American Dreams of a Loire Valley Vacation

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Let Me Take You Away in this Pandemic 

By Norma Hopcraft 

You're probably frustrated, as I am, by the necessity to delay plans to see great places due to the coronavirus. To encourage you as you wait for your opportunity to travel, in the next several posts I'm going to take you to places I visited (before the pandemic) but that I haven't published anything on yet.

Each place you'll see in the series was an important part of my creative journey, giving me either rest, or inspiration--or both! I hope they do the same for you.

Where do you want to go first, when you get your chance? Comment below!

For me, it will be back to France! I lived in Paris for one year, where I wrote The Paris Writers Circle. I lived chez famille, in a house with a lovely garden, with an aunt my age and her two nieces in their twenties. They're all dear friends now. One of the two nieces is my lovely French friend Christelle. 

The summer of 2019, I went back for three weeks (two blog posts: on Paris attics here, and on boat life on the Seine, here). Christelle put me up for most of those three weeks! Her aunt, my Paris landlady Martine, put me up for the rest. That's true friendship. That's the kind of friends the French are, in my experience.

To give you ideas for your next travel plans, see Christelle's pictures, here and below, of her bike vacation through the Loire River valley this past summer, when the pandemic was more quiet in France.

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The Loire Valley has hundreds of castles. Chateaux galore! The region is full of history, too, as the kings, dukes, and dauphins of France came and went from the Loire Valley and fought over the castles. Enjoy a glimpse of the fairy-tale quality of the architecture at this link. 

France has so many castles, cathedrals, churches, mills, etc., built in the Dark Ages through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, that it's a huge undertaking to preserve and maintain this historic heritage. 

That's the job of the French national institute of cultural heritage, called Institut national du patrimoine (otherwise known as the "Inp"). It is the only academy in France in charge of the training of both curators and conservators. You can read more about the Institute on Wikipedia, here.  

"Patrimoine" means patrimony, or heritage, and the French work hard to preserve their architectural heritage. They also maintain their patrimoine fluvial, which is the network of rivers and canals--thousands of kilometers of them--that wind their way through France. My friend Cris Hammond wrote a book about losing his job and ending up on a boat enjoying a boat life on the patrimoine fluvial. You can check out his book here. It's called "From Here to Paris" and it's laugh-out-loud funny (so's mine : )

I'm sure Cris took his boat, the Phaedra, down the Loire at some point in the twelve years he lived on a boat in France. Here are more pics by Christelle:

Remember that this tour of the Loire Valley was done on bicycle. 

Hence the shot from the verge of the road.

The above two pics are of the Château d'Ussé in Rigny-Ussé. 

You can find its location on Google Maps here.

I hope this post gives you some ideas for travel plans later, and ways to enjoy France now (for example, by reading Cris's book. And mine, about which a reviewer said, "If you love Paris, you'll be swept away!"). Both books would make great gifts for a Paris-lover in your acquaintance.

Please stay careful and well. And if you're thinking about visiting France, tell me where you'd like to go in the comment box below! I may have some ideas for you! I respond to ALL real comments.