My trip in France with 4 roues sous un parapluie

by Michel Castro…..

At my age, almost 84 years, and with difficulty walking, I decided to join a Citroën extravaganza, as my last hurrah.  Although it was expensive (3,600 euros, after a 10% discount to Citroën club members), it was well worth it.  Upon learning of the trip, I put an ad in the Northwest Citroën car club magazine asking for a co-navigator.  Susan Redd offered to come, and I did not ask how good she was at navigating.

I arrived in Paris on May 7 and after a night in Hotel Ibis, I joined the group for breakfast at the Cafe de Flore in the center of Paris.

IMG_3697   IMG_3698

The group was very diverse:

IMG_3708

4 were from Brazil

The 4 Brazilians  The 4 Brazilians

7 were Americans, 2 were from Australia, and 2 were from Malaysia.  Susan and I were the only ones speaking French.  (She is a French teacher from Seattle).  There were two people from the Le May Museum in the West.

4 roues sous un parapluie gave us a credit card to be used for every thing: gas, lunch, parking, museums.

Le groupe 4 roues sous un parapluie: Noemie, Jean. Jean Baptiste et Philippe  The organizers; Le groupe 4 roues sous un parapluie: Noemie, Jean. Jean Baptiste et Philippe

The organizers were very well organized: Michelin maps with gas stations indicated, color maps, daily instructions etc.  Breakfast and dinner were at the hotels where we stayed.

IMG_3840  Et ils appellent ca: carre d'agneau!!!!

From Paris, we left for Vezelay.  It turned out that Susan could not follow the map and we got lost when I realized we were going East instead of South.  We were almost at the Belgian border when we turned around.  We arrived at the first Chateau for dinner at 11 pm.  Fortunately they had reserved the dinner for us: magret de canard.  Needless to say, breakfast and dinner were “fantastique”, offering the many specialties of the region: Cantal cheeses, aligot, magret de canard, even the desserts and salads were first class.

IMG_3766

The overall idea of the trip was to visit the many villages of France, known for their history and their patrimoine.

IMG_3754

Thus, we were invited at many villages by the Mayor or his/her assistant and given a tour of the villages, their history, their past.

Recption with the Mayor Reception with the Mayor  

Another reception and tour of the village  Another reception and tour of the village

Most of the villages date from either the Middle Ages or from the past centuries: the 10th to the 17th.

The organizers had a spare 2CV and a mechanic on a truck that came with us.

Jean et le camion de souvetage  Jean et le camion de souvetage

We only needed it once, when a 2CV refused to start.  The road from Vezelay took us to Charroux,

Charroux, au Chateau de Melmont  Charroux, au Chateau de Melmont

to Vaux le Vicomte, to Salers, to Tournemire, to Blesle, (ten centuries of history), to Sainte Enimie, named by a Merovegian princess cured of leper by the sources of the town, to Guilhem le Desert

Lunch a Saint Guilem le Desert  Lunch a Saint Guilem le Desert

(a piece of spritual retreat harked back in 804 AD by the monks, who in the 4th century lived in the deserts of Egypt where the ideals of Christian monasticism took root), to Les Baux de Provence

Les Baux de Provence  Les Baux de Provence  Les Baux de ProvenceLes Baux de Provence 

(premier site in Provence) in the castle they built a Santon Museum,

Au Musee des Santons  Au Musee des Santons

to Lourmarin, to Gordes surrounded by oaks, wheat fields, vineyards, lavender fields and fields of “coquelicots”,

Encore des champs de coquelicots  Encore des champs de coquelicots

to Tourtour (so named because one of its castle has Two towers), and finally to Cannes, where a champagne breakfast/buffet was awaiting us on the Croisette.  The Red Carpet was laid out, but it was not for us, it was for Robert de Niro, the star of the Festival.

PS. A beige 2CV, which was a French 2CV and did not belong to us.

Une 2 CV qui n'appartien pas a Florent  Une 2 CV qui n’appartien pas a Florent

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Close
Archives

Access further archives on our Archive Documents page.

Close

Citroënvie!

A community of Citroën enthusiasts with a passion for Citroën automobiles.

Citroënvie © Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.
Close