Hotel de la Poste Chartres

... a ltr bottloe of Vin rouge and a bottle of water. Not only excellent value but terrific quality and service. The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed and it was difficult to tell we were foreigners abroad.<br><br>Well fed and watered we got tucked for the night ready for an early morning START!!....

... playing a nighttime game of darts (Steve and Sylvie won) and sharing some American whiskey and the chocolates we brought. Finally, they led us through their beautiful home to our beds and we fell asleep quickly after what Rachel called the best meal and the most wonderful day ever.<br><br>Sylvie, Jean Mi and Helene were fun to be with. They provided us with<br>Champagne, an amazing meal of a Crete salad, pork ...

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 ...

... waiting nearly a week to hear from the garage exactly what is wrong with the car - the AA Euro breakdown cover have been liaising with them &amp; put us up in a hotel for a couple of nights before we had to move on. The garage are saying that there's 6,000 euros (£5,116) worth of damage which means my insurance won't pay for the repairs - I only paid £2,350 for it in the first ...

... incredulously at the human wasp pushing up what must be a 20 percent slope (with me trying desperately to look cool - dressed as a wasp? - and equally desperately trying not to fall over). But the view was worth the effort (Oh really?!) and I sat in the cathedral gardens checking that my heart and lungs were still in my chest and not back on that dreadful hill! After a quick snack and singing happy birthday to me, I set off for my next big stop: Orléans on the superb River Loire.

... day the wind was kindly behind me. As the scenery constantly unfolded, my eyes feasted on chateau after chateau and petit village after petit village; all picture postcard perfect. With almost no traffic I made good progress, snacking along the way. But it was a long haul and so with aching back, knees and shoulders I was pleased to pass the sign announcing my arrival in Dreux. An unremarkable town, in spite of its long history; it has worked ...

Drove 2 hours South To the Loire valley to visit a small town of Chartres. Which has the greatest Gothic cathedral in Europe. It was built in 1020 The cathedral was the most important building in the town of Chartres. It was the centre of the economy, the most famous landmark and the focal point of almost every activity that is provided by civic ...

... and the stained glass is a wonder to behold. There are 90, count them, 90 stained glass windows in the Cathedral. Those windows cover 9,000 square feet of stained glass mostly made in the 12th and 13th centuries. Three panels remain from before the fire in 1194. There are 40 niches and a nave that still has its ancient floor and a choir screen that is spectacular and took over a hundred years to carve ...

For some reason, I was under the impression that Chartres wasn't as close to Paris as it actually is. In the past, of course, it would have been, but nowadays it's an hour's train ride away and a great day-trip. We went to see the Gothic goodness of the cathedral, of course, but there are plenty of other old buildings to admire as well. The day was warm and sunny, the town was blessedly tourist-free (save us and a few others) and we had a lovely time.

27/09/2005 Versailles Today Nessa and I went to Versailles for a day trip and what a nice time we had. We got up really early, not doing that again, and got ready to go, made lunch and everything, and we knew what train we wanted, we just weren't sure how much it cost. So when we got there and asked to by a aller retour ticket there the lady at the counter asked if we were visiting the chateau, and when we said yes she said there was a package we could buy for only ...