The reason why Tracey and I took a tour of the chateaus of Bordeaux was to prove to ourselves that there is more to France than Versailles and the Louvre. There is plenty of culture, especially art and architecture, in the cities outside of Paris. Besides, the U of L Travel Group always took the scenic route to enjoy the beautiful vineyards and other landscape features of Southwest France. We drove by a lot of chateaus and sometimes we got off of the bus to visit them. I am writing a little bit about each chateau in order to describe what makes them unique so that I can better remember the experience.
The Chateau de Blois is located in the city center of Blois and its most remarkable feature is a monumental spiral staircase. The massive Chateau de Chambord was constructed by Francis I in 1519 and is owned by the state to use as a tourist attraction.. The Chateau de Nitray, which contains a castle that was built during the Renaissance and whose owner works hands-on for the tourists, is where we had candle lit dinner. The Chateau de Chenonceau spans over the Cher River and was the favorite residence of Catherine de Medici in the 16th century. The Chateau Royal de Cazeneuve includes a medieval castle and the owner met us at the gate to give us a quick lecture about the grounds and the buildings. The Citadelle de Blaye includes a castle, fort, and parade grounds. This is a lot of information about the chateaus but my thought was that even if we didn’t visit a single French country houses then the trip would have still been worth it because of all of the other things that we did.Examples of the good things that we did include our bus tour of Paris that ended with a dinner cruise on the Seine as we watched the sun set on the Eifle Tower. We visited the cathedrals in Orleans and Bordeaux and, because these are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, they included three dimensional maps for Tracey to feel. One of the many reasons as to why we do these trips is because we always have a good tour guide who will give my blind wife a running narrative of what the rest of us are looking at. We saw the house where Joan of Arc stayed in Orleans and we explored Saint Emilion, a museum city that had a church carved into a mountain. We drove on the Route de la Corniche, a street which was built into the cliffs overlooking the Gironde River. It is where sea captains, returning from their voyages, built charming 19th century stone houses.
It wasn’t always about the art and architecture of France. On the two weekends when we were in the country we went to the Farmer’s Market in Libourne and Blois where venders sold fish and vegetables and craft goods. Corinne and Laurent invited us into their “Maison de Mulatto” where they let us smell the perfume that they were selling and let Tracey feel all of their tchotchkes and other decorative objects. It is called “Mulatto” because the mixed couple that runs the bed and breakfast is mixed. We drove through Bordeaux on a motorcycle with a sidecar with Retro Tour. The French pointed and laughed at us while we waved enthusiastically and yelled out “Bon Jour” to anyone who gave us any attention. All the while we sang the theme song from “The Great Escape” to ourselves.
These trips aren’t for everyone and it was not a perfect vacation. For example, the World Rugby Finals were being played in Paris so the traffic was horrible. A trip from the airport to the hotel should have taken about twenty minutes but it cost us two hours. Even then, however, my thought was that I was happy to people watch and look at the beautiful French buildings as we drove by them. Overseas travel is horrible but it is the price that you pay for going to Europe. That price was very high. For example, on the return trip from Bordeaux, I got up at the equivalent of 9:30 pm on Saturday and didn’t go to bed until 11:30 on Sunday night. I was up for 26 straight hours. “Why do we do this to ourselves?” I asked myself as I was so tired that I didn’t want to talk to anyone or doing anything except sleep in my own bed.
Even when the trip was difficult, however, my thought was “who could want to be anywhere else but in France, sailing on a luxury ship, sitting on the upper deck to watch the vineyards roll by, and drinking wine with friends who like to travel.” Tracey and I keep signing up for these trips because they are a guaranteed good time. The staff on the ships treat us like royalty and Carmine has already arranged everything for us so that the only planning that we have to do is to show up at the airport on time. Besides, we are traveling with an older crowd so we all look out for each other and protect each other. This is important considering that Tracey is handicapped. Also, it is very satisfying to travel with older people because they show us, through role modeling, that we can still have fun and go on adventures well into our 70s and 80s. In fact, we enjoyed Bordeaux so much that we signed up to go to Burgandy in 2024 and we have been wait listed for the U of L trip to Vietnam.
Quotes
• ”Those are for the troglobites.” We saw windows built into the steep cliffs and our guide said that people dug homes into the hills
• “It is all natural,” Corinne explained to us as she let us smell the perfume that she was selling. “That is what my friends said when they introduced me to weed in college.”
• “We are just so lucky,” is what I said to Tracey as we reviewed out trip by looking at the pictures that I had posted on Facebook. “All we have to do is to relax and enjoy the experience.”
• I tried to pretend that I was French at the local cafe. I pointed through the glass case and told the waitress, “Chocolat eclair. Meringue. Merci Beaucoup.” The waitress immediately saw through my ruse and laughed at my attempts to pass as French.
• Patti didn’t tell the waiter that she wanted her hamburger well done. She told him to “cremate it.”
