Amiens

19th September

10 minutes out of Pontorson this morning my Map app crashed and lost its route settings. We immediately turned around (not as easy as it sounds!) and headed back to the hotel wifi hotspot to reset the route as, without it, ...! Peter coped brilliantly again with the driving and we won't mention the minor episode with the roundabout in Pontorson where someone headed to the left side of the road and had to mount the centre divider to return to the right side while their wife screamed in panic!

The French highways are well set up with rest stops and petrol stations along the way. We had lunch here and used the public conveniences. Without going into detail, let's just say that the last time I used a facility like this one was in Sumatra 33 years ago! Bring out the detail hand wipes!

We've seen many wind farms on route in 

France, especially when flying over the country from Zurich. Much of the countryside looks like Australian farmland in winter, when the fields are green. The only difference is the lack of gum trees!

After 4 hours driving, with some rest time thrown in and 

time to work out the French toll (paeage) system which has presented us with 3 different methods of payment, we reached Amiens. From here we will take a tour of WW1 battlefields. Above is a photo of the house where Jules Verne lived. We didn't bother paying to go inside, the outside was good enough for us!

This bamboo structure is being built for an aerial circus display at the Jules Verne Circus. There are different shows on each month. Personally, I wouldn't use the high trapeze from this structure for all the money in the world!

The obligatory gothic cathedral, complete with flying buttresses and gothic arches is in the centre of Amiens. A delightful bed of cosmos gave me the opportunity to snap this shot.

Tonight we ate at a small restaurant hidden in a side alley away from this strip of restaurants along the canal. Craving Asian food, I tracked down a Vietnamese restaurant and we ate the best meal ever whilst sitting in a quiet alley away from the hustle and bustle of the nearby eateries. We heard the live music from 100 metres away, which was just perfect!

Another canal and the buildings at dusk.

The cathedral at dusk.

Mont Saint Michel

18th September (afternoon)

The wifi connection and the clunkiness of the blog site means that I have to enter the day's travels in two parts. We drove 350km today to the North coast of France, stopping at Pontorson where our booking was. The intention though, was to see Mont Saint Michel, which is thought to date back to 708, when a bishop had a sanctuary built in honour of the archangel.

In the 10th century the Benidictines settled in the abbey and a village grew up around its walls. During the Hundred Years War its ramparts and fortifications resisted the English assaults and the Mount became a symbol of National identity. In the 19th century the abbey was first used as a prison, then recognised as an historic monument. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site. At high tide, the sea covers the mud flats and surrounds the island. There is now a bridge to the island to cope with the huge number of tourists who visit it.

The photos have come in out of order but I can't fight it, so I'll let it be! This is a street in the village at the foot of the abbey. It is very touristy and narrow and would be delightful if you could remove the souvenir shops.

The abbey, sitting above the village. What you can't see in the photo is the extensive earth works being carried out on the mud flats.

The entrance to the village was impressive and contained all the medieval reinforcements that we've seen in other places - thick walls and doors, uphill entrances with tunnels and holes for attacking the enemy.

Looking out over the flats from the abbey.

The abbey.

Inside the church, looking forward to the altar.

The abbey.

This door caught Peter's eye. He loved all the thick walls, doors, door furniture and locks and I have many photos that are probably not on every tourist's camera! Looking through the door, we see the cloister.

The cloister.

The internal garden of the cloister with other parts of the abbey in the background.

These windows, at one end of the cloister, have glass in them now. I'm not sure what was in them back when they were built...

Peter is standing in one of a pair of fireplaces which were in a room of the abbey! The chimney tower was very wide and you could see all the way up it to the opening, which was at least a metre wide at the top.

This human powered wheel operated a lift which raised objects on a wooden slide along the outside of the abbey wall. It reminded us of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings.

The abbey spire.

A great day! The trip went well and the toll machine cooperated today, thank goodness. Tolls are expensive in France. Today's trip cost €19,20!

Chateau Amboise

18th September (morning)

The royal Chateau at Amboise sits high above the Loire River. It was confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century and it became a favoured royal residence. It was extensively rebuilt. King Charles VIII died at the château in 1498, at the age of 28, after hitting his head on a door lintel when walking to watch a tennis match on the grounds. He left no male heir. The château fell into decline from the second half of the 16th century and the majority of the interior buildings were later demolished, but some survived and have been restored, along with the outer defensive circuit and towers.

Leonardo da Vinci was buried at the Chateau, but originally 100 metres from this site. The original church was demolished and, in the 1800s, Leonardo's remains were identified and moved into this chapel which was built for the Queen.

The chapel where Leonardo's tomb is.

The town of Amboise and the Loire River.

Looking the other way, you can see the chateau, its walls and ramparts and the town below.

The Chateau and the beautiful grounds.

Inside the Royal reception rooms. THE columns are decorated with fleur de lise and royal insignia.

This statue marks the site of Leonardo's original burial site.

Looking back from the statue to the chapel where his tomb is now.

The steep walls of the chateau rise above the popular town square where many cafés and souvenir shops are today.

To exit the castle, we followed a spiralling path that went downhill. The roof and walls were like this the whole way down for about 100 metres in length. It was beautiful.

Amboise

17th September

Today we braved the streets of Paris and picked up our hire car which was, in itself, an experience. Car parks, car hire companies and petrol stations are all underground in Paris.

With Only the Google Map app in my iPad to guide us we navigated out of Paris onto a freeway. Things went so smoothly that it seemed all wrong! Not to worry, we were soon fed onto the wrong road at a large interchange and my navigating skills were put to the test. After meandering around the suburbs we eventually entered another freeway and we were on our way via an alternate route. Panic set in when the app crashed and the route was lost, but by then we were far enough out of Paris that we coped.

Another new experience was the toll road that we used. In France you collect a ticket at the entrance to the toll road and pay when you get off. Sounds easy but the machine rejected the ticket at the exit, the helpful lady spoke no English and then it rejected our €50 note. Eventually it spat out €31 in COINS as change and Peter madly scooped them out of the till so we could clear the lane and get on our way.

This little winery was just outside of Amboise and the cellar door sales were inside a natural cave. The wine is now made in the industrial area.

Amboise is famous for two locations. The first is Chateau du Clos Luce, the last residence of Leonardo da Vinci. This is the view of the house from the tower entrance.

Leonardo's bedroom, the place where he died.

The view from his bedroom.

The Oratory of Anne de Bretagne. Charles VIII commissioned this chapel at the end of the 15th century for his wife Anne. The chapel contains 4 frescoes painted by artists from Leonardo's studio.

The Renaissance Great Hall was Leonardo's reception room. Here he would entertain Francois I, important persons of the Kingdom and the various artists who came to visit him.

This stairway leads down to the secret underground passage that, according to tradition, led to the Royal Chateau d'Amboise. King Francois I is said to have used it to visit Leonardo.

The house and gardens host 40 of Leonardo's amazing designs. Copies of the drawings are alongside small models and some large models and the gardens have many large working models as well. It is a fascinating place to visit.

The gardens are tranquilly and very picturesque.

A 'working' model of a steam driven machine gun. It only shot steam out of the barrels luckily.

A lovely stretch of cafés and shops in Amboise.

At sunset, the castle suddenly glowed with the setting sun's rays. It was stunning to see and the photos are true to what it looked like.

Peter relaxing after driving on the 'wrong' side of the road today. He did a brilliant job!

We plan to visit this castle tomorrow.

Paris Day 3

16th September

Today we visited Montmartre, the artistic area of Paris where the famous artists gathered together for inspiration. Built on a hill (seems to be the only hill in Paris!) the town is dominated by the Sacre Coure basilica, the place where serious religious Catholics go to pray in Paris as it is much quieter than the famous Notre Dame.

This statue is of the King Loui

And this is Joan of Arc.

The bell inside this tower weighs 19 tonnes!

The moulin de Galette is another haunt of the artists. The 

owners of the mill ground the flour and invented the Galette, a brown flour (probably buckwheat) bread or savoury pancake still enjoyed by the French today. Renoir's famous painting, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, depicted a typical Sunday afternoon at the mill.

Peter is walking past a statue of the Bishop of Paris who is actually holding his own head. He was executed, and the legend says that he picked up his head and 

walked 10km preaching the gospel as he walked. He was made a martyr and the name of the town, Montmartre, is derived from this together with the French word for hill.

 A pretty street in Montmartre. Up the hill on 

the left is a pink house, another building connected with the artists of the time.

A modern day artist in Montmartre. We are 

now the proud owners of one of her beautiful oil paintings.

The  basilica of Sacre Coeur.

This tiny vineyard produces enough grapes to make a few bottle of wine each year. The bottles are auctioned off and sell for ridiculous prices. They are not for drinking (our guide suggested that the quality wasn't the best) but for cellaring and the money raised is given to charity.

Once again we chose to skip the return journey to the hotel and take off on our own. We walked past the Moulin Rouge on our way back and found a delightful street where the pedestrian and bike tracks were in the centre of the road between tall trees. The day ended with a visit to the nearby royal gardens and a meal at a street cafe.