Hotel Campanile Chartres

Tres bien...<br><br>Drove down from Dover and pulled in at the Relais Beaucoeron Hotel and restaurant which is actually an upmarket truck stop. 10E for the nigh unless you dine in and then camping is free.<br><br>What value...for the grand total of 13E pp we were treated to a three course meal ...

... Paris). When we arrived we met Sylvie who is now a principal, her husband Jean Michel who works with the military and speaks very little English, and her daughter Helen, who is 27ish and an accountant. <br><br>We were so thankful to them for making us a fabuous meal with a variety of wonderful wines and delicious French food. The dinner started around nine and ended close to midnight, but that didn&#8217;t stop us ...

Today we woke early in order to pick up our car from Orly airport. As we were checking out at 8am, the young guys who had been out all night at the discotheque turned up singing and laughing. I can vaguely recall doing that in my youth but that is so long ago now, and I was glad not to have the hangover. When we arrived at Orly we had found that they had given us a big ugly Ford and as we prepared to leave discovered it was a manual. Having driven a manual in Europe once before we ...

Will fill you in on the story of Chartres later!.....<br><br>...(writing this from Carcassonne, Fri 12th)<br><br>From Versailles we drove to Chartres, in the rain. We got a little lost trying to find our campsite (French road signs SUCK!) when I saw a sign for the tourist office. Forgetting it was Sunday &amp; it wouldn't be open we followed the sign. It turns out it was just a ...

... seemed to find it amusing to see on the adjacent minor road a strange apparition dressed like a huge wasp loom out of the mist. At least I assumed that was why they honked their horns!) Once again the sun broke through to present another clear blue sky and by 10:00 I rode into the historic cathedral city of Chartre. I love the architecture of cathedrals and this one certainly did not disappoint. But why did they have to build it on top of such a steep hill? Local people ...

I rode out of Rouen along my own route to Louviers, in defiance of the GPS . The morning was cool and grey and leaving at 07.30 meant traffic was light going out of the city, but grew increasingly heavy as those less fortunate than me made their way into work. Once through Louviers I picked up a route following the River Eure that must be one of the most beautiful in France. By now the sun was shining and the sky a brilliant blue. For yet ...

... 10,875 square meters Height of south-west tower: 105 meters Height of north-west tower: 113 meters. 176 stained-glass windows We had a look around the town, and had lunch, and i had escargots for lunch. On the way there i we stopped so i could post my postcards so i had to test out my french as the lady spoke no english. so i hope they arrive ok.

... Bongo at the bottom of the pecking order and despite being one of the first to arrive, we were one of the last to be boarded. End result - we were about 15th on the cancellation list. There were 6 names called for cancellations, and you can bet they all arrived after us. We were on an LD lines ferry and the good points were: nice clean ship, good club class area, reasonable food and proper French coffee in the club class bar. The lows were cold plates ...

... and the catheral were amazing! It was also wicked cold that day and the train was freezing, so after getting off I insisted on a coffee break. This is a typical French coffee, or cafe. It's more what we would call an espresso in America, but not as bitter and they drink it with a lot of sugar. Leaving the warm boulangerie we looked up and followed the spires to the Cathedral. Chartes is ...

29/09/2005 Today we went to Chartres, it took about an hour by train from Gare Montparnasse. It was a cute little city and a gorgeous day. We came out of the train station and went in search of the tourist office to see what museums there were to visit and see if there were any interesting exhibits, but we just started wondering down some tiny streets and instead came upon the main street with all these really cute shops. We even found one store with some photo supplies, so it's a ...