Category Archives: Rambles

Back in St. Louis

After the most miserable Winter and Spring imaginable here in Seattle, we headed off to St. Louis in May to catch up on grandkid-hugging, tiki-drinking, general good fun and some warm weather. We had a great time! First: here’s the St. … Continue reading

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Chateau Amboise and Chateau Azay-le-Rideau

After seeing Chateau Blois and visiting the town, we took a day-trip to go to Chateau Amboise and then stopped at Chateau Azay-le-Rideau on the day we drove back to home base at Bois-le-Roi. This was the second time we’d … Continue reading

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Chateau Blois

We left Cheverny and made the half-hour drive to the town of Blois. Here sits one of the most interesting chateaux in all of France, in a very enjoyable city. We made Blois our base of operations for the next … Continue reading

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Chateau de Cheverny

If you once had a teenage son or daughter, they might well look at a picture of Chateau Cheverny and think, “That seems familiar…” If they were to look at the picture below and cover up the right and left … Continue reading

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A Ramble to the Loire Valley

We took a three-night road trip last week to the Loire Valley. It was a terrific trip; one of those where nothing goes wrong, the weather was great, sights were beautiful and historic and interesting. When we got back, we … Continue reading

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Alsace Trip – Mulhouse

Last stop on our Alsace tour: Mulhouse. Mulhouse differs quite a bit from Strasbourg and Colmar: it’s an industrial city that is having a hard time keeping its industrial base. It doesn’t have many beautiful and historic buildings nor beautiful … Continue reading

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Alsace Trip – Colmar

Colmar was next up on our itinerary. It’s not far from Strasbourg, smaller by quite a bit (around 75,000 compared to Strasbourg’s 470,000) and definitely oriented more toward tourism. The city has many beautiful and interesting buildings, built in the … Continue reading

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Alsace Road Trip – Strasbourg

Alsace We’ve been on a road trip to Alsace, in eastern France, for the last week and a half. We visited Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse (pronounced “ma-looze,” of course). We’ve never been to this part of France and Mary has … Continue reading

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A Ramble to Montreuil-sur-Mer

Our friends Jamie and Hervé have sung the praises of Montreuil-sur-Mer since they visited the town several years ago (Hervé is from a small town not far away) and when they suggested we meet them there for a couple days, … Continue reading

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Sancerre

Last Thursday we took a day trip to the Sancerre region, for two reasons: to buy some Sancerre wine from a winery that we’ve visited and bought from since we started our long stays here, and to have lunch with … Continue reading

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