Friday 25th May saw us packing up the caravan and driving over to Rambouillet, a town just south of Paris and Versailles. The drive took us about 3 hours.

On Saturday we decided we'd drive the half hour to Versailles and look around Palais de Versailles, it was a beautiful day and unbeknownst to us it was a long-weekend in France so the place was absolutely packed. The line to get inside the Palace was extremely long so we decided to miss the inside and wander around the gardens - which are absolutely amazing! There are lots of fountains and lakes throughout the gardens and classical music is playing the whole time through speakers hidden in the hedges. The Mirror Fountain has the water going in time to the music - its just lovely! After we left Versailles we consulted the GPS to find any nearby tourist attraction. In my wisdom I chose something called 'The Arc Grande" - I thought ' this sounds pretty impressive'. Neither of us realized just how close to Paris we were and when we entered onto a freeway, ahead of us in the distance was the Eiffel Tower. So off we went to have a drive around Paris!! We ended up on a large roundabout where it was a free for all, cars were going everywhere, and then we looked down the road and just up ahead was the Arc De Triomphe. Loche insisted the roundabout we were on was the infamous Arc De Triomphe roundabout and refused to believe me when I told him the Arc De Triomphe was actually situated in the middle of the actual roundabout and this wasn't it!! Apparently when you have an accident on the Arc de Triomphe, the cost is automatically split 50/50 and some insurance companies won't insure you when you are on it.

We turned around and went back home but were very happy with our little adventure into Paris.

Sunday 27th May - We again drove to Versailles but this time it was to catch the train into Paris. We took the train straight to the Eiffel Tower and wandered over to find the line was enormous (we still didn't realize it was a public holiday on Monday in France). We also found out later that one of the lifts in the Eiffel tower wasn't working so there was only one lift getting people up to the first 2 levels, making the wait twice as long!

We walked over to the parkland in front of the tower and got a few pics and took it all in and then we caught the metro over to Notre Dame. We had a walk around Notre Dame and then found a Café to have some lunch and the necessary glasses of wine - as you do when you are in Paris!! After lunch we had a walk over to the Louvre and then meandered through the streets (and got lost looking for the Champs de Elysees. We found a Metro station and took the metro up to the Arc De Triomphe to find that it was closed (and very very crowded) due to a ceremony being held there - probably something to do with the public holiday (that we still didn't know about!) We stopped for a while and watched the ceremony and then walked down the Champs de Elysees before catching the train back to Versailles…not before I pointed out to Loche that we were actually on a different roundabout the day before!

Monday 28th May - We decided we'd give Cara a rest today and spent the morning at the caravan park swimming in the pool and catching up on some washing. We ended up buying a little portable, twin tub washing machine in England for 40 quid and it's making it's money back very quickly. Loche has deemed himself chief washer woman and loves his new purchase! It stores away nicely in the main cupboard in the caravan. The caravan park we were staying in didn't have Wifi, so that afternoon we ended up at McDonalds again researching where our next stop will be and also ways to jump the queues in Paris.

Tuesday 29th May - Back into Paris we went with hope the queues were shorter on a weekday. We got up first thing to get into line at the Eiffel Tower before it opened. Peak hour traffic ensured we were slightly delayed and arrived just before it opened to find a very large line!! We hopped on the end and stayed in the line for about 2 hours…one of the lifts was still out of order. When we finally got to the top it was absolutely packed with people, but the views are amazing and hey, we were on the Eiffel Tower!!

From the Eiffel Tower we went over to the Seine and had a cruise on the river seeing the sites of Paris. After this we caught the Metro over to the Arc de Triomphe where there was no line and a lot less people. There are 284 steps up to the top of the Arc and there is a lift for the disabled and prams which I considered using not being sure if Cara would walk up all those steps…but surprise surprise, this lift was out of order as well.

So up the steps we went and Cara made it all the way up the spiral staircase to the top, climbing all the stairs herself. She also went all the way down herself.

From here we caught the train back to Versailles and were barely out of the car park before Cara fell asleep absolutely exhausted!

The following day we packed up and headed down toward Bordeaux. On the way we decided to stop at Chateau de Chambord, which was commissioned by King Francis I in 1519 as a hunting lodge but was actually very rarely used. During King Francis' reign of 32 years, he only used it for 72 days! The chateau is 156 metres long, 56 metres tall, has 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms! Anyone looking for a holiday home? When you look at the enormous amount of wealth in places such as this and the Palais de Versailles, it gives you some insight as to why there was a revolution.

After a few hours exploring the Chateau and its grounds we were back in the car on our way to Limeuil a little village a couple of hours from Bordeaux. We arrived at about 9pm and the owners of the caravan park were very accommodating telling us to choose whatever site we wished and to give them all our details in the morning.

The caravan park - Le Port de Limeuil, is by far the best we've stayed in yet. The owners of the park were so friendly and welcoming. It's situated right on the banks of the river Dordogne and across the river is Limeuil. Through the middle ages up to the 1800's Limeuil was a busy port for small boats carrying goods bound for Bordeaux. The surrounding countryside is just beautiful with the huge river and green grassy banks, arched stone bridges and gorgeous little villages dotted everywhere. By far the best of France we've seen!

This area has Chateaus scattered everywhere and we had a look around Chateau de Biron. The Biron family owned this region for over 1000 years and the Chateau dates back to the 12th century.

Another day we drove into Bordeaux and found some markets to explore. We didn't time it too well as they were starting to pack up just as we got there, but it was still very interesting having a look through the stalls. Loche bought some cheap fruit there as well. We took the scenic route on the way home and had a lovely drive through the vineyards.

This region is also known for it's caves, which contain ancient drawings and prehistoric artifacts. We decided to visit one that uses electric trains to take you down over 1 km into the caves. Unfortunately they didn't do any tours in English, so the guide we had, realizing we were English speaking, pulled us aside and gave us a brief run-down on what he was saying. He didn't speak a lot of English, so just enough to convey that magnesium oxide was used to draw the pictures of Ibex, Mammoths and goats and they are scientifically dated back to over 25,000 years. He also explained to us that scratch marks on the walls were probably made by bears. Unfortunately photos were not allowed within the caves so we have no pics.

On our last night we went out for dinner at a typically French restaurant in Limeuil. Loche had snails and a casserole of cannelloni beans and sausage. I had some duck with fois gras and duck and potatoes as a main. The following morning we had a long drive down to Spain. Loche couldn't get to sleep after dinner and was feeling a little uncomfortable. The following morning he woke up looking like he'd suffered some sort of allergic reaction. with one eye very red and swollen. It went down after a day or so but he still felt like he had the flu for a day or two afterward.