Guedelon and Bourges
We chose this photo as our background for Guedelon and Bourges. It was a tough decision because we really enjoyed both places, but loved the half-timbered buildings of Bourges!
Our first day in the bus! With seats for 50, and only 28 of us, we had lots of room to spread out. Matt and Annie, our drivers, were truly wonderful, took good care of us, were fun to talk to, and every time we boarded that bus it was immaculately clean! They helped make this trip truly memorable. We had fun on that bus - we got to know each other, shared stories, had French and history lessons from Chris, napped...
Guedelon:
This was someplace we had never heard of prior to Rick Steves. What a great experience! This medieval castle is being built now, using only the technology available in the 13th century. It was fascinating to hear how they learned about the tools and building methods, and to see this castle rising from the site of an abandoned stone quarry. You could tell that our local guide really loved what he was doing.
Our tour was followed by a wonderful picnic lunch on site - a fantastic sandwich on the best baguette I've ever had!
Guedelon Castle. The wheel way to the left at the base of the tower is how stones are lifted to the top - a kind of human powered hamster wheel.
Bourges:
What a lovely town! We fell in love with the half-timbered buildings, and the cathedral is magnificent. Our walking tour with a local guide was really great. She showed us the highlights of the town and explained some of the history. The group had dinner together (really yummy - I had chicken and the French do a super job with chicken), and we had a great time playing the "name game" before returning to our beautiful hotel. A day or two prior to any group meal, Christine would present us with several options each for an appetizer, a main dish and a dessert, with enough choices to keep everyone happy. Some wanted seafood, some wanted chicken, etc. We all chose, and she would keep track of who ordered what because by the time we actually arrived at that meal, we couldn't remember what we had ordered. When we arrived at the restaurant, she would be able to assist the staff to serve the appropriate meal to each of us. What a good idea!
Our comfortable hotel room in Bourges.
Hint: We found it very useful to take a photo each day of the schedule posted by Chris. We were then able to refer to it if we forgot what time to meet, etc.
Hint: Christine taught us many useful French phrases, but one turned out to be very timely for us and it certainly wasn't something that high school teachers would have taught me. We enjoy a glass of wine (or two) with our dinner, but a full bottle is too much. You can order a "pichet" (pronounced pee-shay) of red or white house wine, and it was just the right amount for us. We never had a bad glass of wine and we sampled a fair amount of various house wines.