The opportunity to see the end of the Tour de France was the pre pre-tour of our eight day cycling cruise with Santana Adventures. After a free day to rest and see some of Paris we made a group bike ride out to Palace of Versailles for lunch. Bike riding in Paris is a challenge. There are many bike paths and lanes that make riding out of the traffic nice but there are also a lot of roundabouts, large and small, which can be scary as our bicycles merge with the cars and trucks.
The Palace of Versailles became the main residence of the French Court and government in 1682. While we did not have time to tour the main palace we did get to tour the Petit Trianon which was a small palace built in 1772 by King Louis XIV for his Queen, Marie Antoinette. On the tour they explained that Marie Antoinette could not deal with the intrigue and politics of the Court. And as Louis XIV was hoping for an heir he had the Petit Trianon constructed to give Marie Antoinette a refuge where she could relax and find some peace. Although the palace was quite small it’s centerpiece was the marvelous landscaped gardens.
After the pre-tour to Versailles it was time to start the actual eight day cycling cruise. We began by having our bikes and luggage loaded into big panel trucks for the trip to Strasbourg, France. The logistics of this trip were amazing as they had to coordinate getting bikes, luggage and 160 people from Paris to Strasbourg. After the trucks got on their way, buses took us to the train station to catch the high speed train that reached speeds of 200 miles per hour. When we arrived in Strasbourg our bikes were waiting for us in the park across the street from the station. Our first official ride of the tour was 18.5 miles from the station to our ship. Along the ride we stopped to see the Strasbourg Cathedral. It was hard to get a decent picture of the Cathedral because the area was so crowded. Construction was started in 1015 but not finished until 1439. For 227 years it was the tallest building in the world until 1874 when it was surpassed by a church in Hamburg, Germany.
After our ride through a couple of villages, along the river and down some wooded bike paths, we came to where our ship was docked and got settled in our cabin. We were happy to see that our luggage was there to meet us.
Travel the World Backpacking 