Day 4 – Monday – After buying some croissants in Bayeux and visiting the cathedral one last time we headed south, stopping in at the race track in Le Mans after a helpful counter girl at a McDonald’s near there drew a map on the back of a paper bag. After visiting the gift shop we paid 5 euros to drive our car into the track area where we pulled over to watch cars practicing and went up in some stands to watch some more. My husband, a race fan, loved it!
Continuing south we reached Tours about an hour later. We stayed at the Hotel Criden in the quad on the top floor. It was a large room but after the tasteful decorations at the Hotel Tardiff, this place screamed 1970’s. At first that, plus hearing the elevator creaking up and down, and wondering why the room had metal grates that cranked down over the patio doors that wouldn’t lock and listening to lots of sirens, I wasn’t sure if I had made a good choice, but the elevator noise didn’t bother us, we made use of the space and it was an ok hotel. The price was very reasonable as well.
Again after the quaint Bayeux surroundings, this location seemed really city-ish and we didn’t warm to it as much. It seemed a bit out of the way.
After a stop at the nearby Tourism Office we visited the cathedral and found it to be very beautiful but a bit run down. Then we found the Place Plumereau and ate outside at the Irish Company. That was a fun setting.
Day 5 – Tuesday – After breakfast at the very nice buffet at the Hotel Criden we started on our quest to find d’Azay de Rideau. FRUSTRATING. We did enjoy our visit there. I didn’t expect it to be right in the middle of a town or village! It took a couple of loops around town to find a parking spot. We got the audioguides which were OK, but the batteries on two of them ran out mid tour requiring a walk back to the entrance and it was sometimes hard to understand the narrator. If I were to do it again I would instead go for an English tour. It reminded me of the castles in Ireland.
We ate at outside at a nearby restaurant and ordering was a bit difficult, but the waitress nicely took my daughter’s and my “well done,” but dripping blood, burgers back to be cooked some more.
Then we strolled back to the village to our car and headed to Villandry without getting lost!!!! We opted not to get an audio guide and just walked through the house and gardens. My daughter liked this chateau better because you could picture people living in it. The gardens were beautiful and there were a lot of people there.
Went back to Tours and back to the cathedral we had visited to climb to an upper area that my daughter had noticed you could tour. Then it was back to the Place Plumereau for dinner outside.
Day 6 – Wednesday – After breakfast we packed up, checked out and headed to Chenonceau. And got lost. Again. When we arrived it was PACKED with a massive line for tickets. It’s quite the commercial operation there! We got the audio guides – iPods which included music, photos/paintings, etc, of people being referred to. After touring the chateau we had lunch at the cafeteria, sitting outside. THEN we rented a row boat for 4 Euros for 30 minutes and took turns rowing under and around the chateau – lots of fun.
Then we headed towards Paris. To be continued …. tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k22285…
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I enjoyed reading your trip post. My husband and I are planning a 23 day trip to France in April/May 2009. Did you go to the car museum in Le Mans? I am planning on stopping in Le Mans too to see the museum and track on our way to St. Mont Michel. It%26#39;s great to read about other%26#39;s experiences of their vacations. I can%26#39;t wait to go and I feel like I have seen some of it through your travels. Thanks again.
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I%26#39;m glad my report was helpful!
All we did in Le Mans was to visit the track (and the gift shop.) We decided not to go into the museum at the track in order to keep the stop brief. Is that the car museum you are referring to?
Connie
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Connie,
I am not sure where the museum is in Le Mans. I found it on this site and have it saved under my trips. My husband loves cars and all the types of racing that goes along with it. Will you give me some imput on my trip?
Fly into Paris- One night at Marriott near airport. Pick up car and maybe go to Giverny for the day.
-Drive to Amboise for 3 nights. See Chateaus and do some winetasting.
-Drive to Mont St. Micheal for one night.
-Drive to Bayeaux for 4 nights. We are doing two tours with Battlebus.(will take 3 days).
-Drive to Honfluer for one night.
-Drive to Ghent for two nights. Do a day trip Bruggs.
-Drive to Brussells for two nights.
-Drive to Bastogne for two nights. We have booked a private tour with a guide to see battle of the buldge tour.
-Drive to Reims for two nights. See champagne houses and small towns.
-Drive to Paris for three nights. Go to Versailles, go to disneyland Paris one day and see sights of Paris that we have not seen yet. ( We have done all the museums on two other trips to Paris).
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Connie,
I did check and it is next to the racing circut. Sorry, my post was so long. I am hoping to make a visit short also in Le Mans. I thought we could see the museum and now I know that we can drive on the track. We will be driving a leased car so it won%26#39;t be a fast lap but fun anyways. Thanks for the help.
Darla
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Darla -
I can comment on just some of it. As you saw we left right from CDG for Giverney and ran out of steam on the way from there to Bayeux. Staying overnight upon arrival might have been a good idea.
Three days would probably be enough time to see the chateaus you want to - someone on TA mentioned getting chateau-ed out. As much as I loved them, more than 3 would have pushed us over the edge I think.
4 nights in Bayeaux will be nice. We had 3 and I almost shifted one of them to Tours and I%26#39;m glad that I didn%26#39;t.
%26lt;Go to Versailles%26gt;
I would recommend the Fat Tire Bike Tour!
%26lt;go to disneyland Paris one day%26gt;
Thought about going but decided not to.
%26lt;and see sights of Paris that we have not seen yet. ( We have done all the museums on two other trips to Paris).%26gt;
Sounds good.
%26lt;now I know that we can drive on the track.%26gt;
You can WHAT on the WHAT????? Don%26#39;t tell my husband that!! We were able to drive around to different parts of the track and watch some race cars doing laps. Even that made him happy!
Sounds like you will have a great trip!
Connie
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Connie,
Thanks for the imput on my up coming trip. We are both looking forward to it. It is still 7 months away. I thought that I had read that you could drive on the track? No? My husband loves to watch all the car races on T.V. and we did see the race this year at Le Mans on T.V.
The only reason we are going to Disneyland Paris is because I have a friend that works for Disney and we get free tickets. I am interested to see the difference between the one in Calif. and Paris. I love Disney anyways so it should be a fun time.
I don%26#39;t plan on seeing more than three chateaus unless we feel like it when we are there. I want to see Chenoceau and Chambord and maybe one of the smaller ones. I do want to find some good wines to buy to take with us on our journey though France and Belgium. I hear that Chinon has good red wines.
Thanks again- Darla
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