Ibis Orleans Centre Foch

... 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!

Thurs. 9th Jul. Lanaken - Bouzonville aux Bois. 578ks. (11 hours in the truck).
Woke up early, fully clothed (again) to 10 deg. Brrrr. Too cold to have a lukewarm camp shower so we were packed up and off in record time. Well, almost off. We were ready to depart at 8 but had to kill an hour, wandering around a nearby town until the camp office opened so that they could return our Euro25 deposit.
We decided to go across ...

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 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?

... hélice. Es decir, dos escaleras de hélice que nunca llegan a juntarse y que están situadas en el centro del palacio. Como no, no hemos podido evitar echarnos una carrera....y ¿quién ha ganado?... :) El segundo, Cheverny, es más pequeño pero tiene más detallitos ya que ha estado habitado hasta hace poco (1985) y guarda muchos útiles de épocas antiguas y te haces claramente a la idea de cómo debía ser la vida antes. Aquí, además, viven todos los perros de caza del señorito (unos 50 ...

... opportunity. Adaquately fueled up, we headed to the chateau which anchors the town. The tour is impressive, showing rooms and apartments renovated by each of the monarchs who stayed there. My favorite was actually a bathroom/powder room used by Marie Antionette. The palace was built over a midieval dungeon, which I was disappointed not to see. But the whole experience in French noble/royal decadence was striking. We also ...

... one hail storm that actually had us pulling over as we couldn't see the road!) It cleared up pretty well that night, so we decided to go to the Chateau to see it at night. It is just the biggest place I think I've ever seen - total excess! They actually had a sound & light show where they projected a 45 minute story of the Chateau's history onto it's walls. It was pretty good. We went back the next day to ...

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.

... s international feel. The next day we checked out the Joan of Arc house. It is the place that she stayed while she chased the English away. The original house was destroyed in WWII but they have reconstructed it to look as it did. It was neat to be there but you really only get your money's worth (it cost €1). That evening we headed back down to the old city to take in the Rugby World Cup opening game. It was a pretty crazy scene with foghorns, whistles, free hats, and ...

... 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.