Angers

Chateau 11 of 10

Well it’s more of a fortress or castle.  

I wondered how many know the history with the French and Thomas Jefferson?  Maybe for another video.

 Chateau Usse

Chateau 10 of 10…all done

27th Oct, We seen Chateau L'Islette on the same day

 Chateau L'Islette

Chateau 9 of 10

27th Oct

This is a small chateau that the family still live in….there is a blending of new and old….eg wood stove and induction cooktop

 Chateau Villandry

26th Sep

8 of 10 Chateau

Villandry has large very formal type gardens, the chateau is more like a big stately house rather than a castle.  But we had a nice day looking around.

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau

Working our way down chateau lane.  The mirror view of the chateau was spectacular on the day.

Chateau 7 of 10

Chateau Chenonceau

On the drive to the new location we stopped in at this chateau.  Break the long 1 hour drive into two 30 minute drive.

Chateau 6 of 10

 Chateau Chambord

Chateau 5 of 10

This chateau is the largest in the Loire Valley.  Very large, wth huge immaculate kept grounds.  Inside there is a number of exhibits (like the story of how they hide art there during WW2) and the few rooms decked out like the rest of the chateaus.  But mostly they rely on the awesomeness of the chateau itself.

At the chateau they have an equestrian and bird of prey show.  The show was cool, sword fighting, jousting, horse skills, etc….OH and a bit of keystone cops.  All built into a story line that covered some of the duration at the chateau.  I’ve kept this Video more about the show.

 Domaine De Chaumont-Sur-Loire

Chateau 4 of 10

The Chateau Chaumont is huge, we walked 10+Km, the Chateau is full of modern art.  I’m no lover of modern art, but there was quit a number you have to admire.  I don’t know how many pieces they have on display but our little video we did doesn’t scratch the surface.  A very much enjoyable day…a long day, with the volume to get around.

Chateau Cheverny

 Chateau De Cheverny

3rd of 10 chateaus in the Loire Valley 

Wed 20th Sep

Electrical cart ride, the driver floored it down the track, great fun.  I don’t know how long the tree plantation been their bat they are spectacular…..the size of some them….wow. 

There is a Tin Tin exhibitions that was tops to see. The writer of Tin Tin based the series as if Tin Tin lived at the chateau. 

Chateau Valencay

Chateau 2/10 -  Chateau De Valencay

Tue 19th Sep 

Visited the Chateau, looked in on a family run motor museum and had a great lunch in a little Creperie.

 Château de Sully-sur-Loire 

1 of 10 Chateaus

Had a great day, the guys firing the muskets and doing their swordsmanship really made the day.  

The eclectic coffee shop was amazing, half looked like a rundown shed.  Old motor bikes and push bikes in the back and a guy doing very interesting wood art.  There’s just a little snippet of this at the beginning of the video. 

Chateau was ok, but the rest really made it.

 My Gill

Too much time on my hands 

 Vezelay, France

Friday 15th September, 2023

Vezelay is very small walled town, with cobble-stoned streets and a perfectly preserved village of medieval type buildings. It’s located in the heart of the Burgundian vineyards, nestled on the top of a hill overlooking green fields that stretch out to the horizon.  

The town has the 11th-Century Romanesque Basilica of St Magdalene.   They say it’s a masterpiece of Romanesque art, but we just thought it was a very special place.  The correct name for the basilica is (Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay)

We’re also getting very good at finding these wonderful little restaurants for lunch.  Today’s choice had maybe 10 tables, very friendly service and a meal that I’ll remember. Very nice!

Mulhouse - Cité du Train

 Mulhouse Cite de Train

12th September, 2023

Mulhouse has a train museum with about 50 old steam engines.  All are in lovely working condition, I guess because the site in run by SNCF. (France National Rail)  Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français' 

 Mulhouse - Musée National de l'Automobile

This site is amazing, a Bar, 3 restaurants, a race track and 450+ cars.

First video is us on the day, the other two are cars, cars and more cars

Cars, Cars and More Cars

 Baden Baden - Germany

9th September, 2023

We decided to follow some great advice and did a day trip into Germany on our way from Strasbourg to Mulhouse.

Stopped in at Cafe Konig, a beautiful restaurant and German Patisserie, then a quick look at some pretty baubles.

Strasbourg

 Strasbourg - France

Two days checking out Strasbourg….a very beautiful city and great food. 

Saverne - France

 Saverne

4th and 5th September, 2023

We decided to checkout one more little town before we hit Strasbourg.

Saverne still has quite a large Old Town area, it’s tucked in around the Canal De La Marne Au Rhin, so lots of their lifestyle and leisure is based around the canal.  It is one the busiest canal boat areas in France.

Our visit over the two days saw us in the Old Town area on the first day, seeing the Church Notre-Dame De La Nativite, the main old town square and the canal with its lock.  Next day we drove out to see the Saint-Louis Arzviller Boat Incliné Lift, a glassblowing crystal workshop and the Chateau Du Haut-Barr ruins, where we had an unexpectedly nice lunch stop amongst the ruins and some fantastic views over the Saverne area.

Plenty of clear blue skies and sunny days and even a sweet sunset made for a lovely couple of days.

RIP Jimmy Buffet, thanks for all the great songs you gave us to sail into the sunset, Margaritas in hand, of course.

Laon - France

 Laon

2nd September 2023

We had a fabulous day in the small town of Laon.  It was only 1.2 km from our park to the edge of the old town. The 100 meter climb was definitely worth it. The old town is about 3km long and 500m wide. So the video is bits from all the way around, the Abbey, cathedral and town streets. 

The Abbey