Back to paris

Friday 29^th April

Of course the Royal Wedding !! 

A lovely walk around Saint Valery Sur Somme and himself got a haircut and a beard trim all virtually arranged by sign language.  We have got by very well considering we limited French.   Saint Valery Sur Somme is a lovely coastal village.

We have to return the car today back to Charles de Gaulle airport, the further south we drive the wetter it gets, about 50 kms out it is torrential and we can barely see the road in front of us.  All we wanted to do is to get the car back safely without incident and thankfully we do.  We have driven 2200kms around the countryside in France and it has been spectacular.  There is so much more of France for us to see , but that will have to be saved for another adventure.   We very cheerfully hand the car keys over, although I am sad to see the end of this time we have had together, driving around the UK, Ireland and France.  We have had a grand time with lots of great laughs, a few anxious moments but it has been really fantastic.  Himself has done a brilliant job driving around  and I am really proud of him.  We have 2 more days in Paris and then we are head off to Italy.

Mont St Michel to the Somme

Thursday 28^th April

Spock at Serre Cemetery

Leave Mont St Michel early as the plan is to visit one or perhaps two of Spock’s relative’s graves at the Somme.  Due to a programing error Sheila was taking us the long way, we didn’t mind in the slightest, it is such a joy to drive through such beautiful countryside.  We go through Honfleur which is a lovely harbour town in Normandy.  It is situated at the mouth of the River Seine and is a sea and river port.  We passed over the Le Pont du Normandie Bridge which is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world and  it was massive a massive bridge.  As we drove we could see Normandy’s white cliffs which mirror the ones that we saw on the English coast of Dover and they looked spectacular as the day was so clear, a stark contrast to the day we saw the white cliffs of Dover!

Himself at Thomas Gordon Summers grave

We found Thomas Gordon Summers grave in Serra, he was Spock’s paternal  great uncle.  It was quiet emotive as he was only 21 when he died, so young and so far away from home.  The grave sites were beautifully kept.  It was about 1530 and we decided to go on further to locate the other gravesite which was in Wimereux, near Boulogne.  We found John McLure’s grave site, Spock’s maternal great uncle, he was 32 when he died.  

Himself  at John McLures grave

We passed through about a dozen tolls in our 11 hour drive and some of the experiences encountered where amusing.   On one occasion we got in the wrong lane at the toll and realised that we couldn’t get through so had to go back.  Out I jump and have to attempt to tell the french lady in the car behind that we needed to reverse, the only problem was that she had a line of cars building up behind her.  What a dilemma  - with a bit of toing and froing the mission was accomplished, we had a good laugh about it.

The other one worth mentioning was when I had to get out and pay the toll via machine.  That was fine the machine accepted the money without  a glitch, but it didn’t give me a ticket which we needed to get the automated gate to open.  This proved to be another dilemma for me.  I pushed all the buttons to no avail, meanwhile himself was in the car laughing at the given situation.  I finally found a button that looked like it may mean assistance, so I push this and a French lady responded.  I had no idea what to say to the women, I tried in broken English to explain to her that the machine didn’t give me a ticket.  No she didn’t understand that.  I tried several times and in the end I resorted to saying “Help” and she must have had pity on me and she said “OK” and then the barrier went up without the ticket and I made a run for the car!

We ended up doing about 900kms today, a far effort and quiet a bit of fun.  I am getting much better with my navigational skills, I think Sheila has a bit of competition.

We headed back to Saint Valery – Sur-Somme for the night where we had another evening of fine French cuisine.    The menu was in French, of course and as it should be in France.  Himself took the soft option and shrugged when the waitress came to get his order and pointed to a three course menu and indicated that she should choose for him.  I decided to brave it and chose very successfully.  It was possibly the nicest meal that I have ever had, I was very pleased that I had showered and changed for the occasion as it was very swish indeed. 

Bayeux to Mont St Michel

Wednesday 27^th April

We decide to bite the bullet this morning and go to see the Bayeux Tapestry as we may never get the opportunity to see it again.

We had an early breakfast.  I was turned off my breakfast this morning by a dirty bastard that came in picking his nose, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and then scratching his ears with his fingers all within 2 minutes and then going along touching all the food, not using a plate or any utensils.  He was quite off putting.

We leave at a sparrow fart and are on our way, once we get started it doesn’t seem like we would have the long day that we initially thought.   We stop to refuel, himself gets the fuel and I jump out and clean the windscreen, what team work!  Himself and herself have always worked well together and this trip exemplifies this:  Photo’s/blog, tolls, driving/navigating, packing up, researching; it is certainly lovely to be able to spend this time together.  We are running along like a well-oiled clock.

It is quite a misty morning and the coolest that we have had, only 10 degrees when we start out.   We make our way to Bayeux which is famous for its 68 metre long piece of embroidered cloth.  It is 11^th century and it has 58 scenes which vividly tell the story of the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The tapestry itself is wool thread embroidered onto linen cloth.  The tapestry is divided into 58 scenes briefly captioned in almost readable Latin, the main narrative, told from a Norman perspective fills up the centre of the canvas, while religious allegories and depictions of daily life in the 11^th century unfold along the borders.  The final showdown at the Battle of Hastings is depicted in graphic fashion complete with severed limbs and decapitated heads.  This was absolutely brilliant, we loved it and it was worth the extra couple of hours of driving.   We also visited the Cathedral Notre Dame whilst we were in Bayeux, which dates from the 13^th century and was also worth the visit.  It is a shame that you couldn’t take photo’s of the tapestry.

We then make our way to Mont Saint Michel.  We have had a picture of the iconic image of Mont Saint Michel in our dining room for years, so of course it had to be on the itinerary.  As we were driving in we could see it poking through the haze in the distance and it looked fantastic.  The bay around Mont Saint Michel is famed for having europes highest tidal variations, apparently the difference between low and high tides can reach up to 15 metres.  It was low tide when we arrived and the Mont was surrounded by bare sand for kilometres around, that is, all baring the tourists.  We were astounded at the number of people visiting, “bloody tourists” we muttered to ourselves.  There are miles of cars and motorhomes parked just over the causeway.  Some of the tourists really aren’t that smart, they take prams when you have to walk up a lot of steps and they take dogs on leads.  I can’t imagine that it is much fun for the poor little and not so little dogs being dragged around in such crowds. We even saw a poor dog in a backpack designed for carrying a young child. 

We made our way to line up to go through but the line went on forever, so we decided to check into the hotel and have a pint whilst we waited for the crowds to die down, which worked well for us. 

The long history of Mont Saint Michel is thought to date back to 708, when Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, had a sanctuary built on Mont Tombe in honour of the Archangel.  The mount soon became a major focus of pilgrimage.  In the 10^th century the Benedictines settled in the abbey, while a village grew up below its walls.  By the 14^th century it extended as far as the foot of the rock.  An impregnable stronghold during the hundred years war, Mont Saint Michel is also an example of military architecture.  Its ramparts and fortifications resisted all the English assaults and as a result the Mount became a symbol of national identity.  Following the dissolution of the religious community during the revolution and until 1863 the abbey was used as a prison.  Classified as a historic monument in 1874, it underwent and continues to undergo major restoration work.  It was great to experience the splendour of the abbey that the people of the middle ages regarded as a representation of the heavenly Jerusalem on earth, an image of Paradise. 

After dinner we went for a walk to view the abbey at night and it looked magnificent, unfortunately our camera didn’t capture it well.   However, the sight will be permanently etched in our memories. 

Chateau Cheverny to Fougeres

Tuesday 26^th April

After our chat last evening with the locals we decide to take their recommendation to see Chateau Cheverny.  We have decided that two chateau’s will probably do us, we did have six on the list, but we both think that is over kill.  We also realise that Mont Saint Michele is a little further away than we anticipated, so the plan for today was to see Chateau Cheverny and then to make our way to Fougeres, to ease the driving for tomorrow. 

The drive to Cheverny took us on some real country roads with chooks and peasants darting across the road, the road was very narrow and it was fairly difficult to see the oncoming traffic due to the growth in the cannola and wheat fields. It is clear that the March rains and the unexpected warm weather in April has promoted a lot of new growth.  It was another stunning day, a beautiful clear blue sky and not a cloud in sight.  We are indeed blessed. The French countryside is very productive, most of the fields are planted with crops.  The grape vines interested us as they were only about 1/3 of the height of the ones we see back home..  The houses on the way were lovely, situated on lovely large blocks and all appeared to have lovely gardens with big vegetable patches.  The villages that we passed were very sleepy with little signs of activity.

Chateau Cheverny

Cheverny is most a most impressive castle.  Today the chateau is lived in by the descendants of the Hurault family who have apartments in one of the wings.  Of the original fortress built in the 1500 there remains only a few vestiges, located in the current outbuildings.  The two floors that are open to the public are filled with authentic furniture, which also are from the same epoch giving this castle a sense of being the real thing. The chateau is very well maintained, there was even a lass standing on one of the pieces of furniture dusting as we visited.  

The nursery Cheverny - these were the first rocking horses from the time of Napoleon III

  

We wondered why she was allowed to stand on the piece with court shoes on!  The furniture was exquisite and incorporates designs celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaigns.   According to the blurb in the pamphlet it was Louis XV who decided to place table forks with their prongs facing downwards as he was tired of snagging the lace on his sleeves.  And it was the unconventional Charles X who decided to put glasses on the table as he could no longer tolerate the servants standing behind each guest eavesdropping on conversations!!  The poor buggars had such hard lives.   

The Library - Chateau Cheverny

The castle is also known to be the idea behind the cartoon character Tintin's best friend Captain Haddocks castle  "The Marlinespike Hall". The likeness is stunning, and the castle takes advantage of this with presenting a special Tintin museum in a neighbouring barn.   We were very pleased that Cheverny was recommended as it was outstanding, the castle is set on an ocean of lawns which are perfectly linked with the English style grounds, planted with fabulous trees, even some big redwoods.  There is a large building called the orangery which in the 18^th century was used to keep the orange trees under shelter in winter.  But during the second world war  part of the nation’s property found refuge in this orangery, including, apparently the Mona Lisa.   Cheverny is also an important hunting venue and its kennels house about a hundred French hounds with a V for Vibraye shorn into the right flank of each of the hounds.

After the chateau we decide to make our way to Fougeres.  On our way we decide to stop for a break and finally are able to pick up a map of France.  Now we will be able to chart where we have been and to see clearly where we are going.  Unfortunately now we have the map we can see that Bayeux is probably out of our reach.  We were both very keen to see the Bayeux tapestry, such a shame. 

As we near Fougeres Sheila’s display shows yet another picture of convoluted roads that continue to look like intestines to me, when I see them on her display it makes my bowels want to work.   Another toll, oops we only have  50 euro notes, it spews out a whole heap of one euro coins and out I get to collect the coins and then run back and take a jump in the car. 

The Loire Valley

Monday 25^th April

Slowly making our way through the beautiful country side to the Loire Valley.  The country side in France is much different from what we have seen in the UK and Ireland.  It’s fun trying to interpret the road signs, we just make it up as we go and hope for the best, but are cautious.   We drive through so many lovely little villages, they are so quaint.  We needed petrol and had some difficulty obtaining it as the 24/24 stations that are automated refused all our cards.  We weren’t in dire straits but were keen to get onto an AutoRoute as we felt sure that we would come across a manned station there, and we did. 

All fuelled up and feeling a little relieved we mosy  on to the first of the chateau’ s on the list,   Chateau de Chenonceau.  The Loire Valley is often referred to as the Garden of France as it is an enchanted land of vineyards, flowers and rolling green hills dotted with hundreds of chateaux.   We think that the charm is its gentle pace life, especially after being in Paris.  The Chateau of Chenonceau, also called the Ladies Castle, has a famous viewing gallery, built by one of France's great Queens, from which to admire an impressive view of the Cher River.  It was completed around 1515-1522. Built on stone pilings in the river Cher, the chateau had many celebrated occupants including Diane de Poitiers, Gabrielle d'Estree, and Catherine de Medici. The elegant home is open to the public and is completely furnished right down to the chapel and kitchens. The sense of history here is quite intense. The turreted tower at front is all that survives of the original 1435 structure. The gardens and terraces are magnificent, there is a very small and easy maze (if you can’t loose me it’s easy), a small drawbridge, woodland paths, and a farm. There is also a small wax museum in the former carriage houses but we didn’t go in to it.  We ambled around the gardens savouring the magnificent monument and the wonderful day.

Chateau Chenonceau

Once in our hotel we take a walk around Amboise.  Amboise is a prim little riverside town trading on long-gone splendours, notably it’s impressive but disappointingly empty Chateau and Leonardo da Vinci's peaceful residence of Clos-Luce, with its exhibition of the notable man's inventions. 

Lee by the River in Amboise

Amboise is very pedestrianised, there were plenty of small shops to look around many street cafes, bars and bistros. We stopped at one of the bistros for dinner where we struck up a great conversation with some locals, who told us that Mick Jagger had a home here in Amboise.  They were a lovely couple with their little daughter, we have become quiet creative with getting through the language barrier, its such fun.  One of our favourite things to do when we get to a little town is to look at the price of real estate, surprisingly it is all what we consider to be fairly reasonable.  Obviously when we were in London and Paris the prices were grossly escalated, but in the towns outside of Paris, London they have all been very affordable.  Ireland of course was the most reasonable to date.  The other thing that I am particularly keen on doing is to visit the butcher shop to have a look at the selection of meats available.  I love looking at the meat and other foods.  Believe it or not I am not missing cooking at all, which surprises me slightly.

A typical french home in Amboise - they are lovely