France – RV Travels in Europe and North America

September 16, 2026 Saintes FR

We took a bound towards Spain today traveling about 350 kilometers to Saintes just north of Bordeaux. It was an easy drive, we took our time departing Rennes so we got here about 3pm just as six other campers arrived at the same time. The clerk at the check in looked at her full office and made the smart decision of taking an ID from each of us, throwing the gate to the campground open and telling us all to go park and come back to register and get our ID back when we were set up. Its nice to see someone with initiative and common sense.

Ton informed me on the drive that Saintes was known for 4 things, a Cathedral (of course), a Roman arch, a Roman amphitheater, and an 11th century abbey. Of the 4 the Abbaye aux Dames sounded the most interesting as it is a well preserved Abbaye for nuns from the 11th century. So after settled in we followed the Charente River to town.

The wooden roof in the Cathedral in Saintes.

As we were heading down the river towards the center of town we spotted the Cathedral so we popped over there for a check. The most interesting feature to us was the undecorated wooden ceiling. We think it is the first Cathedral we have seen without a stone or stuccoed roof.

After the Cathedral we spotted the very well preserved Roman Arch across the river so we headed over there for a quick look. The arch of Germanicus was built around 19 AD at the foot of the Roman bridge that crossed the river. We are getting a little jaded as something as well preserved as this arch from over 2100 years ago was met with a “that’s a nice arch”, a couple of quick photos and then we moved on. It is a well preserved arch that was almost torn down in the 1800’s because it was in the way when they were rebuilding the bridge. Instead it was relocated to a riverside park a couple of hundred yards away (so in a way I guess it was torn down, it was just rebuilt).

The French love carousels and this is the most high tech-modern carousel we have seen. It is set a little incongruously in the courtyard of an 11th century Abbey.

The next stop was the abbey. The abbey for women was founded by the Benedictine order in the 11th century and was an important part of the region until the French Revolution. During the Revolution the Abbey was turned into a prison and after the revolution around 1820 it was turned into an Army Barracks until 1944.

Part of the chapel and living quarters of the Abbey.

After the war the city acquired the buildings and have recently been running a hotel in part of the old living quarters for the nuns. The buildings are well preserved having been in continuos use since 1050.

The entrance to the Chapel of the Abbey.

We had hit 3 of the 4 big things in Saintes which left the Roman amphitheater. When I checked the map it would have meant a 2 kilometer round trip in the wrong direction so we decided that we have seen a lot of Roman Amphitheaters in our travels so decided to give it a pass.

Another shot of the Germanicus Arch to fill in for the missed Roman Amphitheater.

We had a nice evening stroll along the Charente to return to a bustling campground. Shoulder season is not as quiet as it used to be in Europe.

September 15, 2026 Rennes FR

Today was a maintenance day. The biggest chore was to get our laundry done. After we were promised yesterday that the washer at the campground would be fixed today- I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was. We had to wait in line to get our shot at the one washer, but after a couple of hours we now have all fresh clothes for the next week to ten days.

The only other thing on the agenda was to find a couple of Breton foods that Ton really likes. We failed on the unpronounceable pastry called Kouginamann, but succeeded in finding some of the buckwheat crepes the area is famous for. After that we relaxed before the rest of the day before we make the 700 kilometer jump to Spain over the next two days.

September 14, 2026 Rennes FR

Brittany is one of our favorite regions in Europe. This is the third time we have visited it. On our first trip to France we just touched the edges of it, but our visit to St. Malo was great and we fell in love with the food in the region. On a later trip to France we spent more than a week exploring Brittany in smaller chunks and were enchanted with it. We tell everyone who asks where to go in France not to miss Brittany. Despite this we had never visited Rennes the capitol of Brittany.

The Cathedral and the carousel two things we will always associate with France.

I was particularly looking forward to Rennes as I expected great things from the capitol of a region that I really loved. Our rough plan was to get some laundry done and then head into town if we had time after laundry. When we checked in I confirmed that they had a washer and dryer and the young lady said yes so I booked two days here. But when I stuck my head into the laundry room there was a note on the washer saying that it was broken. I went back in the office and the manager confirmed it was broken and that it was supposed to be fixed tomorrow. Ton thinks this is probably a Mexican mañana situation, I am hoping for the best. But strike 1 for Rennes.

Most of Rennes was destroyed by fire in the 1720’s so almost all of the houses and businesses date from the mid-1720’s.

After a short rest we decided to head for town for a visit. It was a quick bus ride to the center. Rennes has one of the youngest populations in France as it is the host to over 70,000 university students. Our experience with university cities has been good as we like the vibrancy the students bring. Rennes was alive, but it didn’t strike us as vibrant. Ton was a little turned off by the graffiti that peppered a lot of the buildings, it made the town feel a little dirty to her.

Rennes felt like a lot of mid-sized French cities. That is not a bad thing, because French cities have a unique vibe with the cafe scene, and the shopping. But what struck me was how little of the Breton Celtic influence was present. What we had really enjoyed about Brittany before was the unique mix of French and Celtic culture. We didn’t feel it here. So strike 2 for Rennes.

Another block of 1/2 timbered buildings.

After a couple of hours we decided to head back to the campground. The bus route was pretty straight forward and I expected us to be back to the campground in about 30 minutes with a 500 meter walk at the end. A few stops before the one for the campground I saw a sign saying there was a “Deviation” on our route. Deviation is the French word for Detour and it is a word I see and immediately go into a cold sweat. I tried to parse the details of the deviation but the details far exceeded my limited French. But I took solace in the fact that we were picked up at the campground so I figured they had to go by there as part of the “deviation”. In the end we got to the end of the route and everyone got off. So instead of a 500 meter walk at the end of the ride we had a 2000 meter walk and it is the hottest day of this trip. So strike 3 for Rennes.

Typical French street scene. We missed the Celtic piece you get in other parts of Brittany.

Luckily the campground is very nice and we are in a beautiful park. I am really hoping the washer gets fixed tomorrow to help Rennes redeem itself.

September 13, 2026 Oustreham FR

Sundays are always a good day for a long drive in Europe. The trucks are not allowed to drive so we are one of the slowest vehicles on the freeway. This allows me to set the cruise control and enjoy long stretches with a coffee in my hand while everyone passes us by. Today we covered about 200 miles and ended up at a campground smack in the middle of Sword Beach in Normandy.

Sword Beach was one of the 5 main landing beaches for the Normandy Invasion in WWII. The troops that landed here were nearly entirely British, though a small contingent of French Marine Commandos landed very close to the location of our campground. Unlike Omaha Beach (the beach depicted in Saving Private Ryan), the landing here was accomplished with very low casualties. The problems for the British came later as they attempted to reach Caen about 10 kilometers inland.

All along the promenade there were pictures depicting veterans of D-Day taken 60 and 70 years after the landings.

We took it pretty easy when we arrived. The campground we are staying in has been largely converted to small cottages. People rent the camping space by the year and bring in small 300 to 400 sq ft. cottages that they place on the spot. When we checked in we were shown to a spot between 3 of these cottages. One of our neighbors was cleaning a large bag of mussels they had procured somewhere. Ton struck up a conversation in hand signals and Franglish, and before we know it we were gifted a small bowl of them along with instructions on how to prepare them. Ton steamed them for our evening snack and they were delicious. It is these small interactions that make these trips special.

Our delicious gift from our French neighbors. The Norman mussels are famous in France, and these more than lived up to the reputation. It helps that they were in the ocean 4 hours before we ate them.

September 12, 2026 Amiens FR

We have been trying to visit Lille in northern France for several trips. Each time it has been on the agenda we have skipped it for one reason or another. So we were determined to stop this time. We found a campground on the edge of the city and as we drove Ton did a good deal of research on things to do in Lille, we were looking forward to the day. We arrived at the campground around 11:20 which should have been well before the French 2 to 3 hour lunch break. The campground looked nice and we could see plenty of places to park, but the office was closed. There was a sign to ring the doorbell which I did, but no response. There was another sign to call a phone number if no one answered the door bell. I did that and no one answered the call. I finally texted the phone number and did a quick search of the campground trying to find someone to no avail. So once again Lille remains unvisited.

We have decided to follow the Atlantic coast of France as we head down towards Spain, and the next stop we had planned after Lille was in Amiens. It wasn’t too much farther to Amiens so we decided to push on. As we drove Ton did some quick research on what to do so we could hit the ground running. The area between Lille and Amiens was the site of some of the most bloody battles of WWI. The British and Commonwealth troops were responsible for this area. The roads we were driving were lined with massive graveyards of British, Canadian, Australian, Indian, and Chinese soldiers. After a while Ton said the road reminded her of the trail of tears in the US and she began calling it the British trail of tears.

As we were driving Ton announced that the Amiens Cathedral was the biggest Gothic Cathedral in France by volume. I said that is a weird way to measure the size of a building, but she said nevertheless it is twice as big as Notre Dame in Paris by volume, with over 400,000 cubic feet of interior space. When we arrived I had to concede that it did indeed have a lot of volume to it.

An interior view of the Cathedral showing off its impressive volume of space.

The interior is massive and the ceilings are impressively high. It is quite a building and it luckily was largely untouched when Amiens was fought over in both world wars.

The beautiful stained glass windows were removed and safely stored during both World Wars so they have survived intact.

Amiens is split by the Somme River and it has a nice neighborhood of old homes that survived the wars mixed with newer homes built after WWII to replace homes that were destroyed.

One of the canals running through the city showing the mixture of 18th and 19th century homes intermingled with 20th century homes.

We spent a few hours wandering through the city and enjoying the perfect weather. But after a while we both realized that in our rush to get to town we had missed lunch and were famished. In France there is a period between 2pm and 6:30 pm when almost all restaurants are closed. Particularly in cities that don’t cater to tourists. Amiens is definitely one of those cities as we did not hear one non-French voice in our entire time walking the streets. So we decided to head back to François for the night and get some food.

September 11, 2026 Dunkirk FR

Last night we decided to go over to Dunkirk today. It is only about 40 minutes from our campground in Belgium. Our first thought was to get a campground there, but none of the campgrounds appealed to us or required a minimum 7 day stay, so in the end we decided to drive over to Dunkirk and return to our campground in Belgium at the end of the day.

This statue now guards the border between France and Belgium at the small town we crossed.

It was a nice drive through the Flanders countryside, and the border crossing caught us by surprise in a small village. Once again there was no indication until we saw the sign indicating we were entering France and all the signs changed from Flemish to French.

The blue sign indicates we are entering France.

Dunkirk is the sight of the famous evacuation of 400,000 French and British soldiers during WWII. The Germans were in the process of fully defeating the combined French and British armies in 1940. Early in the campaign about 500,000 British and French troops were surrounded at Dunkirk. This included most of the British Army. The priority for the evacuation was the British forces as it was pretty clear that the French were going to surrender to the Germans and the British were going to fight on.

The museum commemorating the evacuation at Dunkirk.

The British government committed a large part of their navy to the withdrawal despite the great danger to the ships from the German air force. In addition hundreds of pleasure craft manned by their civilian owners were asked to assist, as well as significant numbers of French navy vessels. The British initially hoped to rescue 40 to 50,000 of their troops, but in the end they saved over 300,000. The French defended the shrinking pocket while the British were given priority for withdrawal. The French troops fought valiantly to hold off the Germans on the ground. The last three days priority was given to withdrawing French troops and nearly 100,000 were withdrawn to Britain.

A monument to the forces that defended Dunkirk.

The 300,000 British troops saved went on to make up the core of the British forces that participated in the liberation of France in 1944. Unfortunately, the majority of the 100,000 French troops were returned to France just as the government surrendered to the Germans.

The majority of the troops were evacuated through the port of Dunkirk, but nearly 100,000 were evacuated across these beaches using small craft manned by civilian volunteers from England who sailed their personal boats over.

After the museum we headed into the city to take a look at the port and the town hall. The town hall was largely destroyed during WWII, but has been rebuilt to its original look and is now a UNESCO site.

Dunkirk with the correct French spelling.

English is funny with place names. English uses the Flemish spelling for the French city of Dunkerque, but for the Flemish city of Ieper 30 miles from Dunkirk we use the French spelling Ypres.

A nice windmill just as you enter France.

After we had finished with Dunkirk we realized there was still time for more exploring so we decided to return to the Witches Kettle to enjoy the ambiance of the place. When we arrived it was much busier and Lena had her hands full, she hit us with a flurry of Flemish which we didn’t understand, but one of the customers translated for us. We were to pick our beer out of the cooler and bring it to her to pour.

François had good company in the parking lot as a rich peoples sports car club was visiting, the parking lot was full of Porsches, Jaguars, and even a really cool Citroen two seater I had never seen. That is the road the bicyclists are on, not a bike path.

Since the place was full we asked our impromptu translator if we could join him and had a great conversation about beer, economics and politics. We asked what he does for a living and it turns out he runs a campground which competes with the one we are staying at. We promised him we would stay at his place next time we are passing through.

Ton loves this old Laurel and Hardy display holding a tray promoting Coke Zero.

We may not be regulars at the Witches Kettle, but we won’t forget the couple of hours we spent there.

October 31, 2025 Grez-sur-Loing FR

Another day focused on driving. Today we covered about 380 kilometers in 6 hours. We made a couple of stops at rest areas. The first stop was to by some LP gas as we will be running the heater over the next few nights as temperatures are going to drop into the low 40’s.

The vines are turning yellow in Burgundy.

I had to go inside and pay for the fuel and all of the staff in the large restaurant/ shop had on really creative and well done costumes for Halloween. I gave a cute witch my credit card to activate the pump. When I got out there a guy in a Dodge Ram pickup with New York plates on the front had pulled up behind me. I asked if he was from New York he looked confused and answered me in French. I pointed at the plates and he responded in very heavily accented English that it was a decoration.

The pump wouldn’t come on so I went back in and asked the Zombie behind the counter to activate the pump, she said she would. I went back out and the pump still wouldn’t come on. New York and I did some troubleshooting together but still couldn’t get the pump to come on. I was going to go back in when he volunteered to go in and explain the problem in French. After a few minutes the witch came back out with him and in about 10 seconds jiggled a couple of things on the pump and it started working.

Both New York and I looked ashamed-she gave us a look of pity which was reinforced by her witches costume as she headed back into the store. Ton wanted to know what all of the fuss was about and I told her, but I also explained about how good the costumes the staff were wearing were, so she was curious and wanted to go in. I parked François and we headed back into the store.

A pretty duck on the river near our campground.

Ton was impressed by the costumes, but she was more impressed by the regional products on sale. After years of driving thru France and seeing regional products displayed, along with all of the other services like fuel, food, and rest rooms you expect in a rest area. She had never been inside to see what was on display in the stores. We ended up with a couple of regional candies and some socks she liked. Later on the drive we saw another rest area with regional products displayed and I asked if she wanted to stop and take a look, she said sure, and then laughed because she knew I didn’t expect her to say yes. This time we ended up with some mustard from the area.

The French like to plant trees on either side of roads so that eventually they form a canopy over the road. It is pretty spectacular in the fall.

We finally got to our campground around 2pm. I went for a reconnaissance to check on the best way to leave in the morning. The route we took in had a big do not enter sign on it, so I wanted to see where to go. I didn’t expect much and then I came around a corner and immediately turned back and got Ton.

France is full of these small riverside villages with stone bridges. It is what makes France special to me.

France is full of picturesque villages. Grez-sur-Loing is one of them. It has a 19th century stone bridge, a 12th century fortified tower, and a 16th century church along side the Loing River. The setting is amazing and exudes calm and history.

The 19th century bridge is still in use today.

When you add in fall colors and evening light it was a magical walk. What added to the magic was we had no idea it was less than 200 yards from where we were parked.

The Loing River from the bridge. The fall colors are at their peak to add to the beauty of the place.

Experiences like this is what makes France magical for me. You never know when out of the blue you will fall into a place of calm and peace that makes you consider moving to some obscure place in a country where you can’t speak the language.

October 30, 2025 Issoire FR

Our plan is to pass thru France quickly and get to Flanders in Belgium to do a little beer tasting. We want to be in Amsterdam on November 4 so we can prep for our departure on November 7. So today we drove 468 kilometers north to the municipal campground in Issoire France.

Ton liked the art on the back of this cattle truck.

Before leaving Spain we made one last stop in a grocery to stock up on some of our favorites. I got some Tortillas, Ton bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables, you can tell who has the healthy diet, Spanish Tortillas are made from potatoes, cheese, egg, and onions. It is a very delicious hash brown.

The fall colors were coming out as we gained altitude and headed north.

Most of the drive today was thru an area of France that is called the Central Massif mountains. It is a part of France we have not explored much. Every time we pass thru we say we need to spend more time here. Hopefully we will one day.

The campground in Issoire is closing for the winter in two days as are a lot of the campgrounds in France and Spain so we have to be careful when picking places to spend the night. Tomorrow will be another big driving day to spend the night just south of Paris.

September 18, 2025 Sens FR

Today was another busy but not fun day. We completed our last chores before we head south. We were up early to drive to Sens. On the way we had to pass thru Paris and we planned for the worst. We were pleasantly surprised to only hit one short slowdown so we arrived quite early in Sens.

With time to kill we went to a large supermarket to get some French groceries for our cupboards. We are now well stocked for the next few days.

Today we had our safety inspection, and except for discovering that both our low beam bulbs had burned out and needed to be replaced we passed with no problem. François burns thru headlight bulbs at a very rapid rate, no one has been able to figure out why. I am going to have to add periodically checking on them to my driving checklist. We also had one minor part to replace in one of our privacy screens.

We were at Eurocampingcars for about 4 hours waiting for everything to get taken care of. During that time we had a nice conversation with Sandrine the owner. We were surprised to learn that she currently has 68 overseas customers she is supporting.

The library at the homey family run campground we are staying at tonight.

With everything finally done about 5pm we headed to a nice campground on the Yonne river. Tomorrow we are off for Morocco.

September 17, 2025 Sorel FR

Today we turned south. With all of the repairs (fingers crossed) completed on François we are heading south. Our next stop is Sens to get our Control Technique done. We were tempted to try to make the leap but we have two major cities to navigate -Antwerp and Paris and I didn’t want to take them both on in one day.

The drive south was busy and Antwerp did not let us down as we were stuck in traffic there for 15 or 20 minutes. Most of the drive today was really busy from Delft until we hit the first toll way in France. Once again we drove across Belgium without stopping. Belgium deserves more love than we give it.

I picked a campground about an hour north of Paris and it is a charming place next to the Chateau in the picture. Sorel has a population of about 180 according to Wikipedia, but a nice campground and a pretty chateau.

May 27, 2025 Troyes FR

We needed to stop by François’ hometown to check on our mail, and see if we could schedule an appointment for some minor repairs to prepare for our second “controle technique” or safety inspection when we return in the fall. So our day pretty much consisted of fueling up, hitting a grocery, and then driving 300 kilometers to Sens to see the folks at Eurocampingcars.

With the work done in Sens we then drove on for another hour to a campground near Troyes where we settled in for the night. We are going to spend the next few days giving Belgium some more time. We always feel bad because we have frequently driven thru the entire country without stopping going from the Netherlands to France. We hope to rectify that the next few days.

May 26, 2025 Vichy FR

I selected Vichy for todays visit because of its association with World War II. Today and historically Vichy was famous as a spa town with hot springs and naturally carbonated water. Unfortunately for about 3 years of WWII it served as the capital of the puppet French government under Nazi Germany. For me that is always what I will remember it for. When the US and British invaded North Africa early in WWII the initial resistance to the landing was not from the Germans or Italians, but from French troops fighting for Vichy.

We both slept well last night (Ton said I slept very well, meaning I snored), so we both woke early (Ton said her early rise was not entirely voluntary but related to how well I slept.) We were underway early and I was hopeful of arriving at the campground in Vichy before the customary 90 to 120 minute lunch. I respect that the French need two hours for lunch, but my one request be that they get together and agree on which two hours. Some campgrounds break noon to two, some 12:30 to 2:30 and some from 1 to 3. We were on track for a 12:30 arrival, but missed by a couple of minutes, and the barrier to the campground was down meaning lunch was on. There were already two other campers waiting, but the good news was this campground only takes a 90 minute lunch from noon, so we had a little less than an hour to wait. So we also had our lunch.

We headed into town around 2:15 and crossed the bridge to the Avenue of the United States. Running parallel to the Avenue of the US was a lovely park full of trees imported from around the world including an iffy looking Sequoia which still dwarfed all of the other trees.

This Sequoia looks like it has seen better days, but it still dwarfed all of the other trees in the park.

We turned onto Avenue Franklin Roosevelt (there are more roads named after Americans in France than in any other country in Europe) to visit the old Spa hotels. The road and the park that were integral to the old spa are getting a major upgrade, so we were dodging construction sites and equipment.

The Opera House is also getting a major upgrade.

The spa concept was a major tourism draw in the 1800’s and up to WWII in Europe. The concept of going to take the waters was touted as both medically beneficial as well as restful. There was a structured routine that included baths in the thermals, prescribed outdoor walks, healthful meals, and evening relaxation.

One of the halls containing thermal springs. The taps in the foreground are available to fill containers for free.

This led to quite a large industry with luxury hotels to support it. In Vichy the infrastructure that was built in the 1800’s is still largely in place, including large parks with covered walkways around the outside of them in case of inclement weather. These covered walks are impressive as they are made of cast iron and stretch for quite a distance around the exterior edge of the park. There is a large building in the middle of the park that contains an opera hall and casino for evening entertainment, and luxury hotels along one side of the park housed those that had the money to spend time here.

There are 11 Spa cities still functioning in Europe though they are not as popular as they once were. Vichy was celebrating that it along with the other 10 cities throughout Europe had been declared UNESCO cultural sites.

An advertisement from the era touting the sparkling water from Vichy. It is still for sale today.

Vichy is also know for a kind of candy called Pastilles. This year they are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the invention of Pastilles. We decided that this would be a good gift for friends so we spent the rest of the afternoon searching for Pastilles to take home. After visiting three stores we are now well stocked with this delicacy.

While walking around town we saw many references to Vichy as a spa town, and as a source for Pastilles, but only one mention of its role during WWII. I guess I am not surprised as one story is much more pleasant than the other.

May 24, 2025 Cahors FR

We are going to spend the next few days traveling slowly thru central France. This rugged region is full of river valleys and steep hills. There are over a 1000 castles and ruins in the region, but they tend to be on a smaller scale than the big castles in the Loire Valley and around Paris. It is also one of the least visited parts of France by foreign tourists.

Cahors is located on a U-turn on the Lot river and was originally founded by the Celts. It has been around for a lot of history, but nothing particularly interesting has happened here during history.

This landscape of a river running thru steep hills will be common for the next couple of days.

It was a short drive down from Toulouse, but we left early because today was market day in Cahors and we wanted to arrive while the market was in full swing. We quickly checked in and set up François before walking the 2 kilometers back to town.

The market was going in full force around the Cathedral in town.

As we got closer to town we passed more and more people with baskets of groceries and fresh flowers. The market was quite large and the products on sale were very diverse. The regional specialty is duck and geese with all of the different things you can get from those animals including Foie Gras. We are not big fans of it, but we did get talked into taking a sample and I have to admit it was delicious, though we won’t be buying any.

Near the end of the market with the doors of the Cathedral in the background.

These markets are always a lot of fun. In addition to being a good source of fresh foods that support the local farmers, it is always a big social event. We were really lucky as they were also having a festival celebrating the local bicycle clubs so in addition to the good food there were some other interesting displays as well as live jazz all day. While we were wandering around town at least 4 different jazz bands played. It seems these days jazz is more popular in Europe than in the US.

An interesting statue near the cathedral.

The biggest attraction in Cahors is the Valentre bridge over the Lot. It is a medieval bridge with three towers. Many bridges of this era had towers on them, partially for defense, and partially to collect tolls for their use. These days very few of the towers survive.

The three towers plus our favorite plant.

The bridge was quite a construction project for its age. There is a local story that the architect of the bridge was falling behind so he pledged his soul to the devil if the bridge was completed on time. So the devil intervened and the bridge was completed on time, but the architect reneged on the deal and kept his soul. This caused the devil to put a curse on his family. To honor this story a small statue of the devil is located high up on one of the towers.

One of the towers with the stairs leading to the tower.

While Ton was shooting pictures I was doing my normal gazing at people and things when a very dapper French couple in their 80’s asked me to take their picture. I was happy to oblige and they were very grateful. While I was taking their picture Ton had found a very nice place to pose, and she convinced them to pose for her to take their picture. When she showed them the picture they exclaimed Superb which in French sounds even better than English. Unfortunately she used their camera so we don’t have the picture for our use. We passed them several times and they would show us more pictures they had taken. They were a fun and very cute encounter today.

We finished off the day with a wine tasting at the visitors center. We were given five tastings of local wine for free. The region is know for Malbec which is most famously produced in Argentina. Ton has never been a fan of Malbec, but I was hoping French Malbec would change her mind. It didn’t, the reds were too dry for her taste though she did enjoy a Rose from the region.

May 23, 2025 Toulouse FR

Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France and we had never visited it, though we have driven thru it many times in our comings and goings in France. It is the hub of the French aerospace industry and has the French equivalent of NASA it is not on the tourism path in a big way possibly because it is too far inland for cruise ships to come here on day trips.

Ton did her normal planning for the visit, and I did the navigation. We spent several pleasant hours downtown visiting all of the normal things we go to look at in European cities.

The weather was nice again by the afternoon and there were a lot of people in the streets shopping and enjoying their lunch. Toulouse has several prominent churches and we poked into a couple of them and they were very nice.

The rather austere interior of the Basilica.

The streets were very busy but there was a noticeable absence of guided groups, in fact the only one we saw today was from Lebanon which was a first for us. There was a tourist presence and we heard plenty of American accented English, but it was mostly couples or small groups traveling independently.

Toulouse is famous for its pink tinted buildings, but the light didn’t highlight the pink very well today.

What we did notice was the very high percentage of young people on the streets. Toulouse is home to several universities and the number of students is supposed to be around 100,000. So there was a youthful energy to the town that we really enjoyed. A lot of the American accented English we heard came from younger people rather than middle aged and senior people, which we also enjoyed.

The “New Bridge” which is the oldest bridge in town was originally built in the middle ages. Thomas Jefferson was very interested it and based the design for a bridge over the Potomac on it.

After walking it for a few hours we were surprised that it does not attract more visitors than it does. It is a great walkable downtown with interesting and unique architecture, nice old churches, and good food; all of the things that visitors love. But on the other hand we were glad it didn’t attract thousands of visitors in busses to crowd the center. It is a beautiful city that deserves a visit, and hopefully it will continue to strike the right balance without getting overwhelmed with visitors.

We’re back in France so you have to have a carousel.

May 22, 2025 Toulouse FR

Unexpectedly today was about the drive. The drive from Andorra to Toulouse was only about 180 kilometers but google had it at nearly 3 hours in a car so I had an idea that it might be an interesting 3 hours. We were not in a big hurry to get going because as we reenter France we have to deal with the French lunch. Many campgrounds close for 2 to 3 hours mid-day, the one we were aiming at was closed from noon to 2:30 according to their website.

As we were leaving the urban part of Andorra we saw this in front of us.

We spent about 30 minutes steadily climbing out of the valley we had been in towards the ski resort part of Andorra which is closer to France. The roads were pretty good. After we passed thru the ski-resorts the road began to climb even more. When we first saw the snow in front of us I told Ton we probably wouldn’t get that high but we nearly did.

The expensive tunnel that kept us out of the snow.

We would have climbed up to the snow but we instead opted to take an expensive tunnel that kept us from continuing to climb. We were in the minority as most traffic opted to take a long series of switchbacks over the mountain we drove thru. As we were pulling into the toll booth the light rain we had been driving in was starting to turn into snow flurries so I felt ok with our choice to be wimps.

The Pyrenees on the French side of the pass were quite beautiful.

As soon as we exited the tunnel we entered France, though we did go thru an unmanned border crossing a couple of kilometers later. The drive down was on steep roads with a fair amount of switchbacks, for a few kilometers it was quite foggy which had our speeds down to a crawl. After the fog it rained most of the way down into Toulouse.

Despite the weather and the steep road we were still ahead of our 2:30 arrival so I pulled into a SuperU grocery to allow Ton some recreational shopping. After about 45 minutes we left with a handful of things including some white Asparagus that Ton wants to try her hand at cooking.

We finally arrived at the campground about 3pm only to find that it was still closed. I found a place on the road to park and walked up to the gate to see if I could see anyone. I finally located a maintenance guy who opened the gate and showed us to a spot and told me to go pay at 5pm.

April 7, 2025 Tours FR

We have been looking at Tours for a few days now and we finally decided to make it a stop. No guidebook of France is featuring Tours as one of the cities you should visit. Tours is the kind of town every country needs, there are a lot of things produced here, a lot of things are transported thru here, and a lot of people make a good living here, and it is a good place to live. What it doesn’t have is a lot of cool things for non-residents to look at. It is the French version of Pittsburg or Birmingham.

Our original plan was to drive the 280 kilometers here, check in to the campground and head to town. Based on our quick look around town we would decide whether to stay another day and explore some more or get back on the Autoroute and continue driving to Spain.

While driving I remembered that quite often French campgrounds have extended lunches where you cannot check in. We figured we would arrive at about 1:15, while we were driving Ton did some research and it looked like they would open at 2:30, it was a little frustrating but early enough to take a run into town. But when we arrived there was a sign on the door saying they were closed from 12:00 to 3:30 for lunch. Nowhere but France would a business close for 31/2 hours at lunch. After some muttering by me we both settled in for the 2 hour wait. By the time they reopened there were 7 motorhomes waiting. We will visit Tours tomorrow.

April 6, 2025 Fontainebleau FR

We had a long discussion last night about what to do today. Initially there were two options, go into Paris or drive to Tours. Neither option appealed much to Ton though Tours is in out future as it is a stopping point on our way to Spain. After a lot of hemming and hawing we had not reached a decision when Ton saw that Fontainebleau was free today. So the decision was made and we were up bright and early for the 80 kilometer drive to Fontainebleau.

This guy featured heavily in today’s activities.

Ton had visited Fontainebleau during her student days in London and had very good memories of it. She had told me about it several times during our travels the last few years every time we blew by the exit for it on the A6 Autoroute. It had made a really strong impression on her then.

The other half of today’s featured family.

So we were up and off early for the 80 kilometer drive south from Paris. We made a quick stop in Samoreau a village close to Fontainebleau to make sure they had space for us in their campground, they did, so after checking in and doing a quick drive by of our assigned spot we headed over to Fontainebleau.

A wedding party posing at the main entrance to Fontainebleau.

This is a very large Chateau, probably the third largest we have seen, Chambord, and Versailles were larger we think. There are over a thousand rooms and multiple wings to the place that make it difficult to capture just how immense it is.

The theme of the tour definitely is Napoleonic. The stories about all of the rooms talk about how Napoleon and his family used them. So I was a little surprised when I did some research to find that it had been a royal palace since the 1200’s, and the buildings we saw today were all in place when Napoleon occupied them.

The rear of the palace looking across the Carp Lake.

Between 1200 and 1780 it was constantly added on to by various kings until it was transformed from a modest (relatively speaking) hunting lodge to the giant building we see today. Most of the construction took place between 1550 and 1780.

Unlike Versailles, Fontainebleau did not suffer any damage during the French Revolution as it was far enough away from Paris to miss out on the chaos that affected royal buildings in the capital. As it was intact Napoleon used it as his official palace when he declared himself emperor.

The furniture all came from Napoleon as the original furnishings were sold off during the French Revolution.

We spent a couple of hours working our way thru the palace and we missed one section of rooms. There was a lot to see and some of the art and furnishings were spectacular.

A couch for Napoleon to recline on while he had informal interviews.

The grounds were quite large and included a very large man made lake. We were expecting more gardens, but there were no formal gardens. The grounds were effectively giant lawns with a few statues and a few trees.

This stream had a few wild flowers blooming just about the only flowers on the grounds.

At the end Ton told me she was a little disappointed. She remembers being awed by this place when she was a student. Today she was not awed, she was thinking that maybe because over the last few years we have visited so many different palaces and castles that they are losing their ability to wow her.

The Carp Lake does have very impressive carp in it.

We headed back to our campground in Samoreau, and I was really charmed by it. The campground is on the banks of the Seine river and when we arrived they were having sailboat races. There is a small restaurant on the banks of the river that was doing booming business as a large percentage of the population of the town were enjoying the beautiful spring day with friends. I was clinched on the place when Ton casually mentioned that Django Reinhardt had lived here most of his life, he is one of my favorite jazz guitarists.

The locals chilling on the bank of the Seine River in front of our campground.

We took a quick stroll along the Seine to end a very nice spring day in France.

April 5, 2025 Versailles FR

We had thoughts of going to Paris but on the way to the train station we ran into a market near the campground and spent some time looking around. It was a pretty small market, but the different vendors were busy. These markets are very common throughout Europe. Most towns have them a couple of times a week, and in bigger towns they are often daily. While the prices are slightly higher than the supermarkets they are well supported.

A fruit and vegetable stand with a mixture of locally grown and imported goods.

Across the street was a very popular bakery, that had a long line stretching out the door the whole time we were there. We were curious about the food inside, but were never able to get inside.

This bakery is on the corner of the street that the market is on.

After spending about an hour walking around checking out the Saturday sites in our little corner of Versailles, Ton suggested we do laundry. So our trip to Paris was put aside and instead we headed back to the campground to knock out our laundry.

In addition to fresh vegetables and meat, pre-cooked foods were widely available.

A couple hours later we had all fresh clothes, and Ton asked if I wanted to head into Paris. By then it was mid-afternoon so we decided to take it easy around the campground. I did walk over to the rugby field next to the campground and watched a game of high school aged kids, the home team was running away with the game at half time so I headed back to François to rejoin Ton.

Most of the stalls were doing steady business the whole time we were there.

As we do this longer, and as we get a little older, these down days where we hang around become a little more common. We are going to be busier tomorrow.

April 4, 2025 Versailles FR

Today will be short. We were up early as we are shifting to Paris. It was a 300 kilometer drive, but it involved crossing Paris at mid-day. We had one stop in mind for the day which was one of the two Costco’s in Paris.

There was a circus in the parking lot next to Costco.

We arrived at Costco without any incident and went on a shopping spree to stock up with cool things we don’t see in our Costco at home and some old friends we do. François needs new tires and I was hoping they could do them here. We had everything worked out, I would buy the tires now, they would order them and then hold them for me until, we passed thru going north on our way back to Amsterdam then they would install them. Just as we were to seal the deal I mentioned that François was 3 meters tall and everything collapsed, their doors can only accommodate vehicles 2.75 meters tall. So I am still looking for tires.

Eventually we walked out with a large chariot (the French word for shopping basket) full of food, and a bottle of wine from Chile to add to our collection of French and Italian wines. Another interesting (at least to Ton and me) thing is that the days we do the least are often the most expensive. Due to tolls, buying fuel (at Costco), and groceries we spent 400% of what we budget per day while traveling.

April 3, 2025 Boulogne-sur-Mer FR

Today we wanted to visit a town about 25 kilometers away to check out a restaurant Ton had read about. It is famous for its seafood. It’s funny how sometimes a place is so very different than what you expect. We expected Boulogne-sur-Mer to be a sleepy fishing village. To our surprise when we arrived we found a bustling city with heavy traffic. Instead of a few local fisherman we found a waterfront full of giant seafood factories with semi-trucks backing into loading docks to be dispatched with various frozen seafood for markets throughout and France, and the rest of Europe. Our impression was that Boulogne was a much bigger and busier town than Calais. When I checked though Calais is about 30% larger than Boulogne so again impressions do not always line up with facts.

The street art on display was quite beautiful, parking to enjoy it was hard to find.

We almost abandoned our quest as we could not find a place to park François. All of the street side parking in the city was full. There were a couple of large parking lots by the port, but they also turned out to be full. We tried to get into a lot that looked promising but the entrance was barricaded, which led to me backing François down a narrow street for a couple of hundred yards to get turned around. Just as we were driving out of town I spied a street that looked to have available parking. It took a couple of attempts to find the entrance, but we finally had a place to begin our day.

Boulogne-sur-Mer’s other attraction beside seafood is a UNESCO tower in the old town. We walked up the hill to it but were disappointed when we got there. As we were standing in front of it in a large square, Ton asked me where it was and I pointed at it and she said, it is supposed to be beautiful?

The church belfry taken from the moat of the castle in town.

Having gotten our morning walk in we decided to head back down to the port to Tons restaurant. Local ambiance was not what drove people to this place as the view out of the windows was of the loading area for a giant fish processing building. To get in we had to navigate a couple of tables of workers on their lunch break and step over a large dog which was sprawled across the sidewalk. But when we entered the decor was first class, and the place was jammed. When we got to the hostess she asked if we had reservations I said no and she said nothing available until 2pm. As I was having this conversation an older gentleman was standing next to the hostess stand, he made eye contact and gave me a glance that said hang on, he then had a long conversation with the hostess and at the end kissed her on both cheeks, and then looked at us and said 2 minutes. In less than 2 minutes we were shown to a very nice table. The meal was wonderful consisting of three courses of local fish dishes we were wowed by the food. This was one of the best seafood meals we have had in Europe and was definitely worth the walk.

We took a scenic route back to Calais. There are two capes that face each other across an inlet in the English channel each with with white cliffs similar to smaller versions of the cliffs of Dover on the English side. In between the towns are dune lands and pastures with rolling hills it was a very nice drive to our final destination of the day the 2 Caps Brewery. After a little GPS misadventure we arrived at the brewery hoping for a table over looking the beautiful countryside. It turns out it is not a cafe, but a place to buy beer to take away. They did offer tastes of beer similar to a wine tasting. We tasted the beer and it was excellent, so we walked out with 6 large beers, and 6 small beers, we just have to find a place to store them in François.