Un jour gris à Château de Chambord/Chateau de Chambord on a grey day

Approach view of Chambord

Alors que nous avons eu la voiture et le jour faisait gris nous avons choisi aller à Château de Chambord, qui est près de la ville, Blois.  Nous avons pris l’autoroute parce que il était le plusvite route.  

Je l’aimais ; c’est comme un château auquel j’ai revé.  Il y avait beaucoup d’explorer.  Aussi il n’y avait beaucoup des touristes, donc le Château n’etait pas bondé.  Nous nous l'amusions là

It was a grey day on Thursday and as we still the rental car we decided we should go to Château de Chambord, otherwise we would miss out on the opportunity to see it.  It was a quick drive up the autoroute which of course included the extraction of more money  by whomever built this network – likely to be a government department in France. 

The south side

Chambord is a grand Chateau by any standards – a castle is what Bev keeps calling it which is the English equivalent.  The Chateau presents two faces - one for the arrival of people and it is most impressive as you will see from the photo.  The other is more private and faces south towards the sun, but is equally as stunning.  It was built by Francois 1 to make a statement.  He died before it was completed.  Eventually it was the home of the Duke of Chambord (abbreviated history as there were a number of other wealthy aristocrats involved). 

The top of the double spiral stairs

Both of us had a wonderful time going through the place. It was built to impress and I am sure it did that.  It was also modernised to keep up with “modern trends” such as lowered ceilings and enclosed fireplaces.  It was a very cold place during the winter and certainly was when we were there.  One of the most impressive parts was double spiral staircase in the middle of the Chateau. 

I felt like a kid  experiencing the sort of dream you have about castles -  the ones you read about in books and fairy tales and unlike the Palais de Versailles you able to explore a good deal of the place.  Like all old places it is need of repair and that was clearly going on when we were there.  I also think the building is visually more interesting that Versailles.

Bev was very excited by the place and kept telling me to slow down as she wanted to make the most of the experience whereas I was just as happy exploring all the nooks crannies and going up lots of spiral staircases. 

A little bridge over the moat

Western side of the Chateau

After we had visited the kitchen display (most interesting to see what they did and used in those times – lots of copper and brass as it deals with heat more evenly) we went for a walk around the grounds before heading back to Saumur.

I had left Saumur knowing that I had to get diesel somewhere but remarkably on the way out of Saumur there was no petrol station and on the Autoroute the gouging for fuel was horrendous.  We couldn’t easily find one in Blois as we travelled back and with fuel running low I began to get a little worried. Fortunately there was a station at an Aire (rest area on the Autoroute) but it hurt to pay nearly 20€ cents or 40 cents NZ more per litre for the fuel.  Needless to say I got just enough to get us back to Saumur where I was sure I could find a cheaper place.

She is very happy

Another view of part of the Chateau

Courtyard and part of the Chateau

The salamander - Francois I's sign

The French love spiral staircases

Une connexion avec Nouvelle Zelande et un surprise/A NZ connection and a surprise

Dany's place is almost on the corner

Over breakfast we talked to Dany about her life and what had brought her to Sancerre.  It was not totally clear but she told us she had been in the hotel business but gave it up because of health issues.  She was in the process of doing up her home and had put in central heating and double glazing, both at some expense she said.  There was much more to do as it really did feel old and in need of maintenance. 

Sancerre on the hill - light was not good

One of the reasons for our trip to Sancerre was a desire to visit the home of Henri Bourgeois who had a New Zealand connection as he had set up a winery called Clos Henri in Marlborough.  In my view the New Zealand Clos Henri wines are great so I wanted to try his French wines.  He is clearly a big producer in Sancerre and is based in a small village called Chavignol which is seven kilometres from Sancerre.  It is obviously a wealthy area judging by the main road going through it and the houses. 

Henri Bourgeois tasting and admin centre

Henri Bourgeois is situated next to a church. This makes sense of the tasting room they have in Marlborough which is a deconsecrated church in an amazing setting.  I had thought we would not be able to do a tasting but it turned out we could and ended up sampling a range of his wines.   They are so different to his NZ wines but are also very good.  The prices for his French wines however are comparatively expensive to the NZ wines.  According to the person serving us, about 20% of the wine sold is the Clos Henri wines from NZ.  While we were there we saw people buying whole cases of wine.  I am not surprised because unlike NZ the wine at the shop was about 15% cheaper than in the shops.

I got a bit of surprise when I put our Saumur address into the GPS as it turned out to   be much further away from Sancerre than I thought.  The shortest route was 240kms and on the back roads it was a four hour journey.  On the autoroute it was nearly three hours but the distance was a bit longer.

We took the back road route simply because it was more fun.  Soon after we left Chavignol it began to spit and then it rained.  Some weird routes were suggested by Michelle (the GPS) and again I sometimes ignored her.  Regardless it was an interesting experience doing those routes.  There were surprisingly few cars on them. 

When we got past Tours we decided we had had enough of back roads and after a stop at a rest area or Aire we took the autoroute which got us to Saumur in no time at all.

We easily found the apartment but parking was not so easy as the streets were very narrow with limited parking.  However, we were able to find a place temporarily. 

We had a lovely surprise when we entered the apartment. It was everything that was described on the internet and more – a separate dining and lounge, a large bedroom and a bathroom that makes my one look tiny.  It even had a well equipped kitchen.  We were delighted with it and could happily stay here for quite a while.  Colin and Myriam (our hosts) came around later in the evening to introduce themselves and they were a really delightful couple. He is English and she is Chilean.  Both are fluent in French but we spoke in English and it was funny to find him sometimes grasping for an English word after living here for so long.

Self explanatory

Chavignol vineyards

Parcourant les routes secondaire de France/Travelling the back roads of France

French countryside

Le matin que nous sommes parti à Ladoix-Serrigny il pleuvait.  Nous avons décidé à prendre les routes secondaires ou les routes D et N alors que nous pouvions voir la campagne de France.  Quelque des chemins étaient très étroits.  Pas amusant quand on rencontrait un autre voiture sur un chemin qui est le même largeur à la voiture ou, plus mal, un camion.  Le cote de chemin etait le seul place aller.  Les rendezvous avec les voitures et les camions faisaient le voyage plus intéressant. La campagne est magnifique. 

Chateau at Semur-en-Auxois - not crack in Tower

It was raining when we left for Sancerre.  We had decided to take the back roads - the main reason being that they would be more interesting than sitting on a motorway charging along at 130kph.  The roads we took varied considerably including one lane roads when meeting a car or truck approaching from the other direction meant slowing down (or at least I did) and moving on to the grass verge.  Given the tyre tracks in the grass it was evident that we were not the only ones to do that. 

Old monastry at Vézelay

The GPS sent us on some very weird roads, despite me having selected the eco route (good on fuel).  This sometimes meant going down very narrow lanes when a more sensible way would have been to take the slightly longer but easier way.  Nonetheless it made for a fun and interesting trip.  Occasionally I chose to defy Michelle (the GPS voice) and pick a slightly different route to get to the same place.

Main street

The countryside is magnificent - quite different to that of NZ and even more so to that in Australia.  From Beaune our first stop was Chablis with its rolling hills often with copses of trees on them.  There was thick lush green grass and to make it even more spectacular, fields of rape - a magnificent yellow colour which added to the contrast. 

There were many surprises. For example, a town called Semur-en-Auxois where surprisingly there was a medieval castle that was the centrepiece of the town. At the same time it was clearly in need of restoration as there was a big crack down one tower. 

Where we had a coffee

We had lunch in Chablis and then went to have a look at a wine shop, but in true French fashion it was closed.   

Our next stop was Vézelay, which is regarded as one of the prettier villages in France and one of those places on the tourist route.  As we were off -season it was not too busy.  Bev really loved it, as it was old and different.  It was apparently one of the pilgrim stops on the St James Way and the monks who first lived there obviously built a very large church to accommodate the pilgrims’ spiritual needs.  There are still monks and nuns living there.  We had a coffee in the a little shop where this enthusiastic woman told us she had grandchildren living in Gosford and had been to Wellington.  I did not get much more because she began serving another customer.

Our final destination was Sancerre and we arrived there just as the cloud cleared away.  Sancerre is in the eastern part of the Loire valley, almost on the border of the Cote d’Or or Burgundy.  It is an old village perched on the top of a hill with a commanding view of the surrounding countryside.

We stayed in the old part of the village.  It was an interesting place with a large bedroom up some very narrow stairs and with the usual need to watch above me in case I knocked myself out on a low beam.   Dany (our host) was very hospitable and we spoke with a mix of French and English. 

Apparently there had been a public holiday the previous weekend so most of the restaurants  (except hotel restaurants) were shut.  We did however find one open and it proved to be very good value for money, with the food being the best of simple French cooking.

Old viaduct next to Saint-Setur which below Sancerre

Bev in front of some of the old buildings in Sancerre

Mauvaises décisions/Poor decisions

Children on their bikes - note the greet tram tracks

When we arose on Monday and looked out the window it was wet.  Not pouring with rain but definitely damp.  I had not been to Dijon which is about 40 kilometres north of Beaune, and thought it might be a good place to visit. 

Is this the old part of the city?

Not having a map we used our car’s GPS to navigate us to what we thought was Centre Ville.  I managed to successfully navigate us there and found a park.  Then we went walking.  Hindsight was that we found the edge of the older and more interesting part of the city later.  There was a wonderful central square, with no people about and what  turned out to be a very new light rail system (it’s time  Wellington learnt from other cities the same size - that light rail moves lots of people very efficiently and forces cars to wait. Children on bikes can even have a police escort to ride through the city centre).  However, it was not until we were stuck in a traffic jam later that we realised we had missed the real heart of the city by about five hundred metres.  Yet another place to return to. 

Nougat display

We had thought we might like to go bike riding and noticed that there were some city bikes for hire.  I managed to sign up online but Bev was not able to do so, so we had to abandon that idea.  As it turned out it was fortunate we didn’t because it decided to rain properly.

We headed back to Beaune and had a quick walk around there.  I had been there about nine years ago and it has changed considerably since then.  It is more pedestrian friendly and has a much nicer feel about it.  We even came across a very interesting sculpture that captivated us both. 

Unfortunately with the rain coming down it was not much fun wandering around so we headed back to our studio to pack ready for our travel the next day and then relax.   

Beaune artwork

Pas faire du velo mais une degustation/ No cycling but a wine tasting

Barrel making at the first winery we visited

My favourite vigneron place

Parce que le dimanche faisait beau, Bev a voulu faire du vélo.  Nous avons rencontré Renaud et Anaïs avant notre départ pour le location du vélo et il a fait une suggestion de une dégustation à la petit village, Savigny les Beaune.   Nous avons pensé que il aurait été une bonne idée si il y avait pas les vélos louer.  Malheureusement, nous avons trouvé que tout le monde pensaient aussi que il faisait un bon jour pour faire du vélo et ils ont loué tous les vélos.  Donc, nous sommes allé le dégustation au village de Savigny-les-Beaune.   Il était une bonne idée alors que nous avons eu un fois merveilleux ont gouté  quelque vins de la appellation.

Sunday dawned clear and bright.  Bev really wanted to go cycling and I had finally found a bike rental company from which to rent bikes for a day. 

Before we went to the bike shop we called into introduce ourselves to Renaud and Anaïs (our Airbnb hosts).  Renaud was very enthusiastic and gave us a warm welcome and between my French and his English we had a nice but brief conversation. I do wish that I was more comfortable speaking and pronouncing French.  He recommended a restaurant for a meal and also said that the village next door to Ladoix-Serrigny was having a degustation that day and that the cost was only about 5 Euros each.  So we kept that in mind when we went to find the bike shop to hire our bikes. 

This is really a village of vines - just budding now

When we got to the bike shop we found that they had all been hired out for the day and that we should have booked the bikes earlier.  Never mind, we had the alternative.  I had seen the directions to Savigny-les-Beaune where the tasting was happening.  It turned out that the cost of a couple of glasses and holder for them was €4,50 each.  A bargain - and that gave access to all the wines that were being tasted in that small appellation.  We were very happy as you can imagine.  Not only were we in a picture perfect village but we got to try a number of wines.  As I had to drive, we were rather restricted with how many we could do and even though I spit, the amount of alcohol absorbed through the mouth is quite substantial. 

It's very cute

It seemed that at most of the wineries the people serving the wine were disinterested in the people visiting except when they knew the people, however at one winery I was able to talk in French (but with difficulty) with a vigneron who showed me a whole range of his wines which were very nice. They were different to NZ Pinot Noir but extremely nice at very reasonable prices.  I was tempted to buy some but that meant either carrying them back to NZ with me or trying to drink them in the interim – neither option an altogether practical solution. 

The other delight was a Cremant de Bourgogne we tried which is the Burgundy version of Champagne. They are the same grapes and use the same process to create the wine, but at quarter of the price. 

There is a Chateau in village called of course Chateau de Savigny.  Bev was keen to visit, having never seen a chateau.   It turned out to be a car museum with a few retired aeroplanes such as  an F16, Starfighter and Mirage III.  There were also a whole lot of model aircraft and more motorbikes – more than I really needed to see.  The Chateau was in poor repair but we had a look around anyway.  There must have been a Triumph rally because there were a whole lot of vintage and later model Triumph sports cars parked in the grounds outside the Chateau.  Some of you will remember the TR7 for instance. 

By the end of the day we had both had enough so we organised our meal at a restaurant recommended by Renaud.  Unfortunately the food was not the best – I suppose it was reasonable value but it was a bit of a disappointment. 

All in all it was an interesting day.

Entertainment for the children

Human effort powers the merry-go-round

Aix-Les-Bains à Ladoix-Serrigny

A sculpture using an old tree

After breakfasting at the hotel, we went for a bit more of a wander around Aix-Les-Bains.  It is a spa town with hot baths to which Duchess of York has apparently visited.  It seems to be its one claim to fame.  It was a rather lovely place to wander in such brilliant sunny weather.  After a coffee we went down to the Port where there were boats to take trips on the lake.  On the lake there were lots of yachts racing or they seemed to be although some of the skills required for competitive racing were not in evidence.

Le dent du chat above the lake

Our first stop was to be Annecy which is about 60 kms from Aix-Les-Bains.  We decided to take a drive along the lakeshore to the top of the lake.  It was an interesting drive as we were well above the lake and it would make an interesting bike ride with some serious effort required.  I thought it would be a good idea to then go on to

Lac du Bourget

Annecy from there but decided that I needed some route guidance as I had no idea where we were in relation to Annecy. It was a good decision, as we had to backtrack a bit then go up the side of what was almost a cliff to a Col (high pass). It was very steep and scarily narrow. Amazingly, there were even a couple of bike riders on the road.  There were several times I had to pass cars and  narrowly missed scraping our car. In situations like this having a SUV is not a good option when driving on such narrow roads.  Eventually we go to the top but disappointingly,  there was nowhere close by to stop and look at the view. 

La fontaine - the name given to our street

We decided to take the back roads to Annecy and the intention was to stop there but it seemed that the nice weather had put every car on the road and into the car parks so unfortunately there was nowhere we could stop.  Instead we continued on.  Bev thought the place looked lovely and is now on a future itinerary.

We continued to avoid the motorways for about an hour and then had a break just before we joined the autoroute(if we had not it would have taken another couple of hours to get to our desitination).  It was nice to get out and stretch our legs.  The café we went into had a lot of Indian people there who we discerned must be on a tour because someone came and ushered them back to their bus using English which was cute given that most were speaking what I would assume was Hindi.

Relaxing after a day of driving at  Ladoix-Serrigny

I took Bev through the Chassagne-Montrachet and Meursault vineyard area before went through Beaune to our destination in Ladoix-Serrigny which is a cute little village about 6 kilometres north of Beaune.   Our studio apartment was surprisingly lovely with a gorgeous little outdoor setting with which to enjoy a drink and relax.  On  first impressions we would have happily come back and spend more time there.

Turin et Aix-Les-Bains

Two forms of art?

We had some food that we needed to take with us on our journey to Aix-Les-Bains but the local Carrefour solved that problem and we got a soft-sided chilly bin. 

Sometimes the GPS fails me and I end up taking the wrong road and that was the case when we missed our turnoff and ended up doing a long circuit to get on to the road to the Autostrada.  Once we were on it we got to Turin very quickly and  the car and I (and Bev) survived the drive into Turin.  We were very fortunate to have a car space  become

Graffiti as a an artform

The Cathederal soaring about everything

available just as we turned into a road and I managed to pop the car in there.  Its width makes it difficult at times as the car parks were made for a time when cars were much smaller.  The driving at times was slightly unnerving – a little bit like NZ but at slightly crazier speeds. 

We were in need of a coffee and fortunately there was a café nearby to re-energise us  before we walked around the central city (unfortunately there was only time for a short visit but it gave a taste).  There is a magnificent spire which we assumed was attached to a cathedral but time did not permit us to get that far.  The city was rather grimy and there was graffiti everywhere.  It seemed that hardly a building remained untouched.  The central square was massive and there were a number of colonnaded streets running toward the cathedral from it - very impressive.  The rest of the time was spent getting a gelato and then wandering along beside the Po River which runs through the city.  It was another place we marked as a potential for a revisiting.

It almost seemed pixelated

Then it was time to get back on to  the Autostrada and then the Autoroute all the way to Aix-Les-Bains, the final destination  being a late substitution for Chambéry and only a few kilometres north of it. There was another financial shock when we got a remote village in the middle of the alps.  A toll to go through yet another mountain, €44 or around $NZ75! 

Our arrival in Aix-Les-Bains was nothing less than stunning.  It was a beautiful clear sunny day and when we came around a slight bend there appeared a beautiful blue lake right next to us.  However it seemed that all the residents of Chambéry and Aix-Les-Bains must have had the same idea because there was an unbroken stream of cars promenading along the waterfront.  All the bikes passed them as they were going so slowly. 

I had earlier decided on a hotel but decided that since it was off -season we would not need to book. 

The Po River

Wrong!  We found it was heavily booked, but Bev was given another place for us to go to which was just around the corner.  I then had to use my French to book the room.  The woman was lovely and welcoming and spoke sufficiently slowly for me to understand what she was saying while I garbled on in bad French forgetting my conjugations and tenses.  At least we vaguely understood each other.  Bev loved the room.  It had a very red theme.  My challenge was a lock which required a bit of practice  to lock or unlock but eventually we got the knack.

Having settled ourselves in we went for a wander to see where we had landed.  It had a casino close by and there were restaurants galore  as well as a few bars.  We eventually found a wine bar we liked where we had a glass of wine and then decided on the restaurant opposite it for our meal only to find that it was fully booked. We ended up at another one where the food was ok but not great but at least it did not break the bank.  I had moules frites and Bev a Tartiflette, the local dish. 

Le fin du jour.

Main street Aix-Les-Bains?