First, biking is faster than walking, and definitely easier on the knees! So, we can actually get "somewhere" in the course of the day. We would not be having the experience looking down from an airplane or out a train window. We are certainly more aware of our surroundings. First, we must be vigilant about the path ahead, to avoid potholes (not any so far on the biking path) and people along the way. We hear more sounds: the church bells, the birds, the crunch of our tires, the gaggle of geese hissing at us as we passed by their water hole, the brown lumps of clay that turned out to be resting ducks! We have seen the lonely chicken, clearly lost from its flock. Often I have to stop to take photographs...the crops vary: vineyards, ... read more

We started the day by mailing 3.5 kg (7.7 pounds) of packing materials and a few clothes back to our friends in Paris in an effort to lighten our load! In retrospect, I could have kept two garments, but...I am doing fine without them. We feel so much better, I can tell you. Annie kept saying, I cannot believe that you didn't weigh your panniers before leaving home...Annie, if you only knew that we travel at the last minute! Getting to the bike path was quite an experience, due to the fact that people were driving to work in municipal part of Tours and Annie was not sure of the directions. Fortunately, we had our cell phones and were able to stay in touch with one another. The path was smooth and FLAT! We cycled along ... read more

I am writing backwards....You should have seen us arriving at the Montparnesse Train station in Paris. Two bike boxes, and bags containing our panniers...first we dragged the boxes while carrying the panniers...at the escalator, Bill took one up the escalator and then I rode the escalator carrying the panniers and watching the bike. Then Bill followed. A "tout" appeared, although I am sure that he would not be called a tout, and suggested that he could help us...while I watched the bags, Bill & the man found a cart to hold all, bought two tickets to Tours. Man got his money and disappeared. We snacked and waited for our train to appear and when it did, we were delighted that we remembered to get our tickets stamped and rolled the cart directly to the car marked ... read more

What a wonderful morning! We followed our host, Celene, to near her workplace in historic Bordeaux, first settled by the Romans in the 1st century. She helped us make reservations for the 2 hour wine tasting class...which we thoroughly enjoyed! No wonder Bordeaux wines are so complex...all are blended, each by the local chateau or winery. So are the American wines. A couple from Southern California explained that if an American wine is labeled "merlot," then at least 85% will be from the merlot grape. Most of the wines in Bordeaux will include the percentage of each of the three wines that are used in the blend. Although we did enjoy the dry wine wines from the "right bank" of the Garonne River, we both very much enjoyed the red Cabernet. In fact, after we lunched ... read more

Oh, Wow! What a day! First, our "interview" was successful and we were given the documentation that we will need this evening to leave India. Then, one of the women was enlisted to apply mendhi (henna) to my hands. I decided to go all out and so even my finger tips are covered. I couldn't touch anything for nearly two hours and then could allow the henna to fall off as it dried, but still could not put water to my hands until this morning. Then, we had our final party. Bill gave a magnificent speech! He named each woman in our project and said something specific about her particpation. Ilaben translated. I could see that each person was waiting with baited breath to hear what he would say, and he did justice to each and ... read more