France, Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Bonjour. Happy Birthday to EBC III . Today is our last day in Paris and in France. We are up for our final breakfast and then out into the streets on a stunning day. We catch an Uber and ride to Sacre Cour, at the end taking the Funicular to the top. Howie and Lee tour the Church while Deb and Mark stroll the square, looking at people, pigeons and other assorted sites. After the church tour, we wander the horrifically crowded streets, stopping in the small shops to gaze at the merchandise. Eventually we settle in a cafe for a glass of wine and some pomme frites for our lunch.

We then start the trek down the steps, and split up for the afternoon. Howie and Lee go to explore Pigalle and a look at Moulin Rouge, following which they head for the long walk back towards the hotel and a nice stop for a sandwich and then a pleasant hour and a half at the Picasso Museum. The museum was showing a combination of Picasso works and Alexander Calder works; most interesting, but somewhere along the line, Howie misplaced his hat. That makes a hat and a wallet swallowed up by the City of Light.

Mark and Deb went on to the Metro stop at Abbesses to catch a subterranean ride to the Left Bank and our destination of Le Bien Aimee - a yarn shop, to pick up Abigail’s requested order of hand dyed yarn. After three train line changes, we arrive and step out into the sunshine for the amble to the cute little shop where we make our purchases and visit for a bit; then back towards Place d’Italie for the metro.

We take a break for another rest stop and then board the metro again to head back to the Bastille and a walk to our hotel. We arrive around 4:45 and head upstairs to pack and rest.

We meet back up with Howie and Lee to hear of their adventurous afternoon and plan for our last meal in Paris. We walk to Place du Marché St. Catherine, the small square near our hotel lined with small cafes - tres romantic. We choose the restaurant Le Marché, took a seat outside and dined on a crepe caramel, omelettes and tagliatellia followed by a creme brûlée dessert shared by all. A fitting end to our Parisian experience. We walked a few blocks to clear our digestive tracts and then to bed for our early morning wake-up.

France, Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Bonjour mes amis. Today starts with a drizzle outside, but we troopers suffer through our fruit compote, ham, cheese, baguettes and croissants with our normal stoicism and plot a day of museum trekking.

First off towards Notre Dame to survey the damage from the previous evening. The entire area is cordoned off, but we are able to take a picture from the bridge. People everywhere! We stop at a pharmacy for some ibuprofen to restock our supply and then head towards our first destination of Musee L’Orangerie, a long trek through the Tuileries garden to near the Place de la Concorde. We arrive around 11:30 and there are no lines! Because, of course, it is closed on Tuesdays, which we knew a day ago, but then forgot. Next we tromp back across the Seine to the Musee D’Orsay. Here lines snaked around the blocks.

As we sit to reorganize, realizing that with the Musee L’Orangerie and the Louvre closed on Tuesdays and now Notre Dame closed, the crowds of tourists must go somewhere. We opt not to stand in this queue as 3 of our 4 had been to the museum on previous trips. So, off we go towards the Musee Rodin. The lines here are not so long, and we enter. As we have now logged nearly 9,000 steps, and having visited this museum three previous times, Deb opts to sit in the coffee shop while the other three of us tour the grounds viewing the marvellous sculpture. We return to Deb at 1:30.

Disaster has occurred; Deb discovers that her wallet is missing. Our only choices for recovery are that it was left at the pharmacy or left in the Hotel this morning. The other possibility is that, when accosted for signatures to a petition near the bridge over the Seine, her pocket was picked. Deb and Mark head back to the pharmacy while Howie and Lee continue their tour of the Museum.

The pharmacy had not seen the missing wallet, so on back to the hotel. The wallet was not at the hotel, hence the arduous effort to cancel the credit cards and plan anew. Being good travelers, Mark, held a credit card not in Deb’s wallet and money was evenly split between the two. We will get by for the next few days, but a story to tell to all future clients with even more power.

Howie and Lee return after undertaking a further death march, going to Champs Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Palais Royale, and then back past Notre Dame for a final few pictures. They returned to the hotel shortly after 6:00, having logged a total of 25,000 steps. Mark and Deb’s 18,000 was a mere pittance. All 8 feet were in protest.

We finished the evening with an 8:00 dinner reservation at the Metropolitan Restaurant. We picked up this recommendation from Rick Steves’ book and this was easily the best meal of the trip so far. Appetizers of gnocchi, asparagus with a panko dipped, fried coddled egg, and a ceviche. Main courses of duck or veal and desserts of chocolate mousse, a flan, and a cheese platter. All washed down by and excellent Loire Valley wine. Lovely end to a somewhat crappy day.

France, Monday, April 15, 2019

Bonjour. We are down to breakfast this morning at 8:30. A more complete breakfast today with fruit compote, juice, coffee, ham, Brie, and the usual assortment of breads and croissants. The only drawback is that we were only offered one cup of coffee and were unable to gain our servers’ attention for a second round.

Off we head for the Shoah Memorial, France’s Holocaust Museum. Although the literature said we should allow an hour for the tour of the permanent exhibition, we were in the Memorial for over three hours. A moving experience taking a timeline of anti-semitism and Nazi cooperation through to the discussion of 76,000 French Jews deported and only 2,500 of them returning after WWII. We toured the attached bookstore and then journeyed on for a rest stop of wine and beer at a sidewalk cafe. Then on to The Saint Chapelle for a tour of this 12th century chapel developed by King Louis IX, the first and only French king to be awarded sainthood - St. Louis.

The stained glass windows are amazing, outlining the life of the church from Genesis through the death of Jesus. The chapel sits on the Ille de la Citie, on one end of the Island shared with Norte Dame Cathedral. This island in the middle of the Seine was first colonized by a Gallic tripe called the Parissi in the 1st century and became renamed as Paris in the 5th century. Such history makes the 243 year old USA seem childlike.

Next we cross to the Left Bank to search out the famous Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore. This store, established in the 1920s carries English language books and has been a staple of the expatriate family of English and Americans ever since. The owner was the first person to publish Ulysses, the home away from home for Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. Now, expanding to the surrounding buildings adjoining, it is still selling books to the English language readers, and just tourists. As we approached, the line to enter the store stretched out and through to the street.

We stood in line and finally entered. There was no pressure and we spent a few fine minutes browsing as we do in any bookstore. However the crowds and the heat became over powering. We worked our way out without purchases, but glad for the experience. We then stepped down the block for our afternoon snack. Wine, beer, and Aperol Spritzer not accompany our Cheeseburgers and Hot Dog - French style. At least they were accompanied by the standard frites.

The cheeseburgers were very loosely formed patties, topped by a very runny cheese sauce. Also on the plate, together with the frites, was a small cup of guacamole and 4 tortilla chips. The Hot Dog was a baguette, split, with a foot long and grated Swiss Emmantel cheese, then cut in half. Not unflavorful but strange. We then head back towards our hotel, walking along the Seine, passing Notre Dame and stopping for an obligatory selfie from the bridge, and then on across the Îles St. Louis and back onto the right bank.

We arrive back around 6:30 and go to our rooms for a rest and to gather again for a plan for the balance of the evening. Lee finds a bucket of ice to cool down the champagne she had received as a Birthday gift from our landlady in Dinan and we decide to gather in our room to open. At 7:30, our phones start erupting with bulletins, and we gather in front of CNN to watch the unbelievable fire consuming the icon we had just spent hours skirting and walking around - Notre Dame. We watched, transfixed and astonished as the flames consumed and the spire came down. With that piece of news culminating our first day, we determined that we should call it a night around 10:00 and regroup for a plan for tomorrow.

France, Sunday, April 14, 2019

Fitting that this morning, Palm Sunday, we arise to look out over the square of Rouen Cathedral and see palm sellers lining the courtyard entry to the church, huddling in 32F chill. We pack our bags and head down to a wonderful breakfast, cereal, fruit, toast, yogurt, juice, coffee and the obligatory croissant. All while a grey long haired cat, almost a twin of our Sushi, wanders around the dining room looking for a scratch or rub.

We struggle with the bags to our car park and load up for the days run. Our only stop today before Paris is Giverney, the village of the home of Claude Monet, and the site of his home and gardens. We arrive at 10:30 and secure a parking place. Deb had, the night before, secured online prepaid tickets which allowed us to skip the entry queue and head for the group entrance where, after fumbling with the technology of tickets on a cell phone, we were through the gate.

There are two gardens, the famous lily pond gardens, which are across the road from the main grounds and then the beautiful beds surrounding the home. We start with the lily garden. If you never visit another garden, this is the one you must see - put it on your bucket list. Monet planned and planted this by painting with plants and then he famously painted the plants. The colors are wonderful, and blooming all year long as the early hyacinth, daffodils and tulips give way to the azaleas and rhododendrons, giving way to the roses and summer bloomers. All underplanted with a verdure that provides a base. All this surrounds a pond and stream crisscrossed with bridges and paths.

Next we stroll through the tunnel under the roadway to the house garden. Again painted with plants, but in a more orderly fashion. Row upon row of solid colors of tulips today, which will give way in a few weeks to the next wave of color. We eventually make our way into the house to walk through his gallery, studded with his own paintings and the hallways and other rooms hung with those of his friends, Pissarro, Renoir, Manet. All are reproductions, as otherwise there would be armed guards everywhere, but the illusion is masterful. The background of the yellow walls or the blue walls makes the home itself a work of art. Once arriving at the obligatory gift shop, we end up spending as much time as in the home itself.

We next stop at a nearby restaurant for our afternoon meal; memorable only in that the servings of quiche were nearly two inches thick and as large as a piece of pizza. Only that the flavor would have matched the size. The omelette on offer was also large and as tasteless as a 1/2 inch thick piece of fried cardboard.

Onto the highway and heading to Paris. As we are required to return the vehicle fully fuelled up, we stop on the outskirts and top off with €100.02 ($112.00) of diesel fuel. Sticker Shock!

We fight our way around Charles DeGaulle airport, at least twice until we discover our rental car drop off sight. Unloaded we walk to the nearest taxi stand for the long ride into Paris proper. Even on a Sunday, traffic is heavy, but we finally arrive at our hotel, Les Tournelles, around 6:00. We leave the bags in our rooms, rest for a few minutes and then off to explore the area of the Marais. By 8:30 we are ready to eat and so head back to the hotel and a nearby brasserie for a bite. Soup, crepes and sandwich with some wine and beer. Then to bed for our next days’ exploration of the City of Light.

France, Saturday, April 13, 2019

Mes Amis, today we are up and packed and at the breakfast table by 8:30. As today is another travel day, we put our belongings in the big blue beast and head out to look for a last museum in Bayeux. Alas, it doesn’t open until 10:00 and we have to get down the road. By the time we find our way out of the byzantine one-way streets and road construction zones we could have probably made the visit! Shades of Omaha during road construction season - lots of orange cones.

Finally on the highway and headed east to our eventual destination of Rouen. We take a slight detour to check out the village of Cabourg and its hotels along the beach. After negotiating a pedestrians only road along the beach and escaping before the Gendarmerie find us to issue a ticket, we are back on the road. We make a pitstop for coffee at a roadside restaurant called Flunch (not a typo) and pull into Rouen around 12:30. Again, we encounter construction and pedestrians.

Rouen is a nearly 2,000 year old city that has been ruled by Romans, Normans, English and French over the ages. It is famous as the death spot for Jean D’Arc and for its cathedral. After finding the cathedral parking garage and squeezing the beast into a very tight spot on the first underground level, we abandon our luggage and go looking for our hotel, The Cardinal Hotel. Amazingly, we have found the nearest parking spot to the hotel, as the place is directly across the square from the Cathedral. However the square is under reconstruction , so there are some twists and turns to be navigated on foot.

Rouen, in the old central city, is pretty much confined to pedestrian ways so we will not need the car during the visit. We check into our hotel and solicit a recommendation for lunch. We walk a few blocks and alight at The Studio cafe. Pictures of French and American movie stars adorn the walls. We have an excellent lunch of andouille sausage with apples, or sea bass and salmon over cheesy risotto, or braised pork cheek with mashed potatoes. Dessert is cheese or a shared creme brûlée. All accompanied by some wine and beer. A most satisfying luncheon.

We make haste back to the car park and unload our luggage, dragging it through the construction zones back to the hotel for a quick unload and break, then off to explore this city. We are first looking for the Ossiary of the Church of St. Maclou. This is an area were they have excavated bones from the early Middle Ages, which were buried under the church. Unfortunately the display is closed on the weekends, so we strike out. As we wander the little streets around the cathedral and environments, we pop in and out of little shops, finding items that we nearly purchase, but nothing sticks.

We wander into the Cathedral, which is huge, under reconstruction and apparently all set up for the throngs of people expected tomorrow for Palm Sunday. Very nice but, our taste for cathedrals is waning. this is our fourth, or maybe fifth on this trip. They tend to blur together.

Our next quest is the site of the burning at the stake of Jean D’Arc. We find it via our tourist map, next to the ugliest church imaginable. This Eglise Jean D’Arc is an upswept modern structure covered in what appear to be imitation slate tiles. The church was not open, so there is no way to report on its interior, although, given the large number of stained windows apparent from the exterior, it may have looked much better from the inside. The actual burning site is marked by a large cross outside the church entry and is surrounded by a park, under construction.

Next we want to find the Couronne Restaurant, reputed to be France’s oldest, founded in 1345. (Jean D’Arc was brûlée in 1431, so this restaurant, if dated actually, was not playing off her notoriety.) We google it and set off, finding that we are taken around the block and back to our starting point. We had already passed it and didn’t know it! It faces the Jean D’Arc church. This restaurant is the one that Julia Child first dined in the day she arrived in France, and it awakened her to French food and her entire career, setting the stage for TV stardom and millions of American aspiring cooks and chefs. There was one reservation available for 8:00, but this seems too late for us. We have had enough of getting up from the dinner table at 10:00 and struggling back to fall asleep.

We split into couples and head back separately exploring for awhile. The Coverts find a supermarket and secure a bottle of wine, a baguette and some cheese and crackers to share in their hotel room. Needelman’s shop a bit and then find a creperie for an omelette crepe and a glass of beer.

An early evening for all as we wind down this penultimate day of driving around France. Tomorrow, we go to Giverny and then to Paris to drop the car.

France, Friday, April 12, 2019

Bonjour again my friends. We arise this morning to a sunny but cool day. We breakfast again on croissants, butter, jam, baguettes, juice and coffee. A pattern seems to be developing?

First on foot to the Bayeux Tapestry museum that we missed yesterday. We arrive early, 9:15, and miss the first rush of crowds. What a wonderful piece of history. This tapestry, created between 1070 and 1080 gives a contemporaneous history of the 1066 Battle of Hastings and the events leading up to William the Conqueror’s ascent to the throne of England. The entire tapestry is some 70 meters long and is displayed in a continuous glass case at eye level in one light controlled room. You are accompanied by a handheld audio device that narrates what you are seeing. What a way to learn history. It was one of the most educational trips to a museum I have ever experienced. We recommend that, if you are not familiar with this piece of history, take a moment to google it on your devices.

Next we mount our vehicle for the drive to the town of Arromanche, the site of the WWII Normandy landings. We view, again the museum with a wonderful guided tour of the displays outlining the incredible engineering feat required to create a man-made harbour here, under enemy fire, in order to supply the invading Allied forces. 70 ton concrete breakfronts towed across the English Channel, 100 old ships sailed across the channel and sunk stem to stern around the harbour to creat a barrier for the harbour, huge steel roadways that would float up and down with the tides to allow the loading of the trucks, one every 5 seconds, that would bring all the supplies ashore for the troops. Our second most educational museum stop of the day.

From there, we traveled a short few kilometres, stopping first at the American Military Cemetery. Truly magnificent; row upon row of orderly white crosses, interspersed with an occasional Star of David; monuments to commemorate over 25,000 troops that lost their life on European soil during the D-Day invasion. 9100 troops are buried here. Howie said that the scope and view of this cemetery is even more moving than that in Arlington National Cemetery.

Next a few more kilometres to walk Omaha Beach. This, along with the adjoining Utah Beach, was the landing point for the U.S. landing force. This point was the toughest fought battle along the landing points. A crescent shaped beach front in cliffs upon which only 500 German soldiers in 11 concrete machine gun emplacements on the cliffs mowed down thousands of invading soldiers. As the literature says, the beaches ran red with blood. Seeing the area in person brings it all to reality. We stop at the nearby restaurant for a snack of wine, beer and frites.

Next we travel another 10 kilometres to the German military cemetery. This also, in a different way, was a moving place. Here some 21,000 soldiers are buried, two to a grave stone marker set flush to the ground and interspersed every few rows with a series of 5 squat black basalt crosses - no Star of David here - in row upon row. The contrast of the liberator (orderly white gleaming markers for the American cemetery) and the low dark humility of the conquered (German cemetery) creates for us a sad commentary on the human race and all the misery we perpetrate upon one another.

We drive back to home base, Bayeux, scoring a primo parking place near the hotel. Then off to dinner at Le Florentine, a nice Italian restaurant, for some of the best pizza, with a crisp thin crust and light tasty toppings we have ever enjoyed, accompanied by house wine and some local French beer, the only thing to top it was the dessert of caramel covered ice cream with a whipped cream dab on top. We poured into bed around 10:00 and prepared for another day of travel tomorrow.

France, Thursday, April 11, 2019

Note to all: You may eventually receive this post with pictures, but for now I am sending without photos as the various wi-fi systems in the hotels we are staying do not always transmit pictures well.  I will resend with photos when we get to good wi-fi places - i.e. Paris.

Bonjour mon Amis! We arise this morning to a much more comfortable day than yesterday. After packing up and schlepping our bags down the two flights of stairs, or across the garden, we stop for another lovely breakfast from our hosts. Today, again we had croissants, butter, jam, baguettes, coffee and egg cream - which is a cold creme brûlée without the burned crust on top - very tasty but a bit sweet.

We pack up the beast and head this morning to Mont Saint Michel, on the north coast of France, just at the edge of the region of Normandy. For those who have never heard or seen pictures of Mont St. Michel, it is an island mount some 100 yards off the coast, isolated at high tide. This is quite the tourist production now, huge parking lots some 3-4 kilometres from the attraction- you walk to the shuttle bus loading areas. Parenthetically, these shuttle buses are unlike any seen before. There is a driver’s position at either end. When the driver pulls in for pick up of a load, he steps out of the vehicle, walks around to the other end, and assumes his new position. No turning around and quite efficient.

The original purpose is as a monastery and abbey. It is still a functioning church, and we witnessed a service in progress as we wandered through. The winding streets as you make your way up to the abbey are flanked by myriads of small shops and restaurants, all catering to the throng of tourists - and throng is the only word to use. Even this early in the season, with the cold wind blowing, there're people everywhere - young children bored out of their heads, old people struggling to climb the steps, and every age in between.

We stood in line for nearly an hour to buy the tickets and enter the abbey itself. Prices of entry was €10.00 but free if you were a family of 4 with children or under the age of 26. Curious but we suppose designed to encourage education.

Once inside the huge abbey, the crowd was swallowed up and it was unusually sparse - it was a huge building. We finished our self guided tour and then out and down the hill to find a restaurant (by this time 1:30 in the afternoon) and stood in another line for 1/2 hour. The food was so-so but the problem was that half of our foursome received food, while, after 30 minutes the other half had not we finally spoke up and then received the food, although not really worth it but conveniently, touristically over priced!

We took our leave, walked down the mount and waited for shuttle buses back to our car park. Off then to the city of Bayeux, our headquarters for the next two nights.

Along the way, on the four lane highway, we discovered a McDonalds! We pulled in for a rest break. Marvellously modern and unlike any we had seen before, although, admittedly, none of us are habitue’s of the establishment. A Coke and a few chocolate sundaes later and we were back on the road.

We arrived around 5:45, and then beat feet to the tapestry museum to get that off our list. We arrived at 6:00 to view before the 6:30 closing. Unfortunately the doors close at 5:45 for clearing of the museum. Oh well, we get an “A” for effort.

We check into our abode, the Hotel Churchill, city center but again no parking lot, which means secureing a metered spot on the street. Finally a room on the first floor with a nice shower, TV and a king sized bed. We find the recommended restaurant for what we thought would be a light meal. Soup and Charcuterie/cheese board with a bottle wine. We received all off this, but we arrived at 7:00 PM and finally took our leave at 9:15 PM. Speedy service is a foreign concept to the French, as is an early bedtime. We were exhausted, but agreed that it again was a good day.

France, Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Bonjour and Happy Birthday to Lee. As we step down to the breakfast table this morning, we are beginning to catch up on our body time changes. Wonderful croissants, coffee, baguette, juice, yogurt and butter. We lift a proverbial glass to Lee and threaten to sing Happy Birthday, but, with protests from the surrounding guests, decide to leave it at best wishes.

This morning the weather is raining/drizzling and cool so we head out to the historic city of St. Malo, some 30 kilometres up the road. St. Malo is an ancient city that eventually displaced Dinan, on the river Rance, from its economic power - St. Malo is at the mouth of the Rance and boasts a much deeper harbor. Again, this was originally a walled city and is now surrounded by suburbs. However the original city and its walls (ramparts) are still intact and it has become much the tourist destination.

Small winding streets are, due to the inclement weather, rather uncrowded this morning. We wander the streets, looking in all the shop windows and reading the historical signs around and about. Around noon, we spot a creperie restaurant up on the rampart wall boasting a sea view. As the classic food in Breton is a crepe filled with either savoury or sweet fillings, we head up and secure four places at one of the communal tables. As we survey the menu, the youngest member of the threesome at our table suddenly stops her french discussion with the waiter, and addresses us in perfect American English.

We find out that she is an American from Louisiana here in France teaching English. She is today accompanying her aunt and uncle from Indianapolis and suddenly we seven Americans are chattering away about basketball, travel and luckily for us, the menu and what to order. We find that hard cider rather than wine, is the drink of Breton and order a pitcher of this 2% alcoholic beverage to go with our sausage, chicken and andouille galettes. We end with some coffee and a sugary crepe with whipped cream for dessert. A wonderful and native lunch in a bit of a touristy restaurant with a marvellous view of the sea (although cloudy and rainy, so much is left to our imagination, view wise.)

We head back out with the intent of walking the rampart around to our starting point. Soon, the wind and cold drive us off the wall and back down to the city lanes. We retrieve our car from yet another underground car park and head south back towards Dinan. We take the scenic route through the old port city of Dinan, gazing at these wonderful stone homes clinging to the cliffs overlooking the river Rance and its journey towards the sea. The scenery is very reminiscent of Cornwall and its rugged sea coast and small villages. It is easy to see that this was once a British colony and how the citizens of Breton cling to their Celtic heritage and ways.

We return to our hotel around 3:00, secure a parking lot stall and repair to our rooms for some rest and reading time. We reconvene at 6:00 and head to our restaurant of choice in the old city; Les 3 Lunes - The three Moons - is our restaurant of choice. A gourmet menu establishment owned and operated by Chef Thierry Teffaine and his wife Magali. (The third moon is their child who was not in attendance.) Our choices for the evening were lamb, pork loin and steak. The amuse bouche was a gelatin of salmon with small tomatoes topped by creme fraise. Vegetable on offer was asparagus accompanied by a creamy buttery sauce with a poached egg submerged. We dipped and spread the sauce over the properly cooked white asparagus! We selected a Loire Valley Pinot Noir as our wine and ended the evening with three desserts - a blanc manger fraisboise (raspberry), a baked Alaska and a selection of cheeses. A long and leisurely dinner.

We sauntered back to the hotel and were tucked in by 10:30. A relatively easy but interesting and educational day.

France, Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Bonjour! We waken today to sunshine and moderate temperatures. It rained a little over night but the day looks to be mild and liveable. We pack and make multiple trips down the mountainous stairway with our luggage and then are treated to some tea accompanied by toasted croissants and brioche prepared by our hostess Madame Auvary.

Following our long goodbyes, we begin the trudge back to the underground car park with our luggage in tow. Two blocks along, here comes Madame Aubrey, chasing after us. A confused conversation in French (ours not good) we come to understand that she believes we may have made off with her cell phone as she can’t find it. She had been showing us pictures and thinks one of us may have picked it up by mistake. We show her our phones and eventually she seems assured that it must still be in her kitchen where we were all sipping our tea and scarfing our croissants. A quick adieu and we are off again.

We navigate out from the car park and head north and west toward the city of Chartres. We eventually arrive and again find an underground car park, this one adjacent to the famous Cathedral, which is our goal this morning. This massive structure was originally built in the 8th century. A major fire in 1076 destroyed half of the cathedral, bringing down one of its two spires. A 30 year process of rebuilding (amazingly short time considering the size of the structure and the technology available) it was rebuilt but the newer spire in a Gothic manner, hence the two different looking spires as noted in the picture attached.

Although the interior is stunning with over 975 stained glass windows soaring above us, the real piece de resistance (at least in the minds of the church) is a silk veil reputed to belong to the Virgin Mary. This treasure was saved from the fire and can be traced to this church from at least the 5th century. According to the information given in the church, the silk threads can be scientifically dated to the 1st century. Evidently the church believes in some science!

After our church meanderings, we step across the square and find a Rick Steves recommended cafe - Le Serpentine. Here we lunch on omelettes, croquet monsieur/madame sandwiches, frites and some passable Bordeaux wine. By 2:00 we are back in the rolling beast with Howie at the wheel and Lee in the navigator’s seat heading again northwest towards our destination city of Dinan in Breton, our home for the next two days.

This is a long drive of nearly 4 hours, accompanied by sunshine, and sometimes heavy rain showers. We arrive safely and by 6:00 have located our next inn, the La Villa Cote Cour Hotel. No parking lot again, but Deb and the landlady secure a parking spot on the street out front of the hotel as Howie and Mark circle the block, eventually, to pull in. Once more a charming old home, this one converted to a hotel. Howie and Lee are assigned a ground floor room with a patio and outside hot tub/jacuzzi. Mark and Deb get to climb again to the third floor for a sumptuous suite overlooking the town, although with an ensuite tub, not shower.

After a short unpack, we convene in Deb and Marks aerie for some rose wine we had picked up along the way and a bottle of champagne donated by the landlady. Also Mark sliced up the first of the two salami sausages we had scored a few nights earlier at the Antidotes bar in Orleans. We talked over the day and discussed the rest of the trip.

We soon head out for a dinner, finding a restaurant within a few blocks. Plat du Jour on offer was baked Dourade (white fish) over vegetables, an accompanying salad (quite good) and a dreadful “bland manger ala biscuit” for dessert. Not our best french meal. We troupe back to our rooms and fall into bed again exhausted, around 10:00.

France, Monday, April 8, 2019

Bonjour, mes amis. As we struggled downstairs this morning with luggage in tow, Madame offered tea in the garden. We accepted and she then asked why we were leaving. She has a Google translator app on her phone in order to try and help with the language barrier. After much discussion, it was established that we were allowed to remain one more night. As we had prepaid and thought we would have a tough time receiving a refund , we chose to stay so we grumblingly hauled our bags back to our aerie and headed out for the day. Howie and Lee’s room was truly under the eaves, with a slanted ceiling surrounding the bath, and a curious dropped box in the floor that must be traversed to reach the bath, we were not sure we wanted to stay. Despite the zebra rug (not faux) on the floor, the loss of $$$ was a deciding factor. Turns out we are pretty American.

Today we headed some 70 kilometres down the road through Blois (say that three times) to begin our site seeing, arriving at Chateau du Chambord, the 440 room palace begun by Francois I, the first king of France and continued by his heirs. Louis XIV spent a lot of time here, and his reign was much in evidence. One amazing feature of the palace was the double helix central stone staircase, designed by Leonardo da Vinci. This massive central tower allowed two intertwined staircases, constructed so that those ascending could not view those descending.

The grounds from the upper floors were magnificent. It would take an army of Master Gardeners to maintain. I think in those days they were just indentured servants. Seeing the scale and obvious opulence, we quickly understood the French rebellion.

After this, Howie took the drivers position, with Deb still providing navigation while Lee and Mark offered encouragement from the rear. We proceeded to the town of Amboise. This town sported three Chateaux, and was once the second capital of France. We parked and ambled, opting not to enter any of the Chateaux but trying to score a lunch. We quickly learned that french restaurants only serve lunch from 12:00 to 2:00 and then shut down. It was 3:00! We finally found a small pasta place in which to have a glass of vin, some pasta and bread. Not exceptional, but serviceable. We wandered and shopped a bit, then headed to our last stop of the day, the village of Chenanceaux.

Here, we were to see yet another palace, this one the Château of Chenonceau. (Yes, the Château and the city do NOT share an X). This castle was constructed straddling the River Cher to provide defence against some marauding peasants, we believe. Again an amazing structure, more beautifully presented with a lower tone of ostentation, and truly beautiful rooms and galleries. We toured quickly, and at 6:00, as they announced the Castle was closing and all should be out by 6:30, we wrapped up our day and headed back to Orleans. Again Howie driving and Lee assuming the navigator’s position. Deb and Mark lounged and dozed in the rear.

We arrived, very weary and beginning to bicker, as we secured parking back at the Cathedral. We discovered that, not only was there the small lot we had used the night before, but an entire three story parking garage buried under the Cathedral. We still are trying to figure out how this was accomplished under a 500 year old Cathedral!

Back to our d’Hotes where our landlady secured a reservation at a nearby restaurant, La P’tit Gavrouche. We arrived and experienced a wonderful meal accompanied by a tasty Loire Valley rouge - from Cherveny. Duck loin, salmon tagliatelle, French onion soup, Andouille sausage, and a Cassoulet St Jacques with french baguette to sop up the juices. We dragged back to our rooms about 10:30, sated, traveled and exhausted. Tomorrow we head north and west.