On to Spain

As usual we had an overly ambitious plan for getting to Spain (Madrid to be exact)  We left after 11 because we had to meet the manager of our apartment.  Then came a harrowing ride around Paris looking for Gare du Nord to store Mariana's giant suitcase .  Once  we got there it was easy to store the luggage.   We were afraid that we wouldn't be able to due to the age of terrorism, but they just do the same thing they do at the airport...easy.

We drove to Orleans to check it out.  The cathedral is beautiful and although the place is closed down on Sundays, we could still eat and check out the area.

It was lovely.  Mariana and I have the same love/hate relationship with Catholicism-loving the music, architecture, and, as Mariana calls it, the religious shit...the art is beautiful.  However, there were and are a lot of starving Catholics and the money and time put in to build these cathedrals is scandalous .

Super lovely gothic buildings.

I'm a sucker for stained glass too.  

The town was lovely and so very quiet.

We had lunch in the square across from the cathedral and loved the flowers growing in  some weird container up the side of the buildings...

A reflection of Gillian drinking beer.

We headed on towards Bordeaux, arriving very late at night. We had also made a stop at

Limoges looked around the town briefly and headed on...too much to see in too short a time.

Mariana is a WW II buff and we stopped at a town, Oradour -Sur-Glane, that was bombed completely as the Germans retreated from France.  It was left as is as a memorial and a new town was built next to it.  Although it was too late and closed, we did manage to look around.   All the women and children were killed and it is an erie place.

The monument where you park your car...

Destroyed homes and shops-we had to climb into the bushes and peek over the walls to take photos.  It was dusk and the lighting was beautiful and sad.

It was really quite shocking...we were sad not to have been able to see inside and learn more but at least we could see it.  By then it was getting late-nearly 10 pm and we had to get to Bordeaux.

Our hotel was lovely,not cheap but very comfortable double rooms and a great breakfast.  Mariana and I managed to flood our respective bathrooms while Luis and Gillian took neat dry showers.