Orléans, the French Girls Arrive

After a series of mishaps (lost track of time and a lost, but found, phone), we made a mad dash to Paris Austerlitz, and hopped a train to Orléans. After a quick check-in with our hotel, an attempted visit to the tourist office for maps, a hasty peek into Jeanne d’Arc’s house, a one-stop-short-ticket mistakenly purchased for Kitcat, and a scenic, albeit hot, 4 km walk to the bike rental shop, and a valiant attempt to resurrect our rusty French, I wish we could say that we are packed and ready to hit the bike path.

The bad news: a mix-up with our bike reservations. I incorrectly entered my first name as my last and my last name as my first when I made the reservation online, which apparently was too much for the system to handle (?!), means that we are still waiting for our bikes to be delivered. The good news (actually fantastic news): the French girls arrived! My very favorite French girlfriends Hélène and Marie-Françoise have gamely made the trip down from Paris to ride the first stage of the Tour de la Loire, and I couldn’t be more pleased. 61 kilometers…allez!!