Troll-Trek Series 1, Episode 15: Beauval

 Wow!

Just... wow!

Colour me amazed.

Today we spent the entire day, an exhausting day, an exhilarating day, in the Zooparc de Beauval.

This has been voted the fourth best zoo in the world! Just after Hyde Parc in Lamothe Capdeville...

I usually do not like zoos. I usually find them cruel, often abhorrent. 

This place is a total surprise. Huge spaces (ok, never enough, but needs must). Beautifully and intelligently designed. Exciting. Absorbing. Clean (with the occasional dollop of poo and some interesting smells). Faultless.  A huge veterinary centre. Totally bloody exhausting. 

If you've never been there, if you've never even heard of it, go there. Put it on your bucket list now.

I'm too knackered to write more now. I've too any photos - I'll do a video another time once out of recovery...

Quote of the day once more goes to Kaïly: "Wow, look! A pigeon!"

Now.... perchance to sleep....

Tomorrow; back to medieval France: The Chateau de Blois and the House of Magic... (here)

Troll-Trek Series 1, Episode 14: Cheverny

 Welcome to the second castle in our Loire Valley adventure, the Chateau de Cheverny.

We had passed a better night. There had been little noise, apart from our hazard lights going off in the wee hours. No mozzies, no bugs, dormant kids. Sometimes called the calm before the storm. 

The morning though was decidedly wetter. 

All this damp stuff made walking outside less than ideal, so we spent much of the morning wandering the insides of this splendid castle, searching for clues and Lego. Obviously.

Many rooms were standard fair for the super rich.

Others contained some strange artefacts. 

There is a fixation on Lego here, many of which were built into forms indistinguishable from the original.

The king's bedroom was particularly over the top (although clearly Lego was beneath him), with so much detail in walls and ceilings that sleeping here would seem absurd.

For instance, this detail above the fireplace.

On pointing out the beheading of a baby, five year old Kaïly said "Of course! Babies are in a pain in the arse!" (English translation toned down for the more sensitive amongst you).

We ventured out again after lunch to see signs of a brighter sky. 

Now we could see more of the fixation on pumpkins and such.

Also Tintin is something of a superstar here. This chateau was made famous as Tintin's base of operations, Merlinspike.

Much space is given over to an exhibition of their adventures. Bizarrely, none of it made in Lego...

Oh look. More pumpkins...

After a long exhausting day we left the chateau all Lego'd out. All was reasonably calm and happy.

Except for the sky.

The calm was not to last. We drove south a short distance towards our next destination; the identity of which we kept as a surprise from the little angels. This may have been a mistake. Upon arriving at the site of our next adventure, our two ex-angels achieved a level of excitement that Einstein would have had difficulty explaining.

Tune in tomorrow (here) to find out the cause of this nuclear event and whether or not we survived it.

Troll-Trek Series 1, Episode 13: Valençay.

The two monsters may have suffered with a small dose of over-excitement the previous evening, but the additional hour donated by the reversing of the clock gave us a reasonable amount of time to attempt sleep. The night was spend hovering somewhere between the gentle sleep-inducing sound of falling rain splattering gently on the van's roof, and the intermittent intensely irritating buzz of dive-bombing mosquitoes.

It was therefore a slow start to the morning, hopeful that the rain would restrain itself. It did. 

This is the Chateau de Valençay:

The afternoon would allow for some external photography, the intensely grey morning sky making swimming preferable to photography.

Thus the morning was spent inside, once we had forced our way past the bouncer. 

We visited the rooms of this super rich home. Despite the well dictated stories supplied by our hand-held guides, it will come as no surprise that the grandkids attention was not held long by these antique, primordial rooms dating back to a far distant past nearly as old as Mamé and Papé.

There were some quite impressive carpets mistakenly glued to the wall...

However, the veracity of some of these 'originals' is in question...

Once the pleasures of prehistory had been exhausted, we set forth in search of a local hostelry. We struck gold. The 'meal of the day' was a true masterpiece, and tasted as good as it looked.

Not all were so impressed.

The chef in this establishment was something of a split personality. After he had slammed doors and berated his waitress with language that was way beyond my feeble abilities, and of which Annick refused to translate, he changed, front of house, into a friendly face which led me into a deep discussion of the abilities of our respective rugby teams.  

On returning replete to the chateau, the sun was straining on its leash to shower us in sunshine. Enough to allow some photography, but still surprising us with the occasional wet stuff.

The girls didn't care.

It was finally time to leave this amazing place in our new, slightly short-of-space, camper...

40 minutes later, here we are, ready for our next day's adventure, in the Chateau de Cheverny.

Tomorrow, our second chateau and another day dodging the raindrops. (Here.)

Troll-Trek Series 1, Episode 12: Wild Animals.

There was a choice to be made:

Stay at home to look after Maman, or head north in seriously limited space on wheels (The Troll) with two wild grandkids. 

We drew the short straw.

This was to be our safari replacement. Thanks to my aging venous system, flying to distant realms was out. This, instead of visiting my many animal friends and acquaintances, meant that we were to take some of our favourite wild animals with us.

Giraffes on the back of the van...

..and two uncontrollable wild animals within.

...currently pretending to be domesticated.

Getting to the Loire Valley took most of the day. Made longer by toilet stops, food stops, siesta stops and, well, time to enjoy the rain.

And so, we arrived in Valençay, ready for the following day's medieval meanderings and, possibly more importantly, in time for the World Cup Rugby Final. 

This might explain this radically (and thankfully) shortened blog. It is now time for me to watch the match, while the two wildlings are hopefully forced into recumbency. 

Fear not, tomorrow's blog will almost certainly help you drift into sleep... 

Our adventure starts tomorrow. 

Be there.

Troll-Trek Series 1 Episode 11: The Misty Mountains.

To escape the bugs, we head for damper climes. 

We are to spend the next four days in our Hydeaway deep in the Pyrenees. The deep, dark, and decidedly damp Pyrenees.

Well, it turns out that the damp is a pleasant change, as is the lack of bugs. Even the cottage itself is pleasantly lacking in its usual complement of flies. 

In the last blog (here) I ranted about the garden's insect inhabitants. What I omitted to mention was the plague of bugs inside the house. 

These things come in various colour, having evolved to look like leaf litter. They get everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The other day, on returning from our morning walk into the village for our daily shop and fill of healthy vibes, I removed my hat, only to have a good twenty of these bloody things fall out all around me. They had presumably spent the previous forty minutes wandering aimlessly through my hair without me even realising it! Possibly a clue to how sensitive I am?

Harmless to us humans, their numbers presumably affect my garden plants in some way, BUT, be careful. Don't squish them. They're not called stink bugs for nothing. In France they are called 'punaise', which is also a very commonly used swear word. You can see why...

Anyhow, back in the Pyrenees...

...the warmth of the sun is yet to arrive, so the local wildlife search for alternative sources of heat.

Don't try this at home...

Thankfully, sheltering indoors gives an opportunity to organise a treasure hunt...

...causing both amusement and bemusement.

Once the weather improves we set off hunting wildlife. 

Approach with care.

Good capture!

Talking of wild animals...

So here's a first attempt at time-lapse photography. 

Dawn to Dusk in the Pyrenees.

Now we head north. After a short stopover in Montauban, we are to continue on our brave adventure to the heart of medieval France. The Loire Valley. Hold on to your halberds....