Last year it was Switzerland but 2 years ago it was Brittany, France, which we loved. THIS year it was a wide area circling clockwise around Paris for our 17 nights and 18 days, staying in 5 different hotels. Without any side trips, as you see, it would be 2,036km/1,265mi., but, by the end, was 3,102km/1,927mi total.
The best way to give the overview is by the 5 hotels where we stayed and from which we made our daily outings, as follows:
1: REIMS (2 nights), May 21-23, Thur-Sat (380 km/236mi):
It made sense to break up the day by a stop in Rocroy, about halfway to Reims from home:
OMG. What a darling commune of ca. 2,270 people. And our first carbonara of the trip!
We felt like we were already in heaven and we hadn't even arrived at our first hotel!
Once settled into our hotel room, we went to the breakfast/bar area for a beer and 5 Crowns,
where, up on the top (9th) floor terrace, we had the fabulous view of the Reims Cathedral.
And it was still Thursday, our first full day!
The next day, Friday, was our only day in Reims' city center:
Our main goal of the day was the Notre-Dame Cathedral from the 13th century, a 20-min. walk from our hotel.
It's most known for its smiling angel to the left of the main portal. Totally worth the visit!
After the cathedral, and a latte stop, we walked to the Mars Gate (3rd c.) and the covered Market Hall,
followed by a galette lunch with our first French cider of the trip.
2. DIJON (4 nights), May 23-27, Sat-Wed (306km/190mi):
Like our first day, when we stopped in Rocroy on our way to Reims, we stopped in Troyes on our way to Dijon, getting another French gem under our belt.
Astrid had done the research and knew this was a half-timbered mecca we didn't want to miss.
OMG. It was just the beginning of our half-timbered heaven this trip!
Instead of the cathedral, we visited 2 small churches to see the stained-glass windows,
and enjoyed 4 hours of walking around and eating good food. 4km total on a Saturday.
Now in Dijon, and On Pentecost Sunday, we made a lazy day of it, driving 167km/109mi round-trip south of the city, through the Burgundy wine region.
We stopped first in Arnay-le-Duc (left column) and last in Beaune (right column),
getting a lovely taste of each place.
But in between, THIS was our goal for the day, in Santenay, out in the vineyards.
We really felt the "Wind of the Holy Spirit" on this Pentecost Sunday!
The next day, Monday, we drove 44km/27mi south of Dijon to Dole...
...the birthplace of Louis Pasteur, of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization fame.
We spent 4 hours enjoying the city, remembering Memorial Day for my American family and friends,
not only while in the Notre-Dame Cathedral but along the roadsides dotted with poppies.
It was Tuesday, our last full day in Dijon, that we drove into city center, 5km from our hotel:
(left hand on owl, right hand on heart), one of the stops on the Owl Trail.
Once again, it was the half-timbered houses that grabbed our attention.
I didn't mention that during this time Europe was in a heatwave around 90F each day,
so we started gravitating towards sushi for lunch, needing the soy sauce to restore our salt!
And, YES, we also made sure to buy Dijon mustard as gifts to take home!
3. ORLÉANS (4 nights), May 27-31, Wed-Sun (337km/209mi):
Again, like previously with Reims and Dijon, on our way to our next hotel, in Orléans, we stopped first to visit Auxerre, after 157km/98mi, where we spent 2.5 hours walking around.
By now you see what interests us: the cathedrals, the timbered houses, special landmarks,
and something good to eat/drink!
Before tackling Orléans' city center, we chose our first full day, Thursday, to drive the backroads to visit Montrésor, 217km/135mi south:
It's called "the most beautiful village" in the Loire Valley, where Orléans is.
We totally believe it.
This is what we saw on the backroads, coming and going.
And, yes, that's the kind of breakfast we ate in each hotel every day!
Friday was the day we chose to visit city center in Orléans, 6km from our hotel.
Joan of Arc is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans, where we saw as much of her as we could, not only in the cathedral but everywhere.
Besides all the Joan of Arc sites, we got our fix of half-timbered houses again.
And notice that NEW Orleans is only 7729km/4803mi away!
Saturday was our one day to visit a castle. Of the 300 situated in Loire Valley, this is the one Astrid found 36km/22mi from our hotel:
It's the Château de Sully Sur from the 14th century.
It may be the best castle we've ever visited! We were not disappointed!
4. SAINT-LÔ (5 nights), May 31-June 5, Sun-Fri (410km/255mi):
Knowing this would be one of our longest stretches between hotels, we were raring to go by 9:30a (instead of our usual 10a), only to find out, while Astrid was packing the car, that one of the tires had a nail/tack stuck in it. And it was Sunday!
[photo and collage credit: Astrid]
Long story short, it was all taken care of by 11a, and THEN we were on our way.The plans of mice and men!
It only meant that we decided NOT to explore the planned Alençon on the way,
choosing instead to just take in what we saw on the backroads, arriving at our hotel by 4:50p.
That was Sunday, so on Monday we decided to go nowhere by car and just walk into the city center of Saint-Lô, making a leisurely day of it, even at 9km, 9800 steps (ha!):
It's a rampart city of less than 20K people and very doable to walk around.
During WWII approx. 95% of the city was destroyed and thus is called "The Capital of Ruins,"
even though you'd never really know it today.
Besides visiting the cathedral, we walked to the cemetery at the edge of town
(our only cemetery of this trip), followed by lunch.
Because Saint-Lô is in Normandy and we were getting close to Saturday's D-Day observances, we chose Tuesday as the day to drive north of the city...
first of all to Sainte-Mère-Église to see the American paratrooper still hanging in efigy since D-Day, 1944.
It's quite the story of playing dead for 2 hours, while the Germans were inside the church,
then being captured by them, only to later escape.
We also drove to Utah Beach (after lunch in Barfleur below) to take in the feeling of the place all these years later,
with the sense that EVERYONE is still remembering! It was all so very sobering.
In between the American paratrooper and Utah Beach, we stopped in Barfleur,
a delightful fishing village that reminded us of what we've seen in England.
While eating our best-ever mussels at a restaurant there, I got my education watching
the gent next to us eating his snails, who got a kick when I asked to take these photos. HA!
That entire day, btw, was 165km/103mi.
On Wednesday we drove 77km/48mi. to Mont Saint-Michel, the place we absolutely loved when we climbed all the way to the top chapel back in 2010. We initially had planned NOT to revisit it but decided we both really wanted to see it again, with new eyes! And we are glad we did!
THIS time, however, we chose to walk along the ramparts, which we didn't do the last time,
and to just stay in the village. We knew it would be too busy to do anything else.
It was a rainy day but never rained while we were outside. Just like God!
When it was time to eat lunch, we were despairing about finding a place not too busy,
until the last minute when we found this very small Bar Restaurant Saint Michel,
and were sent upstairs where only 24 people could eat. They even had carbonara!
OMG. It may have been our best gift of the day. Just what we needed.
On that last full day in Saint-Lô, Thursday, we spontaneously decided to go nowhere and just stay home at the hotel, except for driving to the E.Leclerc grocery store for Asian Street Food for lunch. And THIS is where it got interesting!
Long story short, just after finishing our lunch in our hotel room, management asked if we'd be willing to move to their sister hotel nearby to make room for a body guard for a VIP coming (for D-Day), who just happened to be the father of the Princess of Monaco. Their hotel was full and they'd give us our last night at the new hotel for free! We said YES, of course, moved out within half an hotel and got settled into our new hotel (which was NOT up to as much snuff as we had been told), but...we accepted it.
Top row is at the old hotel, eating lunch and playing 5 Crowns.
Bottom room is at the new hotel, where we went straight to the breakfast/bar room for beer
and more 5 Crowns...and when we found out everything from that point on was gratis!
So, because supper, starting at 7, was too late for us...we ordered ice cream! Why not?!
Already we felt like the move had been worth it, even with a smaller room. But wait....
5. GERBEROY (2 nights), June 5-7, Fri-Sun (268km/167mi):
That last breakfast in Saint-Lô, in our new hotel, was when we understood why The Universe orchestrated the move!
A group of 31 American soldiers and tourists were at the same hotel (the other hotel was full of Italians), ready to leave for the cemetery at Omaha Beach. Those 2 old geezers were each 101 years old, full of WWII stories and still sharp as a tack. The one on the left had been imprisoned at Dachau.
OMG. Tears in my eyes the entire time.
It was time to leave France that Friday, starting our drive back home, but stopping along the way...
Just 1.5 hours of wonderful goodness, including our first ever flambée au calvados with cider!
Three hours later we were at our last hotel of the trip.
That Saturday, our last full day of vacation, was spent in Gerberoy, called France's "most beautiful village." We had read about it weeks ago from another blogger and made sure it was on our list, perfect for our last day.
OMG! The village of "a thousand rose bushes," with a population of 82.
It was where Astrid chose to celebrate early my 81st birthday (the 13th)!
Without question, it was the cherry on top of an incredible vacation.
And, believe it or not, it was the only day/time of this vacation when we had
our ponchos on for about 10 minutes because of the rain, just as we were leaving.
That next day, Sunday, we left our hotel at 9a, and, after a reststop break, arrived at Home Sweet Home at 2:30p.
18 days, 17 nights, 3,102km/1,927mi, 5 hotels.
One of the best and most relaxed vacations of our life together!
