekend, but oddly enough, Friday was not a holiday but Monday was!

In any case, two other people in the school - a Swiss woman from my class and a Swiss man from another class - rented a car for a couple of days.  We had to speak French - it was the only language the three of us had in common.  I am much funnier and much more intelligent in English... odd that...

Objective : to see the chateaux of the Loire Valley!
First stop (picture only) the chateau of Amboise, and then the town of Blois where we wandered the streets of the old part of the city, and then had lunch in the shadow of the chateau.
Onward to Chambord where we explored the inside of the chateau and the beautiful grounds.
Final stop Cheverny - aren't the names themselves beautiful??
It is thrilling to be driving in the countryside and suddenly a beautiful chateau rises up beside the road...

Day two began in Vilandry which has the most amazing gardens!  Next Azay-le-Rideau which is a lovely little town and a chateau.  The town of Chinon next where we had lunch in the village square - eating duck outside in a square in a french medieval town - la vie est belle!!
Finally the town of Richelieu and then the city of Loches.

It was a wonderful two days - and I didn't have to drive!!

And so I have finished my first week of classes!  I think that there is hope for me yet - another two weeks and I should be doing well!
It has been quite cool here this week, especially first thing in the morning, but there are flowers everywhere- so beautiful.
Three of us are going to rent a car tomorrow to tour the countryside, in search of a chateau or two....

I am proud to say that I survived my first day of classes!  I am in a class with three other women - two of whom feel a very strong need to examine the grammar of each phrase - not so fun!
I am finding it challenging to not only feel that I have to remember how to speak french again, but I also have to figure out the European culture.  I have studied in France before, but with other Canadian and/or America students.  This is the first time that I am definitely the minority and that there is a great deal that people assume that everyone knows!  It is hard to feel stupid about most things....
The afternoon was spent in a couple of classes that were more about having fun learning...
I even managed to go to the market and ask for the ingredients for a salad - oddly enough, you have to ask for each vegetable and the man goes to get it himself - you are not allowed to touch the vegetables until after he has bagged it and you have paid for it.
I saw lilacs today!!!  (one of my favourite flowers!)
A bientôt mes amis!!

First day in school...
Today was introduce yourself day and TEST day!  Can't remember the last time I wrote a test...
but as the prof said, this is not an intelligence test so don't worry.
An interesting mix of people; many from Switzerland, a retired gent from Ireland, a man from Saudi Arabia and a military American based in Germany.. wonder who will be my classmates??
And this afternoon, we had a two hour walking tour of Tours.  I think that this will be a great place to spend three weeks - especially if the weather stays this beautiful!
It is so odd to hear that this was built in the 15th century, this is only two hundred years old - Canada, you are so new!!

The first few days : in Paris

Paris in the spring - they do not exaggerate, it is absolutely beautiful!  The sun was shining each day, the sky was blue, flowers everywhere, the trees blossoming and turning that most luscious shade of early-spring green... especially coming from Calgary in March; cold, windy and brown..
My friend, Nadine, has a friend who has a bachelor apartment in the Le Marais district where I could stay - walkable to everywhere a tourist would want to go.
And that's what I did for the four and a half days that I was in Paris - I walked... and walked and then walked some more. The thought of descending into the bowels of the city - the Metro - was simply inconceivable.
So I walked to all of the usual tourist sights - I saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Musee d'Orsay - all of the well-known places.  And because I was on foot, I also saw the everyday places - the Place des Vosges, the Eglise de St. Eustache, the Place de la Madeleine and the sidewalk cafes, glimpses of courtyards, unexpected squares teeming with people enjoying the sun...
I left my camera behind until the last two days so that the lens wouldn't get between me and the city, but I hope to post some pictures on Facebook if you would like to see them...
Oh, and thanks to another friend, Reina, I had contacted a teacher before leaving Calgary.  She came to meet me and we walked, talked, listened, laughed and roamed the city - she took me to the Place des Vosges, the Canal St. Martin, to a small cafe in Bercy near the Bibliotheque de Francois Mitterand and the Pere LaChaisse cemetery- all with a little grammar lesson or two as well. It was a great way to attune my ear to French again and gain a little confidence in my ability to express myself.
No internet in Paris, but I took the TGV to Tours today, found my little apartment for the next 20 days,
and can now go on-line!
Tomorrow class begins....