Comfort Inn Bonchamp-Les-Laval

... of France after the revolution, but he insisted on being crowned under the King colors rather than the tricolor of the revolution. As a result Napoleon stepped up to the plate and took the prize from under his nose. In more recent history the chateau was used to hide and store much of the Lourve's art work during WWII.

Words can't describe all that we saw in the Loire Valley so we hope our photos help.

Goodbye Loire Valley, hello Dordogne here we come!

... old churches-lovely to hear their tolling bells. Fields of sunflowers. I could go on and on....(yes, that's enough - Ed).
By now, it's getting quite late in the afternoon. Too much oohing and aahing going on and not enough attention to looking for campsites. Ardent campers swear there are camping signs everywhere but where are they when The Cables need one.
It's after 6pm now so we stop in a little village and ...

... br>


 

 This place is monstrously huge!  I think it's about the biggest chateau in France. 
 At one point Napoleon gave this to one of his buddies... must have been nice eh?

... Internet or Cyber cafes are a bit of a rarity even in the cities, but I manage to find one close to the cathedral. Did I mention the cathedral already? Wow, they sure know how to build cathedrals in this country! And with the festival of St Jeanne just days away the whole place is decked out with massive brightly coloured flags. The old part around the cathedral contains a host of restaurants and bars where the atmosphere is excellent with a real ...

... tranquilamente de las pinturas, los tapices, los monumentos y las armaduras. Ahora, tras este breve paso por el hotel, nos vamos a cenar al centro y dar una vuelta para tomar el pulso a la noche bloisiana. Ya hemos ojeado un par de bares que tienen buena pinta. Mañana por la mañana nos despedimos del Loira y salimos rumbo a casa de la prima de Jaione. A esta hora estaremos ya casi cerquita de casa y los días se nos acaban... ayysssss.... ¡qué duro es esto de estar de vacaciones! :D

... the capitol city. There's not too much there but a ginormous chateau (palace). The tour there was covered by our Paris musuem pass (still active!). We chose to make our visit there and not to Versailles, because half of the pleasure of Versailles (or so we've heard) is in the gardens, which are buttoned up tight in burlap for the winter at this time of year. So we opted for the slightly lower key, but no less ...

... Herge` (of Tin Tin fame), so that he made Moulinsart almost completely in it's image. We went to a Tin Tin exhibition on the grounds as well. We are supposed to be in Spain by now ... but we are a little bit behind schedule. We're working on it, and should arrive there in the next day or so. We'll be sorry to say goodbye to France (although we will be back!) ... but it will be exciting to venture into another country!

After an exciting drive from and through Paris, guided by our trusty Tom-Tom that wasn't so trusty at the start since it was accidentally set to walking paths, we nervously arrived in the Valley of the Chateaux. We picked these to visit over 2 days: Chambord, Blois and Chanencaux.

... lausa Raekoja ette. Seal tärkas meil mõte lüüa lahti rüperaal ja katsetada, kuidas on konnasööjate maal lood traadita internetiga. Ja oh imet, võrke oli lausa jalaga segada ja mõni neist täitsa turvamata. Üldiselt võib WiFi-hulludele rahumeeli kinnitada, et kui mitte tasuta, siis röövelliku viie euro eest tunnist saab Orange vahendusel ja pisut soodsamalt Wanadoo võrkudes traadita internetti kasutada vähemalt nendes Prantsusmaa linnades, kuhu me oma reisi vältel sattusime.

... Chateau visit today for Fontainebleau. Before we leave we visit the souvenir shops and the little open market, where we purchase some wonderful local bread and goat cheese for our picnic lunch. The drive to Paris is mostly through rich agricultural countryside. We take the autoroute past Chartres and then drive on minor roads through the beautiful Forest of Fontainebleau, protected for centuries by the French monarchy for deer hunting. We drive ...