Blogs from Centre, France, Europe - page 16

Tuesday afternoon we arrived in Blois at about 4 pm. We settled into our apartment and went to visit the Royal Chateau of Blois. We thought this was an amazing building inside and out, until we hit the road on Wednesday to visit the Chateaux Cheverny and Chambord. Cheverny is one of the smaller chateaux, but it didn’t have any royal connection. Internally, the rooms were sumptuously decorated as they would have been in the 16th century. However, Chambord was absolutely fabulous to look at from the outside. Yet internally, there were only a few rooms in period décor; the rest were more like a museum. On Thursday, we visited the Chateaux Chenonceau and Amboise. Chenonceau was fabulous inside and out. It was furnished in the period style of the day. We then spent some time ... read more

As we drove to Chartres the little town of Provins was still on our minds. The wonderful walk which took us down narrow medieval lanes, past Jewish merchants houses and the lovely french square. Tree lined, the sun shining it was such a lovely place. Roses were everywhere, in the gardens, rose essence in the shops, rose scented tea, rose flavoured cakes. The damask rose was brought to the town and had become its emblem. Chartres on the other hand was going to be very different. We parked up at the nearest site to the city advertised as being within walking distance. We have learned through experience not to believe everything you read about sites. Walking distance can mean so many things to different people. What is walking distance for one person is too far for ... read more

We arrive back in Argenton late in the evening of 24 May after a mammoth driving effort. The next couple of days are spent resting up and tending to more of the jobs around the house. On Monday 28 May, we decide to drive down to the home of fancy porcelain, Limoges. Getting there we find the town centre eerily quiet. We’d gotten used to the French approach to the working day – nothing opening before 10am and the big siesta from 12noon to 2pm – but this was on another level altogether. We later learn, while checking the laptop at MacDonalds, that 28 May is Whit Monday. Apparently this is a sacred day in France. And so we return to Argenton, not having seen any porcelain and a little mysti... read more

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

After a couple of weeks of working around the house and taking the odd trip out to explore the local environs, we decided it was time to treat ourselves to a little road trip. So on the 16 April we packed a few things and loaded up Helen and Pierre's wonderful little Citreon C2 for a trip north. We didn't really have a destination and thought we'd just go north as far as we could in a day. We headed up to the Loire Valley in the direction of Tours, stopping at Theresa's Teashop at the very old (isn't everything) Fontevraud l'Abbey. After checking out the caves along the Loire and the champignon museum at Saumur, we decided that we'd dawdled enough and that we'd better make a decision about a target for the evening. St ... read more