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FRANCE TOUR 2011 /No 1

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March 5, 2017

After the success of the England West Country tour, it seemed only natural to look over to France and think about next doing a tour there.

In 2011, we launched a spring tour that started in Paris and then moved into the Loire Valley and slowly returned to Paris after we visited various gardens and wineries

It was a total shock that this tour would turn out to be so popular. Seventy people booked, so many that we were forced to divide them into two groups and arrange two identical tours, back-to-back.

In Paris, we stayed in a lovely hotel on the right bank, not far from the Madelein

Bagetelle and Chartres

This was the first time for many of us going to the delightful gardens of Vaux le Vicomte and Chateau de Courances.

In Paris, we also went to the Jardin des Plantes, Patrick Blanc’s green wall at the Quai Branley Museum and Parc Andre Citroen as well as the Parc Floral and Bois de Vincennes.

Vaux le Vicomte, Courances and Apremont-sur-Allier

Since our hotel was not ready to receive us when we arrived in Paris, we first went to the Bois de Boulogne and had a picnic lunch at the Bagatelle garden.

There was a heatwave in Paris at this time. It was very good for bringing out flowers early, especially roses which looked exceptional. However, the warm spell turned into a drought and it was not long before all the fountains were turned off.

We made a few changes to the itinerary later because of the drought but everything worked out splendidly.

On our way to Tours in the Loire Valley, we stopped at Chartres to see the beautiful stained glass at the cathedral.

In Loire, we visited the beautiful gardens of Villandry and Chateau de la Chatonniere as well as the wonderful garden show at Chaumont-sur-Loire plus the magnificent park garden in Apremont-sur-Allier.

I loved this tour very much. We had so much fun visiting wineries – Vouvray and Sancerre – and we had many happy lunch and dinner times.

Chaumont-sur-Loire

This was the tour when we came up with the idea of having spontaneous parties, sharing wine we had bought and other treats.

It all combined – with the glorious weather – to produce a feeling throughout the group of great happiness. The gardens were beautiful and the pace of the tour was perfect and we even had the most perfect guide, Anne-Marie, who amused and delighted us every day with very lovely stories and her own personal insight on French life.

Chateau Chatonniere in the Loire Valley

We arrived back in Paris and still had ample time to sightsee and visit museums and wander around the Latin Quarter and such. Some of us all went to the Madeleine together to hear Mozart’s Requiem, another lovely moment.

We also visited Monet’s garden at Giverny as well as Versailles, where we saw inside the palace as well as had time to explore the gardens.

On our “free day” Loraine and I decided we wanted to travel to Auvers-sur-Oise to see where Van Gogh spent his final days and where he was buried with his brother, Theo, beside him.

Auvers and Beauregard

A change in the itinerary gave us the opportunity to invite everyone to do this with us and take the bus we had at our disposal.

So, we all ended up going to Auvers and we walked through the town, past the place where Van Gogh lived, and up the hill, past the church and into the wheat fields and to the cemetery where he and Theo are buried.

It was a wonderful time and everyone was touched by the spirit of the place and the beauty of the setting and we were also able to place flowers on the grave.

The only incident that sticks in my mind is when we stopped at the Bagatelle for our picnic lunch on our way into Paris on the first day.

We bought baguettes at a local bakery. One person in the group bite into her baguette and immediately lost her front tooth. We rushed to get her to a dentist and everything was repaired very efficiently.

Strangely, enough, the exact same thing happened on the second tour – someone bite into their baguette and lost a tooth. Imagine.

Apart from this, the first France/Loire Valley tour was sensational and easily ranks as one of my favourite adventures.

swhysall@hotmail.com