Blogs from Centre, France, Europe

Day 14 and this is 2 weeks away....... A day in the Loire valley doing the castles here. But first things first - washing. Find a coin laundry very close tot the hotel we are staying and all systems go, until we can't read the instructions..... Luckily the man in the adjoining laundry (think he runs both) gives us change for the machines and smiles - most of the time. While we wait, we drive to a little village not too far away and get a coffee and drink for me from a bar (at 1100) - no beer but tempting. This with some nice chocolate croissant and other pastry thing for Chris and we are back to the washing. After many requests for change to fill the machines, the washing is completed and we are ... read more

Hi all, Uneventful journey to the cottage although the roads were very busy even for France. Weather is glorious at the moment, we hope it continues. Continue our journey to Morocco tomorrow. Next destination the Pyrenees on the French/Spanish boarder. I expect Ray will get bogged down here as he loves the mountains and will need dragging away. Next stop will be heading for Madrid before we head for the bottom of Spain and the port. Hope we have packed all we need, anyway there is no more space in the van. Blog sent courtesy of the Moons. Happy birthday Robert sorry we are going to miss the party, have a good day. R&G xx... read more

Hi all, The excitement is beginning to get too much for our overland trip to Morocco. There has been so much to prepare. Paper work for us and the Truck has been never ending. Another day rushing around ticking things off the the long list of to do's. Must get the Truck to Robertsbridge early tomorrow for its final shake down, before we can pack it up for the trip. If you could see the pile, you would have to ask where the heck do we fit in. Don't laugh but we still have to book the tunnel crossing to France, talk about cutting it fine. Hope our next Blog will be from some where in mainland europe, see you all soon. R&G x... read more

I would love to sit here and write a long entry all about munich and our first day in Paris and i have so much I want to tell everyone, im almost tempted to write myself a little list of all the things I want to include just to ensure i don't miss anything out but i am so tired i literally am finding it difficult to hold my head up. 4 nights in a busy, noisey hostel with little sleep and a night in the worlds most uncomfortable, hot train means i am very over tired and the tiny amount of energy i did have was used up carrying the rucksack from the station to here and climbing the 700 stairs up and 700 back down at the eiffel tower today. but we are safe ... read more

We arrived in Tours by the train from Orleans. Unfortunately, after we got to Gare d Orleans, we discovered that the early train we thought we'd catch was affected by a strike. Christine and others had warned us that this was a frequent occurrence on the French railway system. The only other option that day was a later train from the other station, Les Aubrais, which left at 6:30pm. So we had the best part of another day in Orleans. I assembled my folding bike and attached the luggage to make moving about easier. We walked back to the cathederal square. There we had lunch at the Cafe Letutia, which we had eaten at the previous day on Christine's recommendation. There was a small demonstration in the square when we arrived. Loudspeakers and a small number ... read more

Monday was a day off and time to recover. We spent the morning relaxing at Christine's. Pierre-Louis and Clementine came over for lunch. It was good to meet Pierre-Louis and find out more about the family. He works in his father's packaging business. Clementine works for Xerox selling industrial printers in the Orleans area. They have long lunch breaks but work from early to late. It seems that lunch at Christine's is a regular occurrence. In the afternoon Dianne went for a long walk around the neighbourhood and I went for a long bike ride along the south back of the Loire. The bike trail runs atop an embankment which passes through farmland, across bridges over small tributaries and on to other towns upstream. On the return I discovered the L'ile Charlemagne (Isle of Charlemagne), which ... read more

We have now moved on to Orleans and say au revoir to Paris until June. We have been staying in accommodation arranged through the website "housetrip.com". This had been a great way to travel so far. Accommodation varies from studio apartments to bedrooms in family homes. The best part is that you get to meet the hosts, who have been incredibly generous and kind people. We have appreciated the chance to get know real people rather than having to deal only with hotel staff. We have enjoyed good conversation, great home cooked food and wonderful hospitality. Our hosts so far have really gone out of their way to help us. They have picked us up and dropped us off at trains stations, given advice about what to see and do and shared their lives with us. ... read more

Cathedral and Chartres So this Saturday, we went to a quaint, just-outside-of-Paris town called Chartres, where there is also a huge, ancient cathedral. There are lots of those in France... I have to say my favorite thing about this town was the tea salon where we ate lunch. I found the cutest sea-foam-green tea cup, that I swear I should've tried to buy from the women who worked there. Coffee drinks were astronomically cheaper, being outside of the city. There were lots of gift/garden type stores, and an outdoor market. (Btw, I apologize for being two weeks late on this...I had some computer problems, but everything's worked out!)... read more