Prehistoire en Carnac

Bonsoir!  Aujourd'hui nous avons roulé à Carnac, vu des alignements et visité le Musée Prehistoire.  We walked down by the salt marshes to the plage, and are now in our tiny hotel room, massaging our feet.

La Manoir de La Johotiere

Today Ian and I said a reluctant farewell to our Hotel LaFleuray and made the three hour drive to the chateau where we will be sleeping this evening.  After arriving at our hotel, we made a small drive around the area (near Chateaubriant in Bretagne) and then walked around our beautiful estate.  We were horribly traumatized in Turkey several years ago, as we did not have the correct documentation for the toll roads and had to explain this to nice men who spoke no English -- and carried weapons.  As a result, we set the Garmin to avoid toll roads, and this turned out to be the best thing ever.  Today was a glorious day with brilliant sunshine making everything beautiful.  We soared along small highways and even smaller rural roads, through many tiny towns, and watched the landscape gradually change.  Our hotel is amazing -- it really is a working chateau, and the restaurant is very famous.  Ian and I have attempted to translate the on-line menu -- check it out yourself at at this link.  I will just let a few pictures tell you about this glorious day.

Finally something for Ian . . .

Today we finally saw some historical sites.  Yes, we still visited a modern house from the 1430`s, but we also saw the remains of a 2nd C. Roman Aqueduct and a Gallo-Roman tower, marking what was probably a wealthy family's estate and mausoleum.  We also visited Chinon, famous for Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard II and Prince John, and Jean D`Arc.

Chateaux and Leonardo

We arrived at Hotel Le Flueray just before dark Saturday evening, checked in and made a reservation for dinner.  The next morning we had breakfast and then set out on our Chateau tour.  We had plans to see 3 or 4 chateau, but only managed two.  Well 3 if you count Chateau du Close Luce, Leonardo Di Vinci`s last home.

Chartres and Chambord

Yesterday was our first day in France.  After an uneventful, if a tad uncomfortable, flight, we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and got our rental car.  We drove to Chartres, checked into our lovely hotel, and then after a wonderfully French lunch, toured Chartres Cathedral.  We went back to our hotel, and lapsed into comas.  This morning we ate a fabulous breakfast -- I forgot how good a croissant can be -- and did a walking tour of the historical parts of the city.  Of course we got lost on our way to the tourist office to get the walking tour guide, because I didn't realize how small a medieval "block" can be (twenty-five steps!)  We ended up finding the most amazing little church.  We stumbled into the Saturday market, and saw a great deal of the city -- the tourist office being our last stop.  After another tour of the cathedral, where we saw the morning light streaming in through the stained glass windows, rather than the afternoon light of yesterday, we drove through to the Arches de L'Aqueduct in the town of Maintenon.  Imagine Ian's surprise to learn that these huge structures were built by Louis XIV, not the Romans!    We drove through the flat countryside and through tiny and ancient French villages to the Chateau Chambord, which has some of the most amazing architecture I've ever seen.  No wonder, since many people believe that Leonardo di Vinci had a hand in its design, although he died a few months before it was started.  Our day was timed perfectly, since we had just handed back our cool little histopad -- and Ipad that you can hold up to objects and rooms and see them as they were, or get more info on pictures and objects in the rooms -- when they announced that the chateau was closed.  We drove to the teeny weenie village of Fleuray, and we are staying outside of town.  We had an amazing five course meal with a half bottle of wine, and as Ian predicted, we seem to have become full bottle people, at least for meals that last two and a half hours.  Ian fell asleep instantly, and in a few minutes, I will be snoring beside him.

 

May 2: On my way!

Ian was trying to upgrade me, so I didn't book a seat, and then we didn't have Internet last night, so I am in seat 38E middle seat, middle section, middle of the plane.  The agent said, "Ouch -- you are as far from the washroom as you can get.  Don`t fill up on drink!"  I did manage to get a prime seat in the waiting lounge, facing the plane that will take me home, and although I have loved my holiday, and it has been a delight to travel with Kathleen, I am feeling ready to see Ian, the garden, my kids, the cat, and the house!  No particular order to that list.

May 1: Lost and on foot in Heathrow

No pictures -- just a rather whiney account of our last day.