Myth-understood

Before meeting up with our tour group, we dived down into the 1500 year old subterranean Basilica Cistern that provided 20 million gallons of water to the city, then called Constantinople. The 336 columns are a uniform 30 feet tall but a few had to be adjusted with salvaged blocks from ruins. Medusa heads propped up two of the columns, one head sideways and one upside down, perhaps positioned that way simply to provide the appropriate height. A myth-understood explanation may be that the builders were protecting us from Medusa’s deadening gaze that would turn us all into stone.

Let’s glow places!

Julie’s glowing recommendation for Rick Steves tours enticed us to join her on a two-week trip to Turkey. Over the top of the world, the Northern Lights put on a polarizing show. A swim in the hotel’s cistern themed pool and a dinner on the streets of Istanbul marked the beginning of what we hope to be Aurora-ing success.

Oui are the champignons

One last swim the English Channel (or as the French say, La Manche) to soothe my blisters for our limp through the last day’s 13 miles to our finish in Lannion. We totaled 82 miles in six days and it took a toll on our soles. (Next time: twice as many days and half as many miles each day and/or layover days to explore the rural towns and swim more.) Thanks to our adventurous friends E&C who not only made the trip extra special but spoiled me with French amuse-bouche and a cheese course steered to the table on a cart. Un-brie-lievable! Special thanks to Arlo who led the way in our Tour de France (and Germany). He’s the crème brûlée of the crop. And thanks to you for coasting along with us.

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Knead to know

The Mosel River in Germany offered wine in vending machines and in France we’ve stumbled upon automats with pizza, baguettes, and even kayaks. Something I won’t baguette about are the little free sand toy boxes for borrowing and returning beach toys.

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Rock on

Pink granite formations, chateaus, islands, and lighthouses rocked our walk and this popular section of the trail set in stone made us feel boulder.

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Harbor hopping

Our luggage hops from harbor town to harbor town by taxi while we hoof it. We enjoy rooms with views each night, though usually we’ve floated off to sleep before the 10:30 sunset.

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Toe-tally awesome

Our coastal path takes us along beaches, across beaches, on shady tree-lined sections, past fields of artichokes, and through tiny hydrangea-filled hamlets. We follow the red-and-white trail markers to stay on track. After our 15 miles the first day, the 14 miles on day two toughened us, blisters and all.