Fountainebleau

Today we biked to Fountainebleu. You might recognise the name as the palace where Napoleon abdicated the throne.

The bike ride was through the Fountainebleu forest along a highway which was quite busy. We had to navigate a super traffic circle which really scared everyone to death, but we made it out the other side with only a few honking horns and screeching brakes.

Along the way we stopped at a grassy spot near a 12th Century bridge that many impressionist painters came to paint. You might recogniwe the first photo from paintings during that period.

Fountqinebleaus orignial structure was first built in the 12th Century. It was later added on to in the 15th and 17th centuries to become the fantastic place it still is today. It was used as a vacation home for emperors and kings. There are 40,000 acres of beautiful forests that belong to Fountainebleau.

It was again very cold out this morning starting out, but by the time we begin to bike to meet the barge in the next village, everyone is in shorts again. The ride back to Moret sur Loing was through the forest on like a mountain bike path. Its very beautiful and serene without any traffic, but it is difficult biking as you cant look around or you will crash or wipe out in sand or something. We all stopped to regroup at one point and picked chestnuts from a tree off the path. Felt like Robin Hood.

only 15 miles today