Dianne

I'd like advice on our summer family trip last two weeks of August. We will be traveling with our 2 girls 8 and 11. We were thinking of staying at the Chateau de Canisy or Chateau de Locguenole in Normandy (3 nights), Domaine de Rochevilaine (3 nights) and Jean Bardet, Chateau deBrou,Bienvenue au Domaine de Beauvois in Loire Valley (3 nights). I would appreciate any comments on the hotels and suggestions for dinner and activities in these regions . Thank you for your input. Dianne

You've done a

This sounds like a trip to swoon for.<BR><BR>If only I was an eleven year old millionaire with a red Mercedes convertible. I'd follow you everywhere.<BR>

Aaron Carter

Yeah... eleven. Those were some sweet days. Back in 1999.<BR><BR>I bet my buddy Billy Gilman has this same fantasy, even though he is a lot younger than me. Almost a year and a half!<BR>

David

The castle Azay-le-Rideau is very nice in the area. So is the one in Chinon. Chinon is more of a real, working fortress and very different than many of the chateuax that are summer palaces.<BR><BR>Try to fit in a "Son et Lumiere" (Sound and Light" show. They play at various castles through the summer. I saw the one in Blois and was very impressed with it. Blois has a museum of magic as well as a museum of the resistance during WWII.<BR><BR>Amboise has the Clos de Luce where Da Vinci lived out the last few years of his life. It also has a quirky toy museum that I found intereting.<BR><BR>Tours was a nice larger city. It has an excellent little art museum. Though it's chateau now houses an aquarium, the cathedral is beautiful.<BR><BR>Not too far away are Chenonceau and Chambord, both worth a visit. The gardens at Chenonceau were particularly nice. I ate at the regular restaurant (not the cafeteria) and it was an excellent meal.<BR><BR>Be careful, it's easy to do chateau overload. I was there last spring with my Dad, neice (14) and nephew (13). In 3 days we saw chateaux in Chambord, Saumur and Langeais. I doubt if they remember much more than Chambord and maybe a bit of Saumur now.<BR><BR>The region seemed to be set up for horseback riding as an activity. Sailing, kayaking, canoing down the Loire was popular too. We took a sailboat ride down 4 hours down the Loire from Saumur and enjoyed it.<BR><BR>In summer I noticed many hotels in the Loire go with half board or full board. This means lunch or dinner (half) or lunch and dinner (full) are included in the cost of the rooms. You pay for the meals whether you eat there or not. This might limit your dinner options.<BR><BR>I was in the Loire just last spring for almost 3 weeks and loved it. You'll have a wonderful time. Wish I were going again.

Julie

I'm planning a trip to the same destinations (those not so far into "deepest Brittany") for late Sept./early October and have looked at many of the hotels you've selected. They all look great to me. Several are Relais and Chateau and you can't go wrong with them--unless you need to keep expenses down. I agree with another poster about Chateau overload. When we did the Loire on a previous trip, we broke it up with a jaunt out to the Ile de Re before returning for more castles. The break helped us appreciate the second set of castles more than if we'd just plowed on with them on the heels of all the others. Your daughters should love this trip. They'll stay in elegant places, visit beautiful castles and feel like princesses--in between fights about whether or not the other has "moved over the line" between them in the back seat. Enjoy.

ttt

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