Nothing like the countryside in France -Part 1 of Loire Valley

Last Wednesday, I visited the Loire Valley in France.  It was wonderful and full of adventure.  I will publish the photos and the details of the 4 day trip over the next few posts.  We visited 5 chateaus plus took tons of photos of the valley and other chateaus on the Loire River.  I will start with Villandy today.  Tons of walking and sore feet were the norm.

First, my colleague Claire and I left for Cambrai on Wednesday afternoon and the traffic was incredible.  Tons of roadwork as well as several accidents and the traffic of an extra long weekend and what was a 3-hour road trip turned into nearly 5.  But we arrived in Cambrai and stayed at a chateau (see below)...

Main room of the hotel

Main staircase in the hotel

 

Dealing with tolls in France is expensive and not as easy as you may think.  The cost of tolls (in both directions) was about 70 euros ($100) and the toll booths are not really clear as to where you are to go for payment.  Also you cannot use your credit card so better bring lots of cash or hear a lot of honking horns.  Roadway system is very good in France and drivers are quite good (with the exception of Paris).  Everyone is driving between 120-130 kms per hour so traffic moves steady and safely in spite of the speed.  Hard to believe but they actually signal! 

On Thursday morning, we headed out towards Ambrois (the heart of the Loire Valley) and arrived around 3:30pm.  We visited the Tourism Centre to pick up our  "Front of the line" tickets for the chateaus.  Then we went to our hotel, checked in, did a quick drive around Ambrois, and then returned to the hotel for dinner at 7pm.  You should note we learned dinner is not served anywhere before 7pm and is over serving around 9pm.  When we did not understand something in France, Claire and I could be heard saying "It's a French thing".  There were many French things over the 4 days...

Friday morning, we visited the chateau known for its fabulous gardens - Villandry. 

 

The chateau itself

 

Grounds were restored to their former glory in early 1900's

Cool looking shrubs, no?

Almost all chateaus with gardens have water features

I took this photo on the terrace above this garden

 

This is my favorite photo of Villandry - looks like a postcard!



I could walk these gardens all day - actually took about 1 hour to do them.

At the centre of the vegetable garden
were these little gazebos



I will send photos next from Chenoceau and Chambord in the next few days.  This upcoming weekend I am heading to Munich on businesss then a few days in Salzburg Austria.

Rain, broken windows and the countdown begins

Well I have not been travelling on the last weekend the weather was terrible with tons of rain.  Not fun to go out and about when its like that but again the weather is turning around. 

About 7 days ago, a rock hit my windshield and a huge crack occurred.  It was replaced on Wednesday this week by Hertz.  Thursday morning, I went to the car to travel to work and found...

Apparently, someone vandalized the back window but there was nothing in the car to steal.  It was really strange as the rest of the car was untouched.  So I drove it to work, my assistant called Hertz again and they repaired on Friday afternoon.  This was a huge topic of discussion around the office including the security guard who came looking for me, stating it did not happen on his watch!  News travels fast here as numerous people came to ask me about it.  The nicest thing that happened was our QA manager asked 2 of his team members to fix some plastic to the car just in case it rained.  What a kind gesture. 

The past few days, Claire (my colleague) and I are planning our 4 day trip to the Loire Valley in France.  We have booked our hotels, determined which chateaus and sites we will see (we are planning on 6 chateaus over 3 days) and we are nearly ready to go.  We will leave on Wednesday, May 13th (late afternoon) then it's a long weekend (Thursday and Friday are statutory holidays in the Netherlands).  We will drive back on Sunday afternoon.  It is about a 7 hour drive back to Venlo. 

Then the following weekend, I travel to Munich on business, then I am spending 3 days in Salzburg, Austria which is about 1.5 hours from Munich.  Return home then the following weekend, my Dad arrives from home, and we go to Slovenia to visit his family.  He will stay for a while but I am here for only 5 days.  Then we are talking about visiting Paris for 3-days, but now I am wondering if we should go to visit Versailles, Fountainbleu, and a few other sites and cities around Paris. 

Now, the countdown begins...9 weeks until I return home!

Cheers for now!

Back to Lisse

This past week, a work colleague (Claire) visited Venlo and she really wanted to go visit the flowers in Lisse.  I was in Lisse a few weeks ago but I was just a little early as you may recall and nothing was in bloom.  So we decided to go to Lisse and what a site!  First we had lunch in the village and everyone was out soaking up the sun.  Then flowers galore...

Hemels is the café where we had lunch.

Tulips...



Daffodils





It was very windy but I managed a selffie!

When we walked near the fields, the air
was scented with hyacinths...

When I returned home, I looked out my balcony window and saw sheep right near the river Maas.  What a lovely day!  The weather is great here.  I don't need a winter jacket anymore.

 



Northern Belgium- Ypres

I thought about visiting Brugee in Northern Belgium but for some reason, I wanted a break from historic buildings and architecture.  As I was surfing things to do in Belgium, about 1 hour from Brugee, I noticed a piece of history which I have heard about however never thought I would go there.  So I got into my car, drove 2.5 hours and  decided today to visit...Ypres.

If you don't know much about Ypres, it is the town where the battle of Passchendaele on the Western Front was fought in World War I.   The town of Ypres is on the western side of Flanders.  I went to the Tyne Cot Memorial Cemetery - it is an amazing place.  It is in the countryside of Zonnebeke and up on a hillside overlooking the surrounding valley.  See the photos below.



As you see, the memorial wall is very large and it hold the names of all the soldiers lost in the various battles found in this area between 1917-1918.  There were approximately 12,000 soldiers who lost their lives fighting buried here, where over 8,000 are unnamed and 100 are unknown.  The memorial is for soldiers from New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and Canada.

The Cross of Sacrifice

About 5-minutes from the Tyne Cot, is the Passchendaele Memorial Museum. 

When you travel about 15-minutes North, you come to the St. Juliaan Memorial or as it is known the Vancouver Corner (the Canadian Memorial for those who participated in the 2nd battle of Ypres).  The statue, "The Brooding Soldier" is 11 metres tall and can be seen for miles.  There is also a small park surrounding it. 

I also visited the "Trench of Death" which is located about 35-minutes from Zonnebeke.  It is located near the town of Diksmuide.

 

If I had more time, I would have done the entire "Poppy Trail" - There are tons of monuments and historically significant sites to visit here.  So many Canadians lost their lives here a hundred years ago and it was worthwhile to see this historic area. 

 

 

Until later..........Mary