About 2 hours to the southwest of Paris is a small town in the Loire Valley called Amboise.  This is considered a great location to hub out of to visit all of the great sites of the Loire Valley.  The Loire valley surrounds the Loire river and is known for having so many Chateaus and castle.  In the 1200 to 1800’s this was the land of the rich and famous.  Everyone who was anyone built or bought huge “homes” (aka chateaus or castle) here.  The Lake Oswego of France.

We arrived around 6 pm on Saturday night and got the key and moved in to our apartment.  A 3rd floor 800 sq ft apartment right in the downtown area of the city.  There are 2 gelato shops within 10 feet of the door to the building.  We are on one of the main streets to the whole city.

The above clock tower is part of the original gate in the wall around the city and the castle in the middle of the city.  The door to our apartment is about 25 feet past the gate on the left had side.  From where I took this picture I could just turn to my left and I took this picture of the castle.

We got settled into our apartment and went out foraging for food.  We decided on chinese food to go and got back and watched French TV and ate Chinese food.  Exposing ourselves to many cultures.

On the way to Amboise we made a quick stop in Vezeley France.  It was only took us 45 minutes out of the way from Montbard to Amboise.  Vezelay is a very well preserved ancient town built on a hilltop in the 9th century (thank you wikipedia).  It is best known to house the remains of Mary Magdalene and also a major of the starting points for the pilgrimage to the Santiago de Compostela (look it up on wikipedia).

As we walked into the church we discovered they were having a service at he time.  Bunny and I sat for the service.  Bunny thoroughly enjoyed it.  I stayed awake for most of it.

The final day of lessons for Bunny.  We start off the day with a trip to the boulongerie for pano chocolate and crouisants.

After breakfast we went to the local “farmers” market to get a little bit of knowledge on how to buy groceries at the market.

Then to a cafe after the market for a coffee at the local after market hangout for everyone.  Then back to the apartment for another of Claudines wonderful lunches.

After lunch Bunny and Claudine have their final French lesson.

In the evening Claudine took us up to a spot over looking the city of Montbard.

After a nice walk we slept really well.  Tomorrow .. sadly we say “Au revoir” to Claudine and Montbard.  🙁

The day began as usual.  Breakfast at 8:30 am and lesson at 9:00 am.  I spent the morning blogging and examining a problem Claudine was having with the muffler on her car.

After another wonderful lunch with Claudine and then Bunny and I walked around Montbard exploring the city.  Picking out some places of interest.

Boulangerie .. aka donut shop … mmmm donuts

The above picture is from the balcony of our apartment into the court yard of the building we are in…

After exploring the city of Montbard we retired to the apartment for left overs from lunch and some more blogging…..

As usual the day starts at 8:30 am with breakfast with everyone at the table in our apartment.  It includes toast with preserves and honey along with coffee or tea.  Then Claudine and Marie are off to work on table in the living room with Bunnys French lessons.  Then another wonderful lunch and Bunny and I were on our own to explore the area.  This afternoon we drove to the Abbey de Fontenay.  The same place I walk to on Tuesday.  Today we went inside and explorer the buildings and the history of the Abbey.  The Abbey was bulit in 1118.  In 1820 the Abbey was purchased by the same family which owns it today.  Some of the buildings are private and off limits.

After the Abbey we went back to the apartment and scavenge left over from the previous days meals.  Then caught up on some of the shows we usually watch (The Good Wife and Madam Secretary) then off to bed.  Once again exhausted from the days events.

Day 2 oof the french lessons started just the same.  But the day had something wonderful in store.  8:30 am breakfast and 9:00 am French lessons for Bunny.  I walked to Abbey de Fontany.  It is an Abbey just 2 1/2 miles from Montbard.  Claudine showed me how to use the signs on houses and poles to follow a walking trail to the Abbey. 

So the white and red lines meant that I was on the right trail and to go straight. When the lines were crossed it meant that you have gone the wrong way and need to turn around.

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For lunch we drove out to a town called Planay.   It was about a 30 minute drive from Montbard.  We met Claudines freinds Annie and Raenae for lunch.  The home they lived in was built in 1740.  They had lived in the house for 40 years.  They invited us in for a wonderful French lunch with several courses each included wine or champagne.  After the lunch we toured the house including Annies studio where she paints in various forms.  Also I got a persoanl tour of Raenaes garden which became very ackward quickly as he couldnt speak english and obviously I couldnt speak french.  We quickly sought out Claudine to interpret what we were saying to one another.

What a wonderful experience to be invited into a french countryside farmhouse for a typical French meal.

On the way home we toured another wonderful little French town with lots of history.

Back to the apartment where Claudine had another wonderful dinner planned for us.  Then off to bed because we were exhausted from the day of learning and eating.

Monday Oct 12th … Breakfast is at 8:30 and the lessons for Bunny begin at 9:00 am.  After breakfast I decide to explore the city while Bunny has her lesson.  I walked around Montbard.  I went to the large super market to look for some needed items.  I went to the large home improvement store to see the differences in their home improvement store and our Home Depot.  Then off to see the historic site of the city.  Over looking Montbard is a large tower.

After my morning walk and Bunnys French lesson we had another of Claudines wonderful meals for lunch and then we were off to a town called Semur-en-Auxois.  About a 20 minute drive from Montbard.

We finshed the day with a wonderful dinner from Claudine.  Then we were off to bed around 8:30 pm exhausted from a big day of touring and wonderful food.

Well we have arrived.  Montbard France.  We will be staying here for one week while Bunny gets immersed in French.  We arrived in town about an hour early then our scheduled arrival time, so we parked in the local market parking lot to wait til 6:00 pm which is our scheduled arrival time.  Its Sunday and there is nothing open and no one around town.  Actually the government of France prevents businesses from opening on Sunday.  So everything is closed for Sunday so the people of France can enjoy their friends and families instead of workin for “da man”.  There are some essential businesses open, for example gas stations and small convience stores.

Its 6:00 pm.  We find the place and park and proceed to knock on the door.  Claudine opens the door and greets us with a big smile and welcoming to her home.

We basically have the whole 2nd floor of her house as our “apartment”  About 1200 sq ft of apartment.  We put our stuff away and begin our welcoming dinner reception.  This was the one surprise I found out about as the week went on,  this French immersion included fine French cuisine, wine and tours of the countryside.  Oh La La ….

The Sunday nights dinner was spectacular.  The meal started with a sweet wine for the appetiser.  It is suppose to enhance the palate for the coming meal.  Next was a onion soup, then the main meal which was beans carrots and other vegetables cooked with sausage with other types of sausage on the side.  The meal included a red wine from the bourgogone region.  We finished the meal with a cheese plate, which is always included in every French meal.  Then there is always a dessert which is my favorite part of the meal.

The meal ended and Bunny and I were dead tired and we went off to bed immediately and we probably slept 10 hours that night.

This trip to France all started with Bunny wanting to expand her knowledge of the French language.  She really wanted to take a French immersion class from Claudine Alberti a language professor who teaches language immersion out of her home in Montbard France.  The only opening Claudine had for the 2015 year was from Nov 8th thru the 14th.  Unfortunately those dates were to close to the Thanksgiving holiday to make for a worthwhile trip to France for the week long French immersion program.  Bunny stayed in contact with Claudine hoping for a cancellation.  Then in late August 2015 Claudine contacted Bunny with the news.  She did have a cancellation for a week in mid October 2015.  I took us only 3 days to confirm that she would take the week and get plane reservations.  Then began the process of planning our Europe trip 2015.

We found the best and cheapest flights were nonstop on Condor airlines from Portland to Frankfurt.  We chose a starting date and an ending date with the week of French immersion somewhere in the middle of the trip.  From there we began plotting possible destinations and places of interest we wanted to hit.  From that we developed a route map and the process of locating places to stay began.  Bunny kept saying that “this is the fun part”.  I was glad to let her have all the fun.

This all happened so fast that we really kept thinking something was going to go wrong or there was something gonna pop up to put the trip in doubt.  But as the dates got closer it seemed as though this trip was meant to be.  Everything fell into place and before long we were just one week from leaving portland for one month.  I think it was around that time that we started to realize that a month is a long time to be away from home.  But plans were set and airfares purchased … there was no backing out now….We were going to Europe for a month.