Day 4

Hitting the road

We're leaving Paris today! We meet the bus (and our busdriver Peter) close to our hotel in Paris. The bus becomes the backbone of the tour. We'll have time in it every day from this point. And I love it. For me this is what sets apart a tour group from independent travel. We are covering a lot of ground, but the bus is comfy, we take breaks at just the right moments, and Virginie is teaching and telling stories the whole way (but don't worry too much--she also gives us plenty of time for quiet reflection or napping).

Virginie is a teacher, and the first thing she teaches us (correction--the first thing she teaches me, because she taught the rest of the group about historic Paris on their walking tour the day I arrived in Paris) is about driving in France. Drivers licenses are really expensive (one of many reasons most Parisians don't have cars), and in general they drive smaller cars. In an illustration of French pride, most cars we see on the motorway are made in France, with just a sprinkle of imports.

We are driving into the heart of France, the biggest agricultural region. I'm sitting on the eastern side of the bus, watching the sun get higher and higher over fields of wheat, corn, and grasses.

Before long it's time for a pause pipi. That's what Virginie calls a rest stop. A few minutes to stretch our legs, take a pipi or buy a snack. I opt for fresh air over the mini mart, and my choice is validated when Virginie passes out cookies as soon as we're back on the road. Yum.

aboard the bus!

Today's Highlights:

Hitting the road
Storytelling on the bus
Guédelon Castle
Driving through Burgundy
Bourges

Meet Jean and Marie

Back on the bus, it's time for another story. Virginie needs our help with this one, and we'll add new chapters throughout the tour.

I sketched Jean and Marie on the iPad while on the airplane home. Their outline was borrowed from a painting by Léger that I saw at the Pompidou!

Jean and Marie are a man and woman living in France. They meet at a bar, fall in love, and get married. Like the average French couple, they are 37 years old when they get married. Because France has complete separation of church and state, there is no priest. But like most couples, they have a celebration later at church and a big party with family and friends. During the party, they sneak away to spend their first night together. Their friends and family keep partying all night long. In the morning, they go searching for the happy couple to bring them breakfast. What's for breakfast? French Onion Soup served in a chamber pot! What an amusing French tradition!

Meet M. & Mme. Martin!

Guédelon Castle

Our destination this morning is Guédelon Castle. We exit the bus into warm weather with clouds that will slowly disappear. We enter the gate and are transported to the year 1254. Our guide Heine refuses to use our newfangled whisper system. There's no gunpowder. No printing press. But they do have 21st century safety systems, like steel-toed boots, hard hats, goggles, and safety rails!

Heine shows us his tools

I find myself thankful to be with a tour group. On my own at this site, I'd be too shy to ask questions, especially when most of the other guests are speaking French.

The tools are made from iron extracted from the ferruginous sandstone they get from a quarry nearby. The stone can also be baked to extract lime to use for mortar.

At the end of our tour, we are given lunch in the castle's picnic area, then have a little free time to explore the rest of the site. What a fun morning!

Castle fun facts:

construction began in 1997

built in the style of Philippe Auguste, just like the fortress of the Louvre

towers are only as far apart as an arrow can fly

no one building castles in 1254 could read or write, so Guédelon's builders had to learn from paintings and stained glass windows!

Jet lag check: It's pretty tricky in the darker rooms of the castle. I know it's dark at home right now...where all my friends are sleeping...zzz...

Gotta keep moving!

Scroll to explore Guédelon >

Quiche Lorraine--yum!

Back on the Bus

We have just a little longer on the bus to reach tonight's hotel. We're in Burgundy now, and it feels worlds away from Paris.

We learn from Virginie that Burgundy is known for Bœuf Bourguignon, mustard, and wine. As a strict teetotaler, my attention drifts off as she talks about wine (which she loves, as a French woman should).

We pull over to take photos of a vineyard and the countryside. She passes around a soil sample, so we can literally get a feel for the terroir. A good grape needs to struggle, so the soil is rather pathetic. Most agriculture does not like this struggle, but goats aren't very picky, so goat cheese is big in this area too.

The forest is as pretty as a Klimt painting!

terroir = the natural character of the sun, soil, and vine

Bourges

Tonight we're staying in the city of Bourges. We're given a little time to freshen up at the hotel, and then we're off on a walking tour.

Our guide is Isabelle, who proudly calls Bourges her home.

We're right next to Palais Jacques Cœur. Jacques Cœur wasn't nobility or clergy, he was just a rich merchant who built himself a palace in the 15th century. Still standing, it's quite a landmark in Bourges.

But the city is most proud of its cathedral. Cathedral St Étienne was built at the same time as Notre Dame, but it's pretty unique for a cathedral because it's rectangular rather than cross-shaped. We admire the cathedral's exterior (flying buttresses! mismatched towers, one of which has been collapsing since its creation!), then go inside.

Inside the cathedral, we are dazzled by the stained glass. Hey, there are the masons and carpenters we learned about at Guédelon!

Back outside, it's Friday night and les Berruyers (that's what people from Bourges call themselves) are at play. We see a group of French women dancing (they're part of an American-style country line dancing club!), families playing games (we get to try a ring toss one!), and there's a sound and light show tonight (doubt I can stay awake that long!).

We admire the dancers and the surrounding gardens for a bit, Virginie passes out snacks, and then we wander down some charming historic lanes. Whoa, that house is from 1494!

With some time to kill before dinner, we stand in a square to play the name game. A feature of Rick Steves Tours, there are a lot of names and a lot of chanting. I don't feel ready for the name game because I've spent half as many days with the group as everyone else! We get shooshed by one neighbor, but this German Shepherd seems really into it.

Dinner is beautiful. I'm so excited to eat Bœuf Bourguignon in the Bourgogne! And I love that they brought me orange juice after noticing I hadn't ordered wine. As predicted, I am too sleepy to stay up for the light show, and lacking a drink bill to settle, I am the first one to leave for the hotel. Good night!