Early/Mid June Update 2009

1. The Room of Mirrors - Chateaux Versailles- just outside Paris
2. Briar & MC in the Gardens of Chateaux Fountainbleau - Champagne region - France
3. Briar in at castle ruins in Bellstein - Mosel river - germany
4. Hugo on the ferry across the Rhine river - Ruddeheim - Germany
5. Cruise Barge on the River Rhine
6. Eguisheim Village - start of the Haute De Vins (wine)trail- Alsace region- France
7. Scalpbach - Chilling in the Scwarzwald(black forest)- Germany
8. Strasbourg - Alsace region France - canal in the centre
9. Briar -cycling through the vines on the Mosel river - Germany
10. MC outside the Duravit museum - Haarsberg Germany
11. MC on old of tower Metterberg-Bellstein Mosel- yes it does say 1958 on the rails
12. Classic national geographic snappy - well done Briar - Lake Bruin - Switzerland


Early/Mid June Update 2009

Germania bound today – left our Elnach campsite on the lakefront of Neuchatel – not that our pitch was right on the lakefront – we were both up early and left our busy campsite (due to being a public holiday weekend in Switzerland) – quiet morning trip through Biel where we managed to find a gasole (diesel) stop which we badly needed. $1.55 SWF per litre ($1.04 euro) – We drove along the Lakes edge and then onto the Autostrada until Basel – we bypassed Basel ( Switzerland mosr populated city) and stopped in Rheinfelden the last stop in Switzerland before Germany on our route. In
fact in the old pedestrian part you can walk across the bridge into Germany – the border is halfway across the bridge. The germans have come along way since the Berlin wall. We had around $35.00 SWF to use up before we left so found a riverside café with prime waterside table sat down and had flammkuchen A swiss favourite for lunch – (swiss style pizza) crème frais with bacon & Onion and crème frais with apple & cinnamon – yummy and very very light – like naan flat bread in a way – couple of latte machiatto’s and we only had $2 SWF left. Feeling rather content and pleased with using our last francs almost we ventured across the border – once again no one to stop and check if we had 100 kilos of cocaine or P in the boot – we didn’t alas – yeah right. Almost as soon as we were in Germany the Schwarzwald began – it stretchs 170 k’s long by 50 k’s wide and is mostly conifers with patches of deciduous trees amongst rolling hillside country. The paddocks or fields as I am corrected are very similar to the Swiss and were being cut for winter storage also, with houses designed with cowsheds attached to the houses or very close by for the winter months. The houses though to tend to be slightly bigger or grander compared to their swiss neighbours. The roads were not to busy and in good order – we only had around 100 k’s to our Campsite at Titisee – See means lake in german and yes titi means exactly that in English – must have been a german with a fetish who named this place – not like the Lake is in the shape of you know what. Still it was a pleasant drive for our first venture into Deuschland and we arrived at Titisee around mid afternoon – took a wee squiz down the main centre - very tourist orientated lakefront village and being a bank holiday weekend – seem to be making a habit of this landing in places on busy weekends – the small village was packed to the rafters with tourist buses / tourists of course / locals down for the weekend and lotsa bikies everywhere ( Wallace would be in his element ) not just the mechanical ones either – plenty of pedal power cycles around too. The germans are renowned for being fitness and nature fanatics and we are beginning to find this out everywhere in this part of Europe – not like the Spanish or Italians that’s for sure. Did a quick reckie and headed out to our camp Bankenhof which was only a couple K’s from town and there was a pleasant cycle ride on the lakefront from the camp into Titisee village. The camp was around ¾ full – so a place for Hugo and us for a couple of days – as we arrived the restaurant bar area was being well patronised – the young chap who served us at the reception spoke good English which helped a lot on our first german book-in. Once Hugo was set-up I went for a quick reconnoitre along the track and also checked out the restaurant at the neighbouring campsite which had a lakefront diner – the cycle through the forest and lake edge was wunderbar as you would expect – lotsa walkers and bikers on the track
took about 20mins at a leisurely pace to ride into Titisee and the place was still packed to the hilt when I was there – around 5.00pm – the ride was easy enough for Briar to do so back to Camp Bankenhof - vino time surely. Yes the vino, the pan & cheese began to be devoured before firing the Barbie up and not smoking to many off the neighbouring campers out. Cervelas and bratwurst saussies with insalat for dinner again – who’s complaining when ya got a good 1 or 2 bottles of roht wein. We both showered before hittin the hay after a DVD of course – The next morning was a bit cloudy and did lokk like it was gonna pee down – but held off for the majority of the day – we did wake unusually late for me anyway and didn’t hit the bikes and the track till nearly 11.00am – the track wasn’t as busy being a Monday but quite a few folks around still. Being a wee bit later on in the morning meant that the village was busy with the tourist bus loads of tourists – the village is mainly made up of food places/ souvenir shops/delicatessans and clothing shops – was a couple of clock and watch maker shops too. The Scwharzwald is renowned for Cuckoo clocks worldwide – also for its Black Forest Cake – which we both indulged ourselves in at a café next to the info. centre and yes it was wunderbar ( best I’ve ever had and very reasonably priced as well ) – also picked up some local cheese – speck (bacon) schinken (ham) and some cherries (also in abundance in the Schwarzwald region- Briar very happy about this) had also a bratwurst wit brot ( saussie & bread roll) did some more window shopping – picked up another postcard to add to our evergrowing collection of postcards.
Back to camp we headed a bit of chilling – then we headed to the other camps restaurant for a meal - $8.00 euros for a cordon bleu snitzhel & frites – washed down with a german beer – all for under $20.00 euros for us both – good german tucker. Had a great window seat – which gave views across Lake Titisee – the wind had got up a bit by now so had chilled the evening a bit. Time we got back to Hugo
and had both showered it was about 10.30pm – not getting dark till about 9.30-10.00pm lately. Quick short comedy DVD tonite and off ta bed. (He still hasn’t seen them all)
Woke to a patchy day – not raining at least and quite warm – hints of blue sky appeared as we drove on through Scwharzwald – first stop Triberg to see the two biggest Cuckoo clocks in the world – both hanging over shops that make them and sell them all over the world ( one boasted to have a selection of over 1000 – not surprised as we saw three stores in the region under the same sign) as might have mentioned before if not am now - the Germans of the Scwharzwald are famous all over the world for their Cuckoo clocks – did have a wander through one shop – every type imaginable – some very intricate. Did stop for a baguette and a coule of pretzels – yes fresh pretzels from the backerei – they were still warm and delicious and taste way better than the miniature versions we get in packets back home. We also wandered to try to see the biggest wasserfall in Germany next to Triberg town – but they were charging 4 euros to see it , in New Zealand ya see all the wasserfalls for free – it cascades in wee wasserfalls all the way down 167 times and around 300m from top to bottom.
On to Schiltach we drove but stopped for a quick tour of the Duravit musem in Hornberg – this is where Duravit first beagn producing their excellent toilet and bathroom ware – not hardware but loos and showers and baths etc.etc – even Phillipe Starck has produced designs for them – the main admin/office building is a museum which public can go see the items –the manufacturing processes – and ya can even test drive the products – on the very top floor they have seven or so bathrooms fitted out just like at home – so you can test before buying. Interesting visit – got a good piccie in front of their building as well.
Had a quick ham and salad lunch before continuing on to Sciltach about 20 k’s further on – very pretty little town – typical tudor style german housing here timber beams and studs rafters with plastering between – small windows with flower boxes resplendent with red and pink flowers in them – it also had a stream running through the middle of town – which is where they used to ship all the logs down to the rhine etc. We had a good walk around for an hour or so – even walked through one of the houses which had been turned into a museum – to show how they lived back in the day. Took the obligatory snaps and headed onto to Camp Alisehof at a town right off the main tracks or roads called Scrapbach – 1 x patissier /1x small supermercado 1 x bar/restaurant village – it did have a big church which we couldn’t get in to see . Quiet little family run camp – with very friendly and enthusiastic owners. Ordered our baguette for the following morning – settled in with a cuppa and me with a reconnoitre of the facilities – all goot – had a wee chat to our ever so friendly dutch neighbours and then fired the Barbie up for some marinated pork steaks and salat.
Forgot to mention the sun had been blasting down for about the last hour or so and cooked and ate me dinner without a shirt on yaayy.
Had a chill/camp day the next – got up a bit later /did some washing / then went for a bike ride through the forest on a few tracks that followed up and down the stream we were camped by – there was a timber mill further up and the township was about 1km downstream with another mill about another 1km further down again – stopped their for a bit had a bite and watched a truckie unload his logs – the longest around 30-32m long at least I would say – some of the longest and straightest I have seen – the truckie was a gun on the unloading – perhaps he was performing for us as he knew we were watching him.
Not so many folk on these outta the way trails and tracks – great – stopped also by the stream for a water stop – could only hear the rustling of the trees and the stream and a few sheep in the backround – no cows. The forest is very similar to the redwood forest in Rotorua but without redwoods – different species of conifers here – but the majority are pine for sure – very white in color and also very straight and tall but not big in diameter. Still we both enjoyed our little sortie into the forest and also enjoyed chilling for the rest of the arvo. Another barbie for dinner and another DVD before bed. The sun awoke us the next morning – after the usual 3 x S’s brekkie and refilling and emptying Hugo we left Scrapbach, the Scwharzwald of Germany bound for the Alsace region of France and the Eguisheim region which is on the Haute De Vins trail of the Rhine river. Freiburg was the first major town we came to where we headed towards the border and a town called Breitach where we stopped for lunch at an Aire De stationment for campervanners right next to the Rhine river and watched cruise liners (the long two storey type that go up and down the rhine ) a couple of cargo boats also went past – as we drove a cross the bridge and border back inot France we went across the locks that allow these boats up and down these magnificient rivers.
40 k’s or so we pulled into our next Camp at the top end of a quaint little French village called Eguisheim – around 8 centuries old – beautiful cobble lined streets – once again built in a circular fashion with a wall around the circumference with the main piazza near the church in the middle – more postcard tudor style housing with flower boxed windows only French this time. After we had set up Hugo we wandered into town and had a good look around – magnifique (back in france now) . Forgot to mention had a run in with Camp matron when booking in – a bit of tension in the air between us – made Briar fix the bill up when we left the following day . Not much more at this stop other than the almost obligatory barbie of late – am getting better a t keeping the smoke to a minimum 2-3 min burst now. Both enjoyed sittin out under the late evening sun till 10.00pm consistently now wining and dining in our shorts and jandals whilst our Europeans neighbours are generally rugged up in longs/sweaters and jumpers etc.etc. The weather was doing the right thing again inda morning as we left Eguisheim on the Haute de vins trail – we stopped for some picks amongst the now blooming vines and stopped for a touristy look around Colmar – the main town for this region – had the usual f…en big church dominating the middle of town – some canals weaving through it – even had gondolas on them – and not just specific to Italy like we all think – the French doin it to. Another town rich in history with both old and new landmarks. Picked up a baguette of course – these French baguettes are rather catching –almost like a phobia or fetish – gotta have one – they are delicious when fresh. (it is great to see young kids and oldies alike – whip off the end of the baguette to munch on when they leave the shop – in supermarkets the mum’s hand the kids the treasured crust – it is always warm n fresh…who needs McD’s when you have bread like this?)
Did stop for a coffee while we admired the very Gothic renaissance f…en big church – more of a pee stop really as we were both hanging out and the French whilst don’t charge for the use of public toilets generally they are few and far between.
Not like the germans who have the best, the most and free loos around - wunderbar.
On we headed to another outta the way campsite and town called Bassenburg – had just been taken over with new owners and had only been open for a few weeks – hence the cool showers on the first nite and also many empty pitches – good for us – they did have free internet – which we used as much as we could – only had a certain area around the shop/bar where the signal was good – Briar had some trouble with baby lappie. Once again the receptionist was very enthusiastic and spoke very good English. Also went for a free swim in the municipal indoor pool complex next door to the camp – campers have free access to the pool . Briar wasn’t keen to show off her white legs (the legs aren’t that bad …but me n public pools is nearly a thing of the past I reckon…did years of it to get the kids swimming..) – so had to brave it myself – first and hopefully only time will have to wear a bathing cap – not that I looked out of place as everyone in the complex had to wear them – thankfully the lady at the counter loaned me one and Briar wasn’t their to take a piccie of me in me budgie smugglers and a bathing cap – not a good look. No men and ladies change rooms here – all in the same just have separate stalls to change then lockers to put ya gears then shower and wade pool before entering the pools – had a lap pool, a water slide and spa pool and toddlers pool. The campground was nice and peaceful and no kids for a change, did sneak in another Barbie before the clouds rolled in and bought shitty weather. It did rain during the evening and continued the following morning – we did do some more Wifi-ing after showers and brekkie before we parted and headed for a place close to the French border – but firstly we checked out Strasborg as per Fritz and Julie’s suggestions – managed to find a park reasonably central chaperoned by a local parking lot beggar – busy parking lot with lotsa people about so considered it to be safe – we did check out a couple air de-stationments but – to far outta the way from anything . so we would just do a day visit and rock on some where else to camp for the night. Caught a tram into the real centre of Strasborg or the old part as we have become accustomed to.
In most larger European cities – quite a mix of old and new in Strasborg – a lot of it got levelled in the second world war – so lotsa rebuilding. Fortunately the Gothic church in the old centre and one of the grandest in France outside of Paris of course, besides Chartres makes a significant landmark in Strasborg. Wandered about for a couple of hours – like may of the villages and towns in this region many have canals running through them and Strasborg is no different – a couple piccies and found a Café to have a coffee and panini for lunch before arriving back at the parking lot to find a parking ticket on the windscreen – bugger!not that we will probably pay it. Another two weeks and we will be outta France until December on our way back to England for Xmas. Not sure where it is – see Briar . Headed on outta ther about mid-arvo and headed to the Border again close to the Rhineland region of germany again- we will follow the rhine river north and then the Mosel river south back into Frnace before west to Paris. Had found another routta the way camping ground from the ASCI campground book and locked the GPS into My Cherie and away we went. Hour and half later we pulled into Camping Ramstein Plage on its artificial lake – very friendly welcome and free Wifi at the restaurant – sought off (buy a beer – Oui,oui) the clouds were now rolling in and it looked ominous – however it did hold off until the middle of the night. Managed our almost mandatory barbi and then headed to the bar/restaurant for a beer and free wifiing for a few hours – joked with the bar manager their who kidded us about NZ and how everyone one wears barefoot there. We let him think that we are still pretty primitive down there and can’t afford shoes - yeah right.
The rain did come down all night long and into the morning as we left Ramstein Plage,
as we drove on the weather did get a wee bit better – patchy with breaks from the showers once again we crossed another border with no Gestapo to check us out. Very gentle rolling hill country with fields and fields of barley / wheat and maize patchworked – would look fantastique from above. We stopped for a coffee and pastry in a town called Alzey just of the autostrad – drove on in the rain and found our campsite but closed for lunch – so we decided to stop up the road for lunch and head back – but had change of plans and headed to another camp on the Rhine river itself just out of a town ( very touristy town) of Ruddeheim. We did have to cross the Rhine – our MY Cherie cracked us up – as we approached our crossing to the camp she said “ 200 metres turn right and take the ferry “ a first for My Cherie(tomtom) and us. Both got a good laugh outta that – and yes tahts exactly what we did took the ferry across the rhine to Ruddeheim – as we crossed a constant stream of barges and cruise boats heading up and down the Rhine – very fast moving river. Once across we headed to our camp for the night – about 5 minutes further up river. Booked in and plugged in right at the rivers edge – was a fence between us and the river but had great views of the constant barrage of boats travelling the Rhine which never stopped all night – they were pretty quiet considering the the size and loads some were carrying – mostly loaded up going up river and empty coming down. We also had dinner at the camp restaurant which of course was also on the rivers edge – both munched out on excellent entrecote beef steaks with Roquefort cheese sauce – wunderbar. The usual DVD and bedtime Woke to a sunny morning – hit the road running –more like jogging probably and we drove down the rhine rivers edge – stopped for diesel in a small village – passed many old schlosses (castles) and vineyards all the way along – snapping away as we travelled – stopped in Koblenz at the Info centre who weren’t much help at all – nearly a second or third for us, The info centre was next to the train station and outside were hundreds of what looked like severly hungover backpackers everywhere. We took a chairlift(tandem chairthis time for Briar) ride to the top of Fortress Ehrenbreitstein which gave commanding views over Koblenz and the meeting of the two rivers – The Rhine and the Moselle right below us – some piccies and back down the chairlift – had a bite to eat for lunch and on the road again headed for our campsite once again on the Rhine, which when we arrived looked dodgy and neither of us were comfortable with it – so we drove on and decided to flick over to the Mosel river region and stop at Camping Heiselhof – which was located on an island in the middle of the Mosel ( the place was crawling with dutch caravanners with the odd german thrown in and of course a couple outta place Kiwi’s - the owners were also dutch) still it was a much better looking camp than the previous one we drove into earlier in the day. Booked in for two nites settled in and fired up th Barbie literally had some dinner – showered the day off – played some domino’s for a change and hit the sack. It rained spasmodically through the nite and into the morning – both slept in abit – 9.30am that’s definitely sleeping in for me. Still by the time we had brekkie and showered the sun had broken through and was drying everything out – yeah . Had planned a bike ride along the mosel rivers edge – gotta hand it to the germans – they are really into exercising the bike and hiking tracks are better than the roads . we headed off for our cycle tour heading downstream passing lotsa grapevines and vineyards all the way down to a small village called Bellstein ( numerous restaurants and souvenir shops )– where we headed up the hill to a castle called Metternich and had a juice and apple strudel (delicioso) , we sat and ate with need I say it commanding views of both directions of the mosel – which is why this castle no doubt was built here- Just a tourist stop now with a restaurant – was in a relatively ruined state – had a tower which we went up and had even more commanding views of the Mosel – could see some black clouds rolling in so decided to head down to the bikes and make a beeline for the camp. Did make it to the bikes and also take the car/bike/pedestrian ferry across the river to take a different cycle track back to camp. We sat under the trees on the other side of the river with a great view of Bellstein village whilst we waited for the shower to stop. Did get a bit wet on the way back with the odd shower – but not too bad. The weather cleared by the time we were back at camp – both headed for the showers early. Ate at the camp restaurant run by Punjabs or should I say Indians , god knows why we ordered steak again – as punji’s have no idea how to cook german food – it was edible. DVD and bed.
Bid adieu to Camp Heiselhof on a cloudy but not raining morning and followed the Mosel river road toward Trier – the hillsides on both sides of the Mosel were bathed in vineyards – many bridges across the Mosel – unlike the Rhine which only ahs a few – more ferries but also a lot busier than the mosel – although ya do see the odd barge heading up or down. Stopped for lunch in Trier where we had abrief walk around the old part – both ahd our first Currywurst sausage – which is a bratwurst sausage cut into bite size pieces with a tomato salsa spread over and sprinkled with copious amounts of curry powder – if you like curry powder it’s a winner – if ya don’t too f…en bad. Still when in Germany ya gotta do as the locals do –it wasn’t to bad.
Took some piccies of the Porto Nigra the oldest roman gateway/ruins in Germany. Trier’s other claim to fame was Karl Marx was born and spent his childhood here.
As tomtom was playing up – had too use our own navigational skills to locate our next campsite which was further out of Trier on a hilltop near Saarburg. Did stop along the way for some much needed groceries – good to be back in Germany – here the euro goes a lot further here than France. After a bit of mucking around we found our campsite which was on the top of a hill overlooking Saarburg and surrounding valleys. Very organised and efficiently run campground – with an amamzing swimming complex (indoors) and heated of course – both enjoyed dipping into that.
The rain persisted during the evening – but once again we beat it with barbi again – so glad I packed everything away just in case it rained during the night. The restaurant had free wifi so both did some wifing – had a dessert each ( briar had aplestrudel again) back to Hugo after being kicked out at closing time. It rained persistently most of the night and awoke to a rather gloomy cloudy looking morning – so slept in a bit had a casual start to the day – we decided to head down hill on the chairlift(tandem again) next to the campground to check out Saarburg – cool ride down – giving views over the entire valley and Saarburg town,being a holiday as most of the shops were closed apart from cafes/restaurants – charming little village with canals and a wasserfall running through the middle of it. Had a pizza for lunch at a restaurant next to the canal then wandered up to the remains of the old fortress that also looks out over Saarburg. Some piccies and then back up the chairlift to Camping Landal Warsberg – did some more Wifiing whilst Briar cooked dinner- DVD and bed.
The weather had cleared as we took off for Luxembourg the next morning – we were just passin through – but were stopping to purchase a new tomtom as the old one had shit itself completely. Stopped off in the newer commercial region of Luxembourg and found an Auchan store ( siniliar to Carrefours Hypermarket) and bouht our new tomtom which Briar adeptly named Delilah – as in my myy myyy Delilah . Luxembourg city – very modern in the new region ( JFK drive) – spectacular Architectural commercial buildings – then drove through the old town part on our way south toward Metz andVerdun . No sooner had we passed into the country of Luxembourg than we left – lotta French number plates – more so than any other.
Started heading through the Lorraine countryside of France again – flat patchwork fields and cows – very warm temperatures travelling today– still we stopped at a Campsite in th village of Verdun – which happened to be a battlefield of a major battle back in world war 1 – nearly a million soldiers lost thei lives here. Had memorials and stat – u – bros everywhere – had free wifing so befire dinner did some free wifing – also ran into a kiwi couple from Hokitika travelling around on their Harley Davidson ( bought it over from NZ) – were heading back to England – a couple weeks left before returning home – great to here some other kiwi accents for a change – they had also really enoyed the experience. Barbi – showers – DVD – bed ( precisely in that order too). The weather doin the right thing we headed out of Verdun in glorious sunshine did do a quick drive through the old part before my myy myyy Delilah circumnavigated though some countryback roads to the highway.
Once again lotsa patchwork fields with no fences and cows and tiny little villages passing through the countryside – we did get off the main autostrads – different experience meandering through villages and country backroads. Also many cemeteries and monuments to the fallen in world war one. Also the odd grand church which tend to dominate the skyline in these flatter regions.
Stopped for a bite just outside a town called Sezanne at Etampes which is in the Champagne region supposedly of France but we did not see many grapevines – a few but not like the Mosel or Alsace regions. We did a quick reconnoitre through Fountainbleau and around the Chateaux – our destination for the next day – still getting used to Delilah and her ways. Stopped at a very hard to find campground at Moret sur Long – about 8 k’s outside of Fountainbleau. Very shady campsite with lotsa pommie camper their – had a dip in their very cold swimming pool – once again the temps were in the 26/27 degree region. Was nice to sit out barbi and slosh back a few vinos until the light faded around 10.20pm tonite.
The weather again doing the right thing as we headed for Chateaux Fountainbleau – this is where the royalty – Louis 8th , Marie Antoinette and several Napoleans resided or spent their summer holidays in. Good hunting in the surrounding forests Massive chateaux – biggest seen so far – huge grounds – all walled in to keep out animals. Spent a good hour or so wandering through the palatial opulence – one special room was called a plate room which had around 300 or so beautifully decorated plates of scenes and scenery concurrent with Fountainbleau – all were in special plate frames and completely glassed in. Impressive detailing everywhere to be found and off course only the finest of everything available at the time was used. Money and power – some things never change do they. Strolled around the jardins or a small part of it afterward. As you could spend hours maybe days wandering around it. Headed out to Vaux Le Vicomte another chateaux – a smaller scale model of what Chateaux Versailles was to become . didn’t enter – just had a peek from the roadside – took some snaps and then drove on towards Chartres our next destination – had a bite to eat in Etampes. More patchwork fields again a s far as the eye could see. Were held up in Chartres centro as there was a regional bike tour ( unfortunately not the Tour De France) happening and several off the streets were blocked off – so couldn’t get to our campsite which is fairly central - so pulled over and waited and watched for an hour or so – couldn’t do much else anyhows – as we will miss the Tour de France – was nice to see a paleton and yell – olle olle. After the blockades came down and everything back to norm we arrived at our campground ordered a baguette and couplecorissants for tmoro . Barbi again you say – bring it on could have it everynight especially being from a carnivorous genetic backround. Briar I’m sure is too – she enjoys her meat. Shady pitches right next to a park and walkway to the Notre Dame De Chartres 3rd biggest church in France – reason we stopped here for couple nights – the two church towers and the abbey itself completely dominate the town – it is slightly elevated as well – but from 15-16 k’s out we could see the spire’s in the horizon and the closer you got the more it took over the sky/landscape. Like all the churches in Spain or Italy have reference to Santa Maria –they mostly all refer to them here in France as Notre Dame’s . Being very shaded with trees we couldn’t quite see the Church from our pitch. Settled in for the nite – had a premonition that it might rain during the night and my premonition turned out to be correct – not only the night but also all the next morning as well. No problem had packed away everthing but the Barbie the night before – sweet as. The heavens did oped up and allow a bit of sunlight through for a few hours in the arvo and we decided to carpe diem - seize the moment and wander along the pathway to the Cathedral. Magnificient as only we would now expect of these houses of God – took two hundred years to complete – it has 176 leadlight glass windows ( huge windows) including three circular creations – stunning and second only to the real Notre dame in Paris or the one the rest of the world know about. After we strolled through some of the old township and past some canals as we headed back to the campsite. The river Eure passes through CHartres – right pass the camp – so walked along beside the river . An hour or so after we got back it started to shower again – headed over to the Restaurant – did some free wifiing again. Barbi in the wet tonite – desperate times not even just enjoy barbis – pretty protected under the big trees – hardly got wet at all – Briar did manage to take a snappie. It rained a lot of the night again and fortunately had run out of precipitation by the morning – it was a gloriously clear blue sky – a great way to hit Paris later today. However firstly we had a date with the Chateaux/Palais Versailles which is reputed to be Frances grandest and most palatial of them all. It was during the Golden age when King Louis’s -14/15/16th reigned and spent grossly enormous amounts of deneiro on the Palais to of course have the best – not to unlike the sheik’s in the emirates at present. Also Napoleans and Marie Antoinette again also graced the halls of Versailles. We managed to score a good park not to far to walk to the Chateaux and by the time we got inside the gates there was a very long queue which we sat in for awhile before jumping into the tour guide queue which sped things immensely up for us – the tour wasn’t till 2pm which left us 3 hours or so to wander around the Chateaux at free will – which we did ( the room or hall of mirrors was breathtaking – the ornamental detail and gold gilding everywhere was out of this world – never seen anything like it – had thirty windows and thirty matching mirrors the same size and then the war room was just as impressive – 10m x 8m paintings – total 30 or so lining the walls or hall depicting many famous French battle scenes and victories over the years – very impressive. Managed to find a cheap sandwich bar in the chateaux had a bite and then joined the tour guide of Louis the 14th’s apartment and the chapel which the general public do not get to see. Once again the amount of deneiro these Kings spent on themselves and their materialistic items is phenomenal. One after the other of opulent rooms and items – equisitely hand crafted desks/clocks/beds/seats/tables etc.etc. No wander the French revolted against these guys back in the day. Still it was to people like us that benefit from seeing this magnificience in all its glory today. I was rather surprised at the lack of real security around the place. I did forget to mention some world renowned paintings and also frescoed ceilings are also here. We were told by our guide that a young 8 yr old Mozart played here for Marie Antoinette.
Once back at the parking lot we were glat to not find anotherparking ticket – as we had overstayed by three hours or so. Headed outta there and made a beeline for Maison-Lafette (Camping International) looked alright in the ACSI camping book – but a grumpy reception followed by not so impressive sanitary facilities – even the shop looked dirty. Well we weren’t gonna spend all our time in Paris at this campground that’s for sure. We did get the bikes down and cycle into the main cntre of Maison Lafette and check the Paris train system and we decided to have dinner at one of the many street side restaurants as the sun set – tres bien. The food and the vino was good and befitting of what one can only find in Paris – we shall see.
It was nice to sit and chill anyhows – as we knew our next week and a half would be busy sightseeing as one does when in a major city and Paris is one of the majorest – hows that for good angleterre literie – at least we did have a site next to the seine river a bonus I suppose. Camping Bois De Bologne, much closer in and near the centre of Paris we would check out tomorrow for sure and that’s where I will leave this update and post you our adventures of gay Paris in the next one – so Au revoir for now.