Blogs from France, Europe - page 10

Today we took an excursion outside of Paris to visit the château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a Baroque French château located 34 miles southeast of Paris, in the Seine-et-Marne department of the Île-de-France. We had made arrangements with Serge, our friend who operates a chauffeur service, to transport us to the château in the late morning, and then retrieve us around 3:00 PM for the return ride to Paris. Over the years, we have engaged his services for excursions to the palace and gardens of Versailles (2014), the Château de Sceaux (2017), and Monet’s former home and gardens in Giverny (2019). The château de Vaux-le-Vicomte was built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, the superintendent of finances for Louis XIV, and was an influential work of architecture in 17th-century Europe. Fouquet spent enormous sums, over a period ... read more

When we planned this trip I had hoped to stay in Villeneuve just over the border into Switzerland as we stayed there last September and I just loved the super location of the campsite, right by the peaceful water’s edge. When Bob tried to book he was told it was full and when I enquired they said we would need to book in February for a pitch now in June. It is, though, only a small site with limited number of touring pitches. I think, since seeing how very busy it was in Thonon-les-Bains yesterday, we were beginning to realise that the summer season is already in full swing here on Lake Geneva / Leman. Today we compensated for not being able to stay at Villeneuve by driving along the lake, over the border into Switzerland ... read more

Today was an Alpine mountains and valleys day and it was wonderful. I asked at reception for a touristy map and armed with that and the French road atlas Bob chose a route through the mountains behind us. These are the French Alps leading eventually to Mont Blanc and Chamonix where we visited some years ago but on that occasion approaching from the south side. I had concluded that Mont Blanc, is pretty well due south of us here. We are at the far Eastern end of Thonon-les-Bains at the estuary of the river Dranse. Where it enters the lake there is a wetlands nature reserve and the campsite is located right next to that. The road Bob chose was lovely as the views were superb. Mountains all round and the view of the various peaks ... read more

Up and away just after 9am and heading due South. Bob had carefully plotted a Tomtom route which very definitely avoided Geneva. Last time we went that direction, heading for France, we accidentally drove through Geneva at 5pm on a Friday and it was Scary. That route also involved some very windy mountainous stretches which we wanted to avoid if we could. We also have the complication of no Swiss Vignette this trip so if we accidentally stray across the border on a motorway it could prove very expensive. No problem and I can report that we arrived safely at our French campsite in Thonon-les-Bains without venturing into Switzerland. We will pop across later in the week in the Smart car but only on local roads. I want to revisit Villeneuve where we stayed in September ... read more

Langres is an amazing place. Fully fortified with a wall all the way round and lots of protective towers at intervals round the wall. A super view over the countryside below. It is entirely packed with old buildings. There are some new or at least newly renovated but all in keeping with the look of the place and nothing is over prettified as we find in so many places, like the Alsace and Dordogne tourist towns. Just plain old and interesting. We parked just outside and went in through one of the gates and quickly found ourselves on the ramparts so set off for a walk along them. Some fascinating buildings, all well labelled and in English which is always handy. Everywhere is just so old. Buildings which lean though the doors are straight. We found ... read more