the french opposite of paris: chateau life

Knowing we would run ourselves ragged in Pairs, we purposely booked a complete change of pace for after Paris -- and a way to see another side of France. (Remember, this is my first time in France!)

We left Paris today in a new Peugeot (Earl loves it!) and he masterfully maneuvered Paris driving to hit the highway. Quite soon we were driving through rural France and finally arrived in the Burgundy region ... and there was our chateau, Chateau Ste. Michel!
 

We drove through the gate (below).

 

While Earl was checking us in (below) ...

I looked around some of the main floor rooms (below) ...

Then the owner, a Dutch man named Mark, took us to our room. A few months ago Mark had promised Earl on the phone that "Your wife will be pleased. I'm giving you a corner room overlooking the town and vineyards ... and the estate."

Oh, yes, Earl's wife is very pleased.

Here is the view out one of our windows, of the town named Rully, with vineyards on the outskirts (below).  I love just standing there and gazing.

The other window has a view of the terrace and the chateau's property for us to wander (below) ...

See those tables and chairs (above) on the terrace? The Mister and I sat there and had a glass of Rully wine tonight.

Here's the view of the chateau from the terrace (below) .... that's our room on the 2nd floor corner on the right.

For my car-loving grandkids, I'll show you our car parked in the chatueau's courtyard. Ours is the one in the middle. Grandpa will show you the inside of the car when we Facetime sometime. We have this car until the end of our trip, end of July.

You might notice a chapel on the left side of the courtyard (above and below). The chapel is part of the estate, inside the walls. I'm going to check that out tomorrow.

While enjoying some wine tonight, we met a retired couple from Washington, D.C. She was an exhibit director of the Smithsonian her entire career and they are bicycling around France. How different they are from Earl and Jane but it was quite interesting to talk to them.  The owner suggested we use the living room (below) to enjoy our wine and conversation. What a grand place to sit and relax! (If you counted two different times of us enjoying wine, you counted correctly. Remember we're unwinding.)

I love this chateau -- and I'm not just saying that because I'm the one who found it on the internet. It's just what we need to shed our city-speed.  My favorite part are the windows which really take effort to open. They are almost as tall as our room which is around 12 feet ...

... and we have to close the big wooden shutters at night (below). I made The Mister pose for this picture so I could show you how they operate.

I feel like a princess. The owner refers to this place as a castle and tomorrow I'm going to find out about its history. We are here until Friday and we intend to spend a lot of time just hanging around, enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

One more thing for the grandkids and whoever else is interested: As we were driving into the Burgundy area today, I started seeing white cows!  Lots of them, in herds along side the road (below).

I asked Earl if he's ever heard of white cows and he said no. I said to my phone, "Okay, Google. What are white cows?"  The Google lady told us that Charolais is a breed of beef cattle from the Charolais area in Burgundy, France. I guess we can't see them anywhere but here. What do you know! Travel is so much fun -- and instant technology makes it even better.

The Google lady also gave me a better photo (below) than I was taking from the car! (No, Libby, do not say you want me to bring you a calf home.)

Goodnight from Burgundy, France.

Thanks for reading my blog!  Oh, BTW, people have been telling me they are trying to post comments but it's not working. I have no idea why not. Sorry!  But really, thanks for reading, and thanks for the nice comments you send me via text or email. I wish you were all with me here!

Jane