Autouillet
We find ourselves in the sleepy village of Autouillet about an hour from Paris. For this housesit, we are looking after Fanni and Mona, in their grand 18th-century-ish village house. Autouillet, France
We have the privilege of fresh garden produce again (tomatoes and fruits galore) as long as we ensure a watering schedule. It’s not news that Europe is in drought, so we are frugal with the well. No shops in this village so we walk into Thoiry about 20 minutes away with turbo-charged walking shoes. Sadly the only shop open has been the supermarket because everyone’s en vacances in August. However, all opened up towards the end of our stay.
Paris
Who doesn’t love a walk through Paris? … and this day wasn’t an exception… It was just as delightful but probably more exhausting than previous visits. The train we caught was a fifteen minutes drive from our housesit and only 35 minutes to Montparnasse Station in Paris. We walked from there wandering through streets we’d never been in before, through a Saturday produce market with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. Not sure how many kilometres we walked but after taking a few hundred pictures of the Tower, tromping through the Trocadero, and then finding the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees we headed back to Montparnasse going past des Invalides and Napoleon’s Tomb. Our little feet were complaining and we were very pleased to find le train waiting for us.
The Village Thoiry
Our daily walk for rations was to the local village of Thoiry. Not really famous for anything much except it is just unmistakenly french. It has all the individual shops with the butcher the baker and the post office. So we didn’t have to go too far for our basic needs except it was August, closed for everyone’s en vacances. France is also best known for the Tour de France cycle race every year and the population is so kind to the cycling public. My local cycling route took me through a number of villages before arriving back at Autouillet.
The Chateau de Thoiry
The Chateau de Thoiry has been in the La Panouse family since 1559 and was opened to the public in 1965 and then Paul de La Panouse also turned most of the grounds into a safari park. It’s attracted 23 million visitors since it was opened. We are yet to venture inside and marvel at ‘the harmonious proportions’. Time to leave our peaceful village to housesit in Autouillet just west of Paris. In the last couple of days, we eventually got the timing right to tour the inside of the Chateau Thoiry (15th Century), our nearby neighbor. Lots of wild animals in the front garden and yes they did look a little unreal (Papier-mache? or plastique).
Tunnel du Mont-Blanc
Crossing the French-Italian alps is not something we would do every day. We just had to experience the tunnel but doubt if we would do it again, it’s not just the cost (48 euros one way) but also the waiting time, which could run into hours. They limit the traffic through to only a certain number of vehicles per hour. For us the waiting time wasn’t so bad and from line, up to out the other side 11.6 km later took us 1hr. However, the mountain views were spectacular – obviously not in the tunnel. Blue skies on the way over and overcast on the way back.
