Wales 2009 France Page

En route to and from Wales hFrance, first. Then, back to France at the end (jump to Senlis and the Loire)

3/19 We landed early morning at Charles de Gaulle, navigated our bulky suitcases (Rick Steves would never approve),
and picked up the car, a peppy (bright blue) Peugeot 207 diesel.

As soon as we got clear of the Paris ring roads, and headed east to Rheims, this was the view out the window.
(see below) (Or you may want to jump right to the chateaus.)

 



  


Then, boom, there's Rheims cathedral, outside in the cityscape.

 

and inside (one detail of 100).

 


When we went looking for a sandwich, we discovered that the town is terrific, too. And you see, we landed in glorious weather. Everyone was out appreciating it.

 
 

Then on the road to Arras, our destination for the evening. Just some random shots out the car window. 		 
 
 
We go the next day to a small (lovely) museum in a neighboring town with Ruth Friedlander and husband Max Hurart (bottom right of the photo). Ruth is a Middlebury classmate whom we reconnected with when we were in Italy in'93.
 

Then off to the cafe and conversation afterward. 		 
 

Below, by the way, is the Peugeot that had us flying in and out of France.
At the dealer (TTCars) on left; at the "circus" in Bath on way home. Only damage was to casing of mirror backing up in a medieval French street (see Senlis).

  

The next morning we headed to the Chunnel. (Switch to "other UK.")
Or come back 5/14 for a run through the Loire, by way of Senlis, known to Wilbur as the town where his hero Samuel Chamberlain lived and drew "between the wars."
No photographic record of the fancy ferry (at least compared to American ferries). Our first moment in Senlis was a walk (in the rain) after dinner the first night. We came upon this view, which encouraged us to go around for the view on the right.  

Next morning--was market day . (Wilbur at breakfast.)
Interior in Hereford Cathedral (the next day)
Of course, it's scenic inside, too.
always in the shadow of the cathedral.
On the right of the building is the street that Wilbur backed up to find a parking spot, and a corner of one of the buildings (not really a 90-degree corner) took off the casing of his rear-view mirror.

Here we are at the Loire River. Our first glimpse is from the rampart of Blois, overlooking the town. Here, at Chaumont, we're a lot closer.
Many of the chateaus are not on the Loire, but on tributaries. This is the Indre, near Azay le Rideau. (Do not wait till the bottom. Go right to chateau page.)
 
Most pictures are on the chateau page, but Wilbur just liked the fabric of the towns. In Amboise, near the chateau, going one way --and then the same tower from the other side.
We frequented numbers of bakeries. And were surprised to see a convoy of Segways touring the town on 2 wheels, but not biking.
In this town, Esvres, we were happy to find an open restaurant (which was hosting a luncheon for the pompiers). The owner was from Normandy and was there at the landing in 1944. He has an American flag outside and had us sign his guest book. (Here I am showing his wife the card for my book!)
W liked the feeling of the allees, even with Bricomarche on the side of the road. (We got straps for our Salvation Army (Emmaus) suitcase there.) The little town under Chaumont is still very typical of what we saw.

 

Finally, the night before leaving, in a Hyatt near Charles de Gaulle.

 

And at Charles de Gaulle, on the way to our gate.

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