Troll-Trek Series 1, Episode 16: Blois

 This week away has not been aided by the weather. It has rained most mornings and been half-and-half most afternoons. Yesterday the weather gods looked down kindly upon us. This was, unfortunately, not a free gift. Today we paid the price. You just can't go upsetting any old gods you know.

Our spirits were not to be dampened by the god's wrath, although the solar panels on our van, lacking their life's blood, have, in protest, gone on strike. This has left me typing this evening by candle light...

My camera was reluctant to show itself this morning as we strove valiantly to be good tourists. We were here to see the Chateau de Blois, nestled deep in the town of Blois on the edge of the River Loire. So neatly nestled in fact that it's not easy to spot it without actually tripping over it. This, combined with the damp nature of the atmosphere means that almost all pictures are from inside.

This castle is steeped in history, with multiple megalomaniac kings of France having used it as their holiday home, each of them adding bits to suit their taste.  

An interesting history then. And we all know how much young children love history.

They did, however, find some things to amuse them.

The weather improved just in time for the sun to go home.

Giving us a glimpse of the beauty of Blois.

There was just time for the obligatory horse ride...

...before setting off back to the van.

Time to sleep. Well, without electricity in the van there wasn't much bloody choice...

Tomorrow we visit another castle, Chambord (here). We then need to adjust our agenda to go in search of some electrons. Let's hope the oncoming Storm Ciarán allows us to sleep tonight. 

Well, the kids did ask for an adventure...

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.