Chateaux, cathedrals, countryside and stuff
Trip Start
May 11, 2004
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22
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Trip End
Nov 07, 2004
Dijon, France
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
We've finally found an internet cafe that isn't closed or charging ridiculous prices, so are able to give you faithful readers another update...
Since dragging ourselves away from Paris, we've done a big anti-clockwise loop, making our way up through the lush countryside of Normandy, seaside coast of Brittany, the westernmost province, then cut right through the middle over to Lyon (right on the opposite side of the country, very close to Switzerland)and then headed north through the vineyards of Burgundy and now we are in Dijon, yes, the city famous for mustard! The weather has been glorious (until today, it's raining for the first time), the people friendly, and the countryside tres picturesque! And even the frustration of he in the driver's seat has dispelled somewhat due to the chief navigator (moi, still!) improving her map-reading skills/attentiveness!
We've clocked up quite a few kilometres and seen some interesting stuff, including:
- the ginormous Chateau de Versailles, built during the reign of Louis XIV during the 17th century. It's apparently the biggest and most impressive of the many French chateaux, and it certainly was huge, and lavishly decorated inside. However, it was really hot the afternoon we went, and jam-packed with sweaty tourists so we were quite relieved to get outside. We paid the extra 3 euros each to visit the formal gardens, and actually enjoyed strolling around them and lying in the shade more than the castle itself.
- the square where 19 year old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in the cool Norman town of Rouen, which also has a huge gothic Notre Dame cathedral (frequently painted by Monet), not too dissimilar from the Parisian one.
- the D-day beaches. We spent a few hours educating ourselves in the morning at a really good war museum in Bayeux, which was the first town to be liberated from the Germans in 1944. In the afternoon we visited Commonwealth and American military cemeteries - the sight of thousands and thousands of white crosses was very sobering. The rest of the afternoon we relaxed on Omaha beach, along with hundreds of holidaying French families all having a great time in the sun - such a contrast to what was happening there 60 years ago when the American allies landed.
- Mont Saint Michel. It's quite bizarre; a tiny rocky island that you can walk around in 10 minutes, surrounded by stone walls, with tiny winding streets that lead to a huge abbey at the summit. It's been around since the 5th century and used to be a Benedictine monastery, and then a prison after the French Revolution. It looks amazing, especially after the sun sets, when it is illuminated.
- Brittany's Cote d'Emeraude (Emerald Coast), which has lots of nice beaches, kind of similar to the Cornwall coast in England.
- Quimper (pronounced Cam-pair), supposedly a very Breton city, but it looked pretty much like other old French towns to us. Brittany was separate from France until the 1500s sometime, with its own language and rather peculiar clothing, but I guess a lot can change in 500 years!!! It was still a nice place to walk around and my favourite part was seeing these tiny little horses, I dunno what they are called but they have a normal sized horse body but really really short legs which make them look really fat a bit like dwarves, they were so cute! If someone knows what they are called, please tell me...(i'll add photos of them next time).
- Lyon, the 2nd largest city in France, which had a cool atmosphere, especially the old part of the city with lots of outdoor cafes and cool little winding streets.
- Beaune, a little town in the middle of the Burgundy vineyard area, where we each paid 9 euros to go on a tour of the underground caves and sample 16 different wines (self-service!) - we even got little silver wine tasters to keep as a souvenir! So that was lots of fun (especially for me since I wasn't driving!)
And that brings us to Dijon. So it's been a bit of a whistle-stop tour, but we've seen a lot and it's been fun! Our plan from here? We are meeting my parents and brother in Amsterdam on the 17th, so in the next week we are going to keep heading north into Luxembourg and check out Belgium before reaching the Netherlands. We are saving southern France for later when we go to Spain.
Whew. I think that's enough for now. I hope that wasn't too boring, please tell me if my stories are becoming a bit unexciting. Unfortunately I can't wow you with tales of leech bites and swimming with elephants, but I'm sure you understand...lots of love to everybody. Oh and Cam couldnt get into his email today so if you've emailed him, sorry and he'll try and check it soon.
Ok, till next time, au revoir!
