Together with my mom, Yvonka, Rhys and his bottle (it’s an inside joke) we went for a “Castles in France” adventure. On our first day in Versailles, having gone to bed at 4pm because of jet lag, we got woken up by loud explosions which turned out to be fireworks celebrating Bastille Day. We managed to arrive at the main plaza in front of the palace (in pyjamas!) exactly when the fireworks were over.
In Versailles Yvonka began our pedagogical lessons about the different types of columns, which lead to more lessons about Tristan and Isolde, Tosca, Othello, Marie-Antoinette and tons of other cultural things of great importance. In two weeks we visited stunning castles, parks and gardens. In Chaumont-sur-Loire we saw mom’s favourite artist Andy Goldsworthy, all the installation where made of nature. It was her favourite and least favourite day at the same time, as she forgot to put the battery to her camera, well there is always a phone camera.
After the Loire Valley and ten castles, we drove south. On the way to Castels we stopped by uncle Steve’s house for a short visit. I was very pleased. In Castels we stayed in a manor farm house with a dog, a cat, two donkeys, many ducks, and some bugs which liked Yvonka very much, (we like keeping traditions while travelling) After overdosing with squash we headed south to Carcassonne when we could “finally” see some tourists. We stayed at a mansion nearby where we surprised our host with our sardine breakfast diet. After two weeks we reached the Mediterranean sea and topless ladies on the beach.
After two weeks of castles, boat cruises, visiting the world famous Lascaux caves with the prehistoric art, countless cathedrals and cute villages, it was time for a big city trip – Paris via the TGV. We said goodbye to Yvonka, as her adventure continued in the Pyrenees with even more castles. Once mom, Rhys and I arrived in Paris, mom put on her fast forward guide hat and we had lots on our plate: Eiffel Tower all the way to the top, the Louvre, the Sacré-Cœur basilica, the Pompidou centre, and Notre Dame cathedral. We had a lovely lunch with mom’s lovely friend Pierre. Rhys found his long awaited Subway and lost his water bottle.
Enjoy 10 pages of pictures!
