Madrid Roadtrip - Day One - Escaping Spain
And so it came. The grand day out, the day we took JotaLu’s cherub, his very own talkative Ford Fiesta out on the wide roads going North.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Booking rooms for the roadtrip
In spite of the Internet being much like God, i.e. ubiquitous, you’d think it would have answers to all questions metaphysical or life-pending.
Well it so happens that booking a hotel (hostel / B&B) room for three revealed to be more arduous than one would think. And so, it took me a few calls, hundreds of clicks, patient perusing through the Gîtes de France website before finally spotting a winner.
We’d initially planned to stay in or around Saint-Emilion, a famous vineyard but luck has once again its whimsical way about things and put us up in a small village on the shore of the Gironde: Bourg.(33710).
We will be staying at the Poissonneaus, Annick & Jean in their small château (see inset). When I called, the lady (supposedly Annick) greeted me with a lovely southern accent that echoed lazy summer days and ripe vineyards. A few minutes later we had a room booked for three and the happy news that our room was next door to a billiard room.
We will be posting pictures regularly hopefully. It’s good to know the trip is finally shaping up. It’s one thing to have the map figured out. It’s a much different can of worms to actually have hotels booked. It’s reassuring to know I won’t have to share the back seat of JuanLu’s Ford Fiesta with him & his brother. I like Spaniards just not this close up.
A few hundred kilometers due North will lead us to our second layover. Alongside France’s longest and most majestic river, the Loire, lies an old farmhouse which will harbour us for the night. Mrs. Baquet will be our kind hostess. The location, Mosnes, is a perfect starting point to go discovering France’s famous Loire Valley Castles among which Chambord, Chenonceaux, Cheverny, Blois all within a stone’s throw.
Well it so happens that booking a hotel (hostel / B&B) room for three revealed to be more arduous than one would think. And so, it took me a few calls, hundreds of clicks, patient perusing through the Gîtes de France website before finally spotting a winner.
We’d initially planned to stay in or around Saint-Emilion, a famous vineyard but luck has once again its whimsical way about things and put us up in a small village on the shore of the Gironde: Bourg.(33710).
We will be staying at the Poissonneaus, Annick & Jean in their small château (see inset). When I called, the lady (supposedly Annick) greeted me with a lovely southern accent that echoed lazy summer days and ripe vineyards. A few minutes later we had a room booked for three and the happy news that our room was next door to a billiard room.We will be posting pictures regularly hopefully. It’s good to know the trip is finally shaping up. It’s one thing to have the map figured out. It’s a much different can of worms to actually have hotels booked. It’s reassuring to know I won’t have to share the back seat of JuanLu’s Ford Fiesta with him & his brother. I like Spaniards just not this close up.
A few hundred kilometers due North will lead us to our second layover. Alongside France’s longest and most majestic river, the Loire, lies an old farmhouse which will harbour us for the night. Mrs. Baquet will be our kind hostess. The location, Mosnes, is a perfect starting point to go discovering France’s famous Loire Valley Castles among which Chambord, Chenonceaux, Cheverny, Blois all within a stone’s throw.
