Wednesday 29 August 2012

Châlons-en-Champagne

I will apologise in advance that most of my French words and place names will not likely have the appropriate accent marks.  I will make an effort, but I'm not promising anything. 

Source:  Google Maps


We spent our first night at Châlons-en-Champagne.  Champagne-Ardenne is a region of France, one of the administrative 'departments'.   Bill drove for hours through The Netherlands, through Belgium and past Reims.    When I see the name Reims, I think of Joan of Arc, having written about her.  Blogging has blessed me more than I can say.



We didn't see much of Châlons, being tired after the drive.  There's not much to get excited about your average motorhome campground. 




That said, we were very excited about ours. 







Because of the warm, the sun, the gentle breeze. 



Because of wearing shorts and sandals and walking around a pond under a full moon. 



Because of walking to the boulanger-patissier [bread and pastry shop] just around the corner. 



The houses we passed seemed exotically different and in spite of being weary and worn, I began to feel I was actually on holiday.

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If it seems to you that I'm all over the place on this blog, you could be forgiven for thinking that (so what else is new?).  There is a plan, however!  If you want to read posts about the book, The Theory of the Leisure Class, visit here on Fridays.  If you are interested in our recent travels in France, pop in on Wednesdays.  On Mondays I hope to blog about the current(ish) events in our real life.  That's the plan, anyhow....

6 comments:

Carolyn said...

Such a beautiful spot! I'm really looking forward to wearing shorts and sandals again too :)

BigLittleWolf said...

I like Northern France (though much maligned - and let's hear it for the "Shti"), and also, Belgium and the Netherlands. Looking forward to hearing more.

Anonymous said...

I knew that there was a method to your madness. I too like to pay attention to differences in housing when we travel. For example, when we were in Minnesota earlier this summer, the houses seemed so very, very square.

Beryl said...

The French know how to do a Campground right - it looks very relaxing. I'm glad the weather was nice for you.

Rick Stone said...

Do they call those geese Canadian Geese, like they are called here? We have been inundated with them the last few years. They used to migrate north and south but now seem to stay in our area year round. They are a very big nuisance and can get agressive.

Shelley said...

Carolyn - I've only known anyone in the southern hemisphere for the last 15 years or so and it still does my head in how the seasons are opposite.

LBW - Please explain 'shti' - no idea what that refers to. Can't imagine why northern France is maligned. We found S. France far too hot in July.

Terri - Yes, regional housing can be really interesting. To me, Minnesota houses seem quite large, even in the older areas.

Beryl - They do get it right, even Bill remarked that they do sanitaires better than Britain.

Rick - I didn't speak to anyone about the geese, so don't know what they are called. I remember being a bit shy of walking past, but Bill dragged me along and the geese completely ignored us. I googled Canadian geese to see if I could answer your question (I think they go pretty much everywhere) and found that Britain calls them an 'invasive species' and is trying to get them back on the list of birds that can be hunted.