When we woke up in the morning we decided laundry was the priority for today and after consulting google we decided that we were better off here than in Switzerland to get that done. Yesterday we had talked to the campground manager about our options and he mentioned a washing machine at the Avia gas station nearby.
These parking lot laundry setups are common in Europe. This one is in a gas station near the campground.
It was cold in the morning and Ton was comfortable in our warm bed, so she told me to go off and make sure the washers were in walking distance. I tried to remember the directions from the previous night, but promptly took off in the wrong direction. After going the wrong way for half a mile I doubled back, and realized the washer was only 5 minutes from the campground if you go the right direction. After I returned from my morning meander Ton was ready to go so we returned to the gas station.
Our Sunday morning companions in the Avia gas station. He was much funnier than he looks in this photo, his horse had just blown the lead in the last race and finished out of the money.
After we loaded our clothes I went into the gas station to see if there was anywhere to hang out. In one corner was 4 tables with a coffee machine, some on line gambling machines, and a television showing the horse races at Besancon. There were 4 gentlemen in there watching the horse races on TV. They thought I was looking for the toilet so they started shouting directions at me for the toilet, when I asked if I could sit at one of the tables they laughed and said “bien sûr” which means “of course.” So for the next hour and a half Ton and I were honorary members of the Langres Sunday Morning Horse Racing Club at the Avia gas station. We learned that everyone who came in to chat with the members shook hands with everyone present including Ton and me. It was a lot more fun than I envisioned when we walked up to the gas station to use the laundry. There was a bit of drama when one of the customers started shouting angrily at the clerk, the Horse Racing Club rushed to comfort her and decided he was probably a “connard” from Paris.
The Moulin Gate into the town. If you look carefully you will see the British and US flags on the gate next to the French flag.
After our laundry was done we returned to the campground for a lazy afternoon doing a little cleaning, and Ton cooked up a pot of rice for dinner and future meals. The campground had emptied out considerably so we relocated to a spot that had a nicer view.
Our new view from the front window of François. Not bad at all.
After dinner Ton and I took an evening stroll along the walls of the town and back thru the center. We returned to find the campground had again filled to capacity. While today was not a day of journeys or spectacular sites, the Sunday Morning Horse Racing Club made it a memorable one.
We are on our way to Switzerland, but todays stop is about 2 hours short in a beautiful region of France between Champagne and Burgundy. We were on the way early and managed to escape Paris with a minimum amount of stress. We then drove for a couple of hours on the nice but very expensive French Autoroute to Langres.
Part of the ramparts of the city walls. The walls still go all the way around the town and according to one of the signs are the longest still remaining in Europe.
Langres was originally settled by the Galls a long time ago. When the Romans conquered the Galls Langres became the center for Roman administration in the region. The town reached its heights in the 12th to 15th century when it was the center of the Catholic Bishopric for the area. During the 14th and 15th centuries the region was very unsettled so the fortifications that the towns tourism is built around today were built.
The cathedral originally from the 12th century when Langres was the major city in the region.
The campground for the town is incorporated into the walls of the town. We are sitting on the edge of one of the walls looking down into a moat that made up part of the fort. These kind of places are part of the fun of camping in Europe.
Looking down from the walls of the ramparts into the town.
After a stop at the local grocery to stock up on French food (the word on the internet is that food is very expensive in Switzerland) and wine (because no where in the world is wine as cheap and good as France), and diesel (because French diesel is cheaper than Swiss diesel) we headed over to the campground to check in.
An interesting painting from the inside of the cathedral.
When we arrived 1:30 the office for the campground was closed but that is typical in France as the two hour lunch is part of doing business. What was unusual was the sign said they would open at 5:30. We took that to mean that we should grab a spot and come back and register at 5:30. It is a good thing we did because by 5:30 the place was full, and more people were arriving until night fall which the operator managed to jam into various nooks and crannies of the place it was fun to watch the hustle and bustle of all of the arriving RV’s from all over Europe.
The interior of the cathedral. Many of the churches we have visited have undergone major renovations. This one probably looks a lot like it did 100 years ago which we appreciated.
Once we were settled in we had a nice stroll around part of the walls of the fort and down the main street of the town. Langres is like a lot of small towns in France full of history in the past, and kind of a side show today. Often the setting is spectacular as it is here with the town built on top of a giant granite outcrop that commands the surrounding area. They look like they are working hard to get on the tourism map, and based on the full campground having some success.
The most famous person from Langres Denis Diderot an 18th century philosopher.
After our walk Ton prepared a nice meal and we settled in for the evening. We are debating whether to stay another day before moving on to Switzerland. I think it is going to depend on if we can find a place to do the laundry nearby.
Today we are visiting the ultimate palace in Europe. As I mentioned yesterday we have visited many palaces that advertised themselves as the Versailles of . . ., so today was my first time to see the model for palaces thru out Europe.
The view of the palace from our bus stop as we arrived.
Ton visited Versailles a long time ago when she was a student in England. She spent the bus ride over wondering if the second visit would wow her like the first visit did. She remembered thinking she had never seen so much gold before.
A gold fountain, one of Tons memories from her first visit was how much gold there was.
These days you are only guaranteed entry if you buy a ticket on line with a scheduled time of entry. In our case we choose noon. We arrived about 10:15, and headed to the gardens to start our visit.
Part of the gardens of Versailles.
The gardens are immense, the scale and variety of types of gardens is hard to take in. There are several large man made lakes and forest trails that make up parts of the grounds. The gardens made a huge impression on me.
A trail leading to the Trianon Palace on the grounds. Part of the immense trail system of the palace.
We had just begun to explore a small portion of the gardens when it was time to head to the line to get into the palace itself. The only disappointment was that because it was late in the season a lot of the flower beds had been pruned back in preparation for winter.
A statue of Louis XIV near the entrance to the palace.
We joined a line of a couple of hundred people for the noon entrance to the palace. It looks like they allow a few hundred people to enter the palace every half hour. It is a big place, but even a palace the size of Versailles has a capacity that it can handle daily.
Part of the crowd gathering near the entrance to the palace.
The interior of the palace is immense, and the opulence is impressive, and also unsettling. Ton told me that if the palace was built today it would cost the equivalent of 30 billion dollars. The majority of the palace was built during the reign of three kings over about 100 years. The last king Louis XVI was executed during the French Revolution.
I think this is one of the Louis’ responsible for Versailles.
These days it makes an impressive museum and the French are rightly proud of it and how it reflects French culture. The art and statues inside are indeed superb.
A small example of some of the thousands of pieces of art on display in the palace.
The room I really wanted to see was the hall of mirrors. I had read that it was one of the most impressive rooms in the world. Several important treaties have been signed there. As we got closer to the hall the rooms just proceeding it were jammed with people. We have not felt this crowded since the Vatican so that was kind of a bummer.
The hall of mirrors in Versailles.
The room was impressive and very large. The art work was extensive and of very high quality and the chandeliers were beautiful. But I was expecting a little more.
The kings bedroom.
We wrapped up our tour of Versailles Palace in another large hall full of paintings of battles won by the French for 600 years. The last battle included was during Napoleons reign.
A famous portrait of Napoleon by the artist David. Apparently this was one of Napoleons favorite painting of himself.
When Napoleon took over as emperor about 15 years after Louis lost his head, the palace had been ransacked. While he had himself crowned in the palace, the cost of restoring it was going to be very expensive, so he moved into one of the minor buildings on the grounds called the Trianon Palace.
The exterior of the Trianon palace from the gardens.
We had a bit of a walk to the palace because we had entered the gardens earlier in the day we could not reenter the gardens thru the same gate. The young lady told us there was another gate quite close we could use to reenter and gave us directions. It turns out quite close was about half a mile away, and when we got to that gate the nice young lady discouraged us from entering there but told us to go directly to the palace along the street. She said the palace was also quite close, which apparently in France means half a mile because I checked my watch when we got to the palace and we had walked a mile since we left the palace.
The family room in the Trianon which during Napoleons time was used for evening entertainment and meetings with his senior officers. We both liked the yellow.
We enjoyed the palace as the scale seemed more human after Versailles even if it is quite a large home. It was busy with visitors but not teeming like the main palace.
The garden at the Trianon was beautiful.
The gardens here have an annual theme and this year it was Provence. The flowers had not been pruned back so Ton really enjoyed walking thru and taking in the different types and colors.
Another fountain in the main garden of Versailles.
It is an amazing place, but in the end our ambivalence remained about the cost of the place, as a palace it is a scandal, as a museum of French culture it is a treasure. Later in the evening we were talking over palaces we have visited in Europe. We have visited many at this point, and Versailles is the model of many of them, but the one we really thought was the most beautiful and interesting was the Alhambra in Spain. It is also immense, but while Versailles feels like it is built to overwhelm the senses, the Alhambra feels like it embraces the senses, and we think that is harder to pull off.
Last night we purchased tickets to visit Versailles on Friday after consulting the weather forecast and seeing that it was supposed to start raining at about 1 pm today. With nothing special planned we slept in and tried to knock the last of the jet lag out of our system.
The Notre Dame Market in Versailles.
With an open day in front of us we decided to go to the local market which is supposed to be one of the best in Paris. By the time we got going it was almost 11am as we walked down to the bus stop to catch a ride to the market. The sky was bright blue and there was not a cloud in the sky. I wondered if Ton’s weather forecast was accurate, but she stood by it.
Another view of the market with nice puffy clouds in the sky.
We took a turn around the surprisingly quiet market. We began speculating with the paralympics just ending last weekend that Paris may be getting a little lull in tourism. We had the market almost to ourselves.
Ton liked this advertisement.
After a turn around the market and Ton enjoying the sight of a lot of good food both cooked and uncooked we decided to take a little break for a coffee. While we were touring around the market the bright blue skies were giving way to clouds. We decided to jump into a cafe for a coffee and to plan the rest of the day. Since we were only a few hundred yards from the palace we decided to walk over and get a look at the palace.
While we were getting coffee a shower passed thru. Ton really liked this ladies umbrella so she took off after her to get a picture.
It was a short walk to the palace, but just as we were getting there the rain really started coming down. Ton asked me what time it was and I told her 5 minutes to one. She looked really proud of herself as her forecast for rain at 1pm was almost perfect.
A statue to a local hero. He was commissioned into the army at 17, became a general at 25, and was killed at 29.
Just as we got to the front of the palace the rain began coming down in buckets. So we cut our day short and made a dash for the next bus back to the campground.
The name of the cafe is “The smoking dog”. If you look carefully you can see the pipe in the mouth of the dog.
We spent the rest of the day listening to the rain and occasional thunder, and coming up with a more detailed plan for the rest of the trip. Initially I thought we were going to Vienna, but Ton thinks it would be nice to visit Tuscany during the harvest. It is a good thing we don’t have to make reservations when we travel!
Yesterday at the Bastogne Military Museum there was an exterior display commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall. There were three Trabant Cars that had been converted into art, and several chunks of the wall itself which had been used as canvas for art.
Pieces of the Berlin wall used as canvas for street art.
The second place on our list of places we wanted to visit that we have kept missing is Versailles. Ton visited about 45 years ago, and she wanted to have another look, and she felt like I should see it. Several of the palaces we have visited on our other trips claimed to be the Versailles of Spain, Latvia, or Bavaria etc. so we decided to put it on the itinerary and see the original.
The other motivation was to visit the Costco nearby to replace some stuff that the mouse got into as well as add some new American essentials to our cupboards. The drive from Bastogne was an easy three hours, until we hit Paris then the big city traffic kicked in. The main reason we had skipped Versailles in the past was my reluctance to take on Paris traffic. While it was busy and occasionally slow it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
The Paris Costco, everything looks the same except the signs. The Hotdogs are €1.50.
We ended up spending an hour and a half at Costco and the biggest issue was deciding on what to buy based on the limited space we have to store things. A lot of stuff was left on the shelf, and the stuff that made the cut is really the essentials or the luxury item that will make us happy. I also filled François with the cheapest diesel in France, though I have to admit the last station we saw in Belgium had diesel slightly cheaper.
We are now parked up at a very expensive and mediocre campground in the city of Versailles. The weather is iffy the next couple of days, so we decided to stay three nights so we have the flexibility to see Versailles at its best.
Tons idea to switch to Gouda cheese to tempt our Dutch mouse worked out. So we believe we are now mouse free, but are going to leave the traps in place in case he has a friend.
After I published the blog last night we did something we rarely do, which is go out at night. But the Port Captain strongly recommended that we head back to Stanislas Square after the sun goes down. We were both glad we listened to him.
Looking thru the Arch on Stanislas Square back towards the Dukes Palace.
It is a relative short walk to the square, but we noticed that the character of the town had changed. The day town crowd was business people and tourists, but the night time crowd was much younger. Later we learned that 25% of the population of Nancy are students, and they had filled up the coffee shops and brasseries around the square and were thoroughly enjoying a comfortably cool evening.
The square itself was probably one of the quietest parts of the center of town, which gave Ton plenty of room to work on her photos.
We walked around for two hours, which had us out to the ungodly hour (for us) of 10pm. We really enjoyed ourselves and the energy of Nancy at night.
One of the bustling cafes at the entrance to the square.
It was cold overnight so we slept in. After a nice Tortilla Breakfast from Costco we were on our way to see the Corbin Museum. It was a pretty good walk thru town to the museum almost all of it uphill. Lorraine is a hilly region in France, so once we left the river it was all up hill to the museum.
Arriving at the Corbin House in Nancy.
The Corbin House is now called the Musee de L’Ecole de Nancy. It houses a collection of glass ware and furniture from the Art Nouveau movement in Nancy. Nancy along with Paris were centers for the movement which was in vogue for about twenty years in the late 1800’s and very early 1900’s. It was eventually surpassed by the Art Deco movement which Americans are more familiar with.
These two glass lamps are examples of the Art Nouveau style, which tries to blend natural elements into household items.
Eugene Corbin was the richest guy in Nancy during the time of the movement and a big supporter and collector of Art Nouveau. He had originally lent his collection to the Nancy Art Museum, but a few years before he died, the Art Museum had put the collection in storage, unhappy, he had his collection returned to him, and converted his family home to the museum we visited today.
The dining room of the home with furniture, glass ware, and the ceiling all done in Art Nouveau style.
We took our time going thru the museum and enjoyed the extensive collection. We finished our visit by walking through the gardens of the home.
A painting in the Art Nouveau style.
Having had a long uphill walk, we decided we had earned a sit down lunch, so we headed back towards the center of town to look for a restaurant. After looking at many restaurants we settled on one that appeared to specialize in local foods called La Portager. We settled into our table and began the process of trying to decide what to order. Often at lunch time the options are written on chalk boards, and can be a little confusing to understand, also the waiter didn’t speak English. We were trying to figure out what we wanted and how to order it, when the two couples on either side of us began to sense our uncertainty. One of them finally told us in English that if we had any questions he would be glad to help us. His partner pointed at him proudly and said that he speaks English because he lived in New Zealand. With his help, and recommendation we ordered a platter of local foods for two. It was absolutely delicious.
Our mixed platter of local cheeses, sausages, and a couple of slices of Quiche Lorraine to die for.
We chatted with them for a while. They were tourists like us, but from Paris. As they left we thanked them for their help. Then the couple on the other side of us took over our guide of food from Lorraine. They were a couple from Brittany who had an American son in law. We enjoyed talking to them and they convinced us to try a selection of regional desserts.
A selection of local desserts including a creme brulle with Bergamot, and a Mirabelle Plum with cream. These are both local specialties and are quite delicious. The clear liquor is made from Mirabelle Plums. Bergamot is a citrus from southern France and North Africa, and is a very popular ingredient in Lorraine. It is also a key ingredient in Earl Grey Tea. The Mirabelle Plum is from this region and is grown in small quantities so very few of them leave France.
We really enjoyed our lunch because it combined good food, excellent company, and we experienced new tastes. Thanks to our helpers from Paris and Brittany, and the good humor of our waiter who put up with us stumbling around in a language we did not understand.
Mason des Souers, producing Macarons since 1793.
In 1792 during the French Revolution the Benedictine Nuns in Nancy were driven from their convent. Not having any practical skills to survive on they began producing Macarons that they cooked when they lived in the convent. It turned into a very lucrative business, and the same recipe is still used today to produce them. A Macaron is a cookie and everyone we have met in Nancy told us we had to buy some. After leaving the restaurant we headed over and picked up a box, but we were too full to try them. We will give you a review in the future.
This is an example of an Art Nouveau Building. We thought about eating in the restaurant, but the Excelsior was much too posh for our budget.
Now that we have been able to move on from the issue with the French court system we can get back to what we come to Europe for, traveling and exploring new places. We were both ready to get going this morning and were up bright and early so we were on the road well before 10 am which is our normal departure time.
The French countryside in the spring is absolutely beautiful.
The first 90 kilometers of our drive today was along back roads in the Burgundy and Champagne regions. This is one of the most beautiful agricultural areas we have ever seen, and every time we drive here we really enjoy ourselves. While the roads are not particularly fast, the scenery along the way is enchanting and we did not mind the slower pace.
Ton loves the contrast between the yellow of the canola crop and the bright greens of the other fields. Spring in France is one of her favorite places to take pictures.
Eventually we ended up on an Autoroute for the last 200 kilometers of our trip. We play a game called toll road “Price Is Right” where we guess the price for a toll on a section of road. When Ton named her price for this stretch of road, I thought she was way over. Unfortunately, she won with a couple of Euros to spare.
Tonight we are sharing our Aire with the canal boat docks for the city. The location is fantastic for exploring the city.
Nancy is a city in Northeast France that is a little off the tourist path, but had nice write ups. The first impression was of a busy medium sized city. I was thinking as we were driving into Nancy that when we first arrived I would have been very stressed with the traffic in downtown Nancy. Now I have a much better sense of how to go with the flow of European city traffic and while it required paying some attention, it wasn’t super stressful. Even when we missed the turn into the motorhome Aire and I instead turned into a narrow parking lot that we couldn’t turn François around in, we stopped and assessed our situation and Ton came up with a great solution. She got out and guided me back down the road in the parking lot while she stopped traffic until we got just past the entrance to the parking lot, then I put it in first, she jumped in, and we circled the block until we got to proper entrance of the aire.
Some of the roads in downtown Nancy, this corner has great art work.
Once we found the entrance to the aire which is managed by the Captain of the Port of Nancy we were given a very warm welcome by one of the workers who went out of his way to show us all of the amenities of the aire. When he found out we were from the US he wanted to know what state we were from, and even knew where Oregon was. He explained that part of his course at the tourism school he attended was US geography. We later played name the state capitol with him, and the only one he didn’t get right was Alabama.
The Port of Nancy where we are staying is a couple of hundred miles from the coast on a canal off of the Meurthe River.
After we registered the manager heard our name and asked if we were here to visit the Corbin Museum. We told him we did not know there was a Corbin Museum, and he said that technically the museum is called Museum de L’Ecole de Nancy, but it was founded by Eugene Corbin. It turns out Eugene Corbin was the richest guy in Nancy around 1900 and was the patron of the Art Deco movement that Nancy is famous for in France. So tomorrow we will visit the “Corbin Museum”.
A fountain in Stanislas Square.
What Nancy is really famous for is Stanislas Square which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was the center of the Duchy of Lorraine which existed in the late 1700’s. We took a quick walk to the square and it is quite impressive, and we will explore it more tomorrow.
One of the wrought iron gates that lead into Stanislas Square.
Nancy has made a great first impression on us. First we have a distant rich relative from here, the first people we met in the city were extremely nice and friendly, and it is one of the most walkable cities we have seen in Europe, and Stanislas Square is quite striking. We are really looking forward to spending some more time here tomorrow.
Last night right after I fell asleep, a large thunderstorm swept thru. It started with about 10 minutes of peas sized hail which makes quite a racket hitting a camper made mostly out of plastic. The storm lasted about an hour with a good amount of rain, and a few nearby lightning strikes. Then everything quieted down, but it was noticeably cooler.
Today turned out to be our last day for our administrative stop in France. Once again we were on our way early to the Hotel de Police to drop off our appeal. We arrived at the police and were warmly greeted by Officer Nikolas, and the nice clerk whose name we never got. They took a look at our documents, told us that they were fine, and then took them back into the office, while we waited in the lobby. Officer Nikolas and another policeman made some small talk about our travels for a few minutes until the very nice clerk came out and told us the documents had been successfully sent to the administrator. Officer Nikolas then said we should hear something from the administrator in a little while and wished us a “bon journey”, and we were on our way.
We stopped at the office of Eurocampingcars to ask them to keep an eye out for a response to our appeal. Sandrine the owner of Eurocampingcars told us that several of their clients had run into the same problem, and she said it appears the English website to pay fines in France does not allow you to list the name of the driver due to a problem with a link. She called the police to pass this information on to help with our appeal. Now we just have to wait and see if our appeal is successful.
We were back at the campground a little earlier than planned so another load of laundry went into the washer, and we spent the rest of the afternoon planning the next stage of our travels. Tomorrow we are back on the road to begin a slow trek north towards our primary destination of Poland, and the Baltic States.
We were up bright and early in anticipation of our visit to the Hotel de Police in Sens. We were both a little nervous last night not knowing quite what to expect. The drive up to Sens was uneventful, except it started to rain again, and rained hard the rest of the morning.
We found the Hotel de Police no problem, but we had to look around for a few minutes to find a place to park François. Luckily the police station was next to the hospital and we found parking in a large lot there. Just as we were at the door to the police station 4 National Police officers walked up and asked us in French what we wanted. I hit them with my well rehearsed “I’m sorry I don’t speak French”, and before I could continue to my equally well rehearsed ” Do you speak English”, one of the younger of the officers asked ” Do you speak English?”, when I affirmed I do, he said “Then I will be helping you today.” So we were off to a good start.
We were invited in and told to take a seat in the lobby. After a few minutes Officer Nikola came out and asked how he could help. I handed him all of our paperwork and gave told him our story. He asked a few questions, asked for a copy of the registration for the car and my passport. He said wait a few minutes. After a few minutes he came back out with a clerk, and she asked a few more questions about our Societe Civile, then told us to wait a few minutes again. They finally came out and explained that we had not responded to the ticket we had received in 2023 with the name of the driver, and had not responded to a second request for the name of the driver. I explained to Officer Nikola that we had paid the fine as soon as we received it, and he acknowledged that, but the issue was not providing the name of the driver. I told him I was the driver and would have been happy to say that if we knew it was required, and that we had not received the second request.
Officer Nikola and the clerk had a short conversation in French, and told me that it was “not unusual” for the documents requesting the name of the driver to not be received in the post. He said this in a very neutral way, not denying what I was saying was true, but also implying that he hears that quite often. I appreciated his professionalism.
He then explained how we could appeal the finding of the administrator. He said that we needed to mail a statement telling the story I had just told him to the office we were at in Sens. I asked if we could hand deliver it, and he asked the clerk and she smiled and said “oui”. But then she told us one condition that we did not expect. She stated that the appeal needed to be in writing by hand, not typed. I looked at Officer Nikola and he confirmed written by hand is much preferred. After we submit the document he said we would know the answer of the administrator within 90 days.
From arrival to departure was less than an hour, and both the clerk, and Officer Nikola were very helpful and courteous. They were patient in answering all of our questions, and provided us with helpful information.
Armed with the information we returned to the campground with a plan. I would write our appeal in English, then I would take my English and put it into Google translate, we would ask the manager of the campground to confirm that googles translation was accurate, and finally Ton would hand write our appeal in French based on googles translation. It took most of the afternoon to write the appeal, have the French verified, and then write it out in French by hand. Ton definitely got the worst of the bargain with the handwriting part.
Tomorrow we will be heading back up to Sens to drop our appeal off, and see what happens.
Today is going to be another short post. After two days of long driving we decided to take a day of rest. We slept in late and enjoyed a quiet day poking around the campground. After a couple of weeks of bad weather today was warm. One of the good things about all of the rain is the trees and flowers are in full bloom. One of our random observations that is probably not true in reality is that the song birds in France sing more and are louder than anywhere else we have been.
The trees are really flowering at the municipal tennis courts next to the campground.
I finally coaxed Ton out for a short walk. Her heart was not really in it, so we never got out of the industrial area next to the campground.
This vine was full of seeds ready for the next wind to send them on their way.
The reason we have taken a 4oo mile detour in the wrong direction is right before we left for this trip we received a notice that we owed a substantial fine to the French government. The problem is this is the first notice of this fine we ever received. It is not a fine that you would get for a speeding or parking ticket but for something more substantial. We have no idea what we could have done to get such a large fine, or why we received no prior notice that we had done something wrong. After sending an inquiry to the office we received the notice from we still are not sure what is going on. We received some more information that it was for failing to identify someone who had been speeding, but this is the first time we have never heard of this issue, and never received a ticket or notice that we needed to identify someone to the police. The tax office which is responsible for collecting the fine told us that we needed to go to the police in Sens to find out more about what we have been fined for. So tomorrow we are off to Sens to try to understand what is going on. We have showed our documentation to a couple of people who are fluent in French, and they are also equally shocked about the amount, and also cannot figure out what exactly we are being fined for. Wish us luck.
Another busy day for us, but not terribly interesting for a blog. We woke up early and got on the Autoroute heading south towards Paris. Our destination today was Migennes in Burgundy, the total drive was a little more than yesterday, but today was Saturday so the traffic was lighter.
One of Tons favorite things in France are the canola fields, they are in full bloom right now.
The good news is that our route took us right by one of the two Costcos in Paris, so of course a stop was in order. We enjoyed a two hour stroll thru Costco, and now the refrigerator, and all of the cupboards are stocked with our favorite goodies. My only disappointment was that they were temporarily out of hot dogs, so I had to settle for a large portion of French Fries from the snack bar.
The campground we are staying at is next to a large soccer and rugby complex that is currently part of the Yonne River, this dog didn’t mind at all.
The rest of the drive was uneventful, and the traffic south of Paris was very light, so I managed to use cruise control most of the way. I know I have been whining a lot about rain, but when we pulled into the campground we saw the soccer/rugby fields next to it were flooded. It turns out that the campground we are staying at was on short notice to evacuate due to the heavy rains. Luckily it wasn’t necessary, but apparently it was close according to the campground manager.
The Yonne River running high, but mostly back in its banks.
Another day focused on covering distance. We traveled about 380 kilometers all but about 30 of which was in medium to heavy rain, so it was not a very fun day.
A shot out the window of the port in Lyon. I was worried about passing thru Lyon as it is the second biggest city in France, but today despite the rain traffic was good and we were thru without delay.
There is not much else to talk about. I picked Beaune as the stopover today as it was a good distance north and a town we had fond memories of. It was the place we spent our second night in a RV in France. It is a beautiful town with a lot of interesting historic sites, and great wine.
The town hall in Beaune.
With the rain the photographer in the family was not motivated to walk into town, so we hunkered down and had a big meal. We have a lot of food to eat in the next few days so we had a big meal and a bottle of wine. I took a quick walk into town but was quickly driven back to François and Ton when another shower came down. The rest of the evening was spent vegging in front of screens watching movies.
We are at a point in the trip where distance traveled in the right direction is more important than where we end up staying. Today we got lucky as we were able to get a good jump in our 4 day journey to Amsterdam, and stop at a place that has been on our list of places we wanted to visit. Avignon is famous for two things in the English speaking world, for about 100 years 7 popes of the Catholic church ruled the church from Avignon instead of Rome. The other is that every French language student learns to sing a childrens song about the Bridge in Avignon. Ton had told me about the song, and the other night Denise Cook also launched into it when we told her our plans.
Pont Saint-Benezat, the unfinished bridge at Avignon celebrated in a childrens song.
We had a quick and easy 4 hour drive to get here, arriving at the municipal campground on an island in the Rhone River right across from the medieval city, and the Pont Saint-Benezat or the Bridge at Avignon just before the staff headed out for lunch.
The view of the city from the gate of our campground.
When we arrived at the campground Ton almost aborted our walk into town. The campground here had a large commercial washer and dryer setup, and one of Tons top to do list items was washing our linen before we left. She wouldn’t agree to go to town until I went and confirmed that the laundry would be open late enough to get our washing done. Once she learned that it was open until 10 pm we were off and heading into town.
Part of the battlements of the old fort.
Avignon is a fortified city with most of the walls facing the river still intact. It also has a large cathedral and palace befitting its nearly 100 years as the center of the Catholic church. Even after the popes returned to Rome it stayed under Papal control until it was incorporated into France during the French Revolution.
The palace and library from the Papal period.
We did a quick walk through town, and then to the Cathedral and the Palace of the Popes. The palace and the Cathedral were impressive, but we found ourselves drawn more to the gardens above the Palace.
The views of the Rhone River, and the incomplete Pont Saint-Benezat, from the gardens of the palace.
By the way, the bridge used to cross the river, but was abandoned in the 1700’s because it kept collapsing when the Rhone flooded. The four arches and the gate house have survived and become the most famous tourist attraction in Avignon because of a children song.
Part of the gardens was a small vineyard, that has examples of the 14 types of wine grapes grown in the Cote du Rhone wine region.
With laundry looming over us we wrapped our quick tour of Avignon and took a small pedestrian ferry across the Rhone to return to the campground. So we are now 320 kilometers closer to Amsterdam, we have seen a town on our list of places to visit in France, and we have nice freshly laundered linen. Today was a pretty fun and productive day.
The tourist authority just put this in this year to please the selfy crowd.
Our original plan was to head to Avignon to look at a bridge. The weather forecast for Avignon was a lot of rain, so Ton went on line and looked at weather and places to see options and landed on Perpignan. Perpignan is only about 30 minutes from the Spanish border and is part of French Catalonia, and most importantly is supposed to have good weather for the next 3 days.
We were standing next to a fishing forbidden sign as Ton took this picture. The mountains in the background are the Pyrenees on the French-Spanish border.
We woke up to the rain that is driving us towards Spain, so we were not in a hurry to get up and get going. Before departing we went over for a final coffee with Fred and Denise. We enjoyed another conversation and after about an hour reluctantly headed down the road. We are going to keep track of their travels and are hoping to find another opportunity to meet them. Our only regret is we did not get a good photo of them and us together.
The village next to the reservoir we are parked on.
As we drove down the autoroute the weather was initially pretty bad, but as the forecasters predicted the rain got lighter and lighter until we finally broke into a bright blue sky. We arrived at the campground I had picked out, hoping they were still open. The internet said they were open until the 15th, but I was a little nervous about the accuracy of the information. When we pulled up I was relieved to see they were open. When I checked in and asked for 2 nights the guy at the desk said only two nights as they were closing for the season on Monday. So while the information was not accurate, it was accurate enough for our needs.
This band was shooting a video next to the reservoir. Only the drummer was actually playing as they had no electricity to power the other instruments.
We settled in and then took a walk around the reservoir the campground is on. After that Ton prepared a pizza on the stove top using a technique our friend Cory taught us on her boat last year. It was delicious.
We woke up to a very chilly François this morning. The thermometer by the bed said 51 degrees and I was tempted to run the heater for a few minutes, but Ton is made of sterner stuff and told me it was ok. Then just as we began to stir it started raining hard, and did so until about 10 am. So the morning turned into a late breakfast, while Ton stayed tucked up warm in the bed, and I puttered around François.
You can see the effect of the three hours of rain on this dirt road.
We finally decided to head into town because Denise and Fred really liked Aigues-Mortes. Before we left we set up a rendezvous with Denise and Fred for lunch. They were going to go into town by bike while we walked the 4 kilometers.
It was a longish walk but we had views like this the whole way. Ton enjoyed shooting a lot of pictures as we went.
Yesterday I mentioned that Camargue was known for three things, salt, flamingos, and horses. On our walk thru the country we saw all three so we got the full Camargue experience.
Some of the famous white horses the Carmaque is known for. It is also a cattle region, so these horses are sharing their field with some beef cows.
The Camargue is heavily influenced by the Rhone river delta, which makes up a good deal of the area. On our walk we saw a lot of canals and dikes to control the water flow from the delta. In addition to horses, flamingos, and salt they also raise cattle and grow rice.
You can see the giant mounds of salt in the background, as well as one of the canals used for irrigation and flood control.
We tried to get a good picture of the flamingos, but they would not cooperate and come close enough. You will have to trust me that we saw them on our walk.
A boat canal near the beginning of town. These canals are common all thru France.
About half way on our walk Denise and Fred passed us by on their bikes which are a much more efficient mode of movement than walking. We agreed to meet at the town gate, and they agreed to scout for a restaurant.
The town gate for Aigue-Mortes.
Aigue-Mortes is an old fortress town, and its entire wall is still intact which is unusual. In most cities sections or nearly all of the wall have been removed for modern buildings or to widen roads. In Aigue-Mortes you can walk the entire perimeter of the old town on the walls if you desire.
The main tower for the town.
Fred and Denise met us at the gate, and we headed into a Spanish Steak house. But as the waitress that took our order said, the Spanish has been heavily influenced by French taste. We were very impressed as both Fred and Denise were able to speak French with the staff which certainly sped up the ordering process and generated some good will from the staff. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, and before we knew it, it was 3 pm.
As Carmaque is part of France, it of course also produces wine.
We took a quick turn thru town and would have liked to have spent more time there, but with day light savings time the sun is now setting around 5:30. So much earlier than we would have liked we found ourselves hiking back to the aire for the evening.
On the way back we saw this group mounting up for a sunset ride.
We have shifted about 200 kilometers west to the Camargue region. The Camargue is famous for three things, salt, horses, and flamingos. But the real reason we are here are to connect with our good friends Fred and Denise Cook who are traveling Europe in their American Expedition Vehicle. It is built on an old Italian Mercedes Firetruck and is an impressive sight. The Virginia plates also catch peoples attention in the Aire. Compared to their truck François looks like a small car.
The Camargue is famous for its white horses.
We arrived at the aire about 1pm after an easy drive from Toulon. After we got settled in we went over and spent the afternoon and evening sharing tales of travel, and places we have enjoyed visiting. Tomorrow we are going to set out to visit the town, which Denise once spent a few weeks living in as a student.
Our ferry left about 45 minutes late last night, but it was a very rough ride. The wind was still blowing strong, and the sea was very rough. The ferry was about 600 feet long, and even at that length was getting tossed around quite a bit most of the night. We both eventually fell asleep and when we woke in the morning it was much calmer as we put into Toulon.
Toulon is a big city and we arrived at 8am. We were one of the very first vehicles off of the ferry and headed right into downtown Toulon. I was expecting rush hour traffic, but traffic was really light. I finally asked Ton is today a holiday in France? A quick google search confirmed that it was All Saints Day which is a national holiday. So thanking our luck we arrived at our campground less than 30 minutes after rolling off the ferry.
The marina at Sanary-Sur-Mer full of wooden sail boats that look like a regional design.
We wanted today to get our laundry done, and give François a good cleaning. While we were waiting for some washers to open up I walked down to the town center. Ton passed on the walk after a long night of being tossed around by the sea.
The streets downtown and along the marina were closed for a market.
I took a quick turn around the waterfront and then headed back to François so we could get our laundry done. After completing our chores we relaxed for the afternoon and began to think about our plans for the next week. Based on weather forecasts we are going to be staying in the south as the weather in Paris and Amsterdam shows 10 straight days of rain.
A short one today. The wind built overnight until we were getting gusts around 40 to 50 miles per hour. From our campground the ocean looked pretty rough. We spent the day hunkered down in François with him shaking pretty vigorously in the wind. We finally followed the example of our Dutch neighbors and moved over by a tall line of shrubbery that blocked some of the wind, though we would still get knocked around pretty good. We spent a good part of the morning watching our email fearing that the ferry would be cancelled. Finally about 3:30 we moved down to the ferry port where we are currently waiting. The departure board says we are leaving at 7pm. I expect it is going to be a rough 13 hours to Toulon.
We had a weather shortened day. We forgot about daylight savings time, and did not realize until this morning that it had happened yesterday here, of course we were not late for anything because most days we don’t have to worry about being anywhere at a certain time.
The sea was pretty active today, and the wind was whipping along at a good clip.
Our first stop for the day was a LeClerc to stock up on some food, and to pick up some Corsican things we have grown to appreciate that we probably will not be able to get once we head back to the mainland on Tuesday. This was a huge LeClerc so Ton enjoyed herself window shopping as well as filling the basket.
An old wall that must have been attached to a bigger building at some time.
We were planning to visit a town called Saint Florent which is on the other side of Cap Corse, but when we came out of LeClerc the wind had really picked up, and the mountains we were going to have to cross to get to Saint Florent looked socked in, so we decided to go up the side of Cap Corse we were on to our campground for the day. On the way we stopped in Erbalunga which is a cute town.
Looking back at Bastia from Erbalunga. It was not a day to be at sea for the faint hearted.
Erbalunga is a quick stop, but we enjoyed watching the ocean putting on a show. Ton remembered she needed to some onions so we popped into a little neighborhood market which was doing a thriving business, and then headed to our campground for the day. We are parked in a big open field with about 5 other RV’s. It is a really nice campground with great facilities. When we arrived there was a sign that said go pick a spot and come back at 6pm to pay. When I went by at 6 pm no one was there, so maybe tomorrow morning.
The beach at Pietracorbara.
The wind really howled most of the afternoon, frequently giving François a good shake. But towards sunset it died down completely, and now all we can hear is the surf about a quarter mile away. Another front is supposed to come thru tomorrow just in time for our departure on the ferry.
Today we visited the second largest city on Corsica. Bastia was founded around 1370 as a Citadel guarding a port that Genoa was trying to use to rule Corsica. Over time it became the primary port for Northern Corsica and today is the primary ferry port to connect to mainland France and northern Italy, we will be departing from here on Tuesday. Italy is closer to Corsica than France is, and there are two prominent islands off shore that are part of Italy, one of which is Elba where Napoleon lived in exile until his death.
The citadel overlooking the main harbor in Bastia.
Corsica has always been a tough place to govern. All of the major cities are fortress towns where the off island rulers (Genoa, and France) have tried with mixed success to control the interior of the island. The extreme ruggedness of the center of the island makes it a rebels paradise. Even today as we were driving into Bastia, most of the highway overpasses and bridges had “Corsica is not French” spray painted on them, so even today there is a Corsican independence movement.
Historically these are a tough people to govern, but look like a fun group to hang out with.
We accomplished another thing today as we decided to park at the ferry terminal for the day, so our trip in to catch the ferry on Tuesday will now be a little easier as we know the route and the layout of the terminal. As we walked into the town center we came across a sprawling Sunday market on the main square of the city.
The Sunday flea market.
The largest part of the market was a huge flea market. While interesting for people watching, other peoples junk is generally not our thing. So we passed thru pretty quickly.
This is a dish we have seen throughout Corsica, it is cheese mixed with a little dough to make a kind of pancake. We tried one and it was interesting, and while very popular with the local crowd we won’t be buying it again.
We kept on thru the center of the city and next found ourselves at the harbor. The harbor was where all of the high end restaurants were located. We did some window shopping, but in the end decided to have a home cooked lunch today.
Looking across at the mountains that are right behind the city. The mountain with the towers on the left side of the picture is 2700 feet to give you a feel for how steep the land rises behind the city.
Our last stop for the day was the citadel built above the harbor to protect it. The citadel was a good climb up, and as we were walking up it I saw a sign saying that one of the problems that Bastia has always had to deal with is connecting the citadel above the town with the harbor. Today the answer appeared to be that the lower town and the harbor are the center of the town, and the citadel is very quiet.
This is the main square of the citadel. For about 15 minutes Ton and I had it to ourselves.
The lower town was very lively, the market was busy, and the restaurants were full. When we got to the citadel it was mostly empty, and except for one restaurant all of the businesses were closed. It was quite a contrast.
Usually Ton has to wait for people to clear out for her picture. In the citadelshe was happy to find someone to put in the picture.
We wandered about for a few more minutes looking at signs describing the buildings, for the first time today we heard languages besides French. Our conclusion was that the citadel was for tourists and since the season is over all of the businesses have packed up. So we headed back to François and out to our campsite for the day.
We ran into this priest on a motorcycle on one of the back alleys of the citadel.
On the way to the campground we wanted to swing into a grocery store to pick up a few supplies. Unfortunately, all of the parking lots at the major grocery chains we saw had height barriers. This is a uniquely annoying French thing where they put gates at about 2.6 meters above ground to keep oversized vehicles out of parking lots. Sometimes you can find a back entrance, or a secondary lot that is not restricted, but today I didn’t want to go on the search, so we decided to keep our money to ourselves.
Ton liked the concave wall on this apartment building.