Charolles

Margery and Gary Salmon arrived in Geneva late Tuesday, May 21st. Elisabeth and I went to pick them up, but first we made a quick stop in Cluny. All it takes is a spoonful of dirt for the French to plant a rose bush. And the roses thrive!

After loading baggage and people into the car, we took a quick tour of the Geneva waterfront. Pictures of Geneva can be found at my first blog:  < balloublog72.blogspot.com >

This time I only took one picture...

All those wires are for the electric buses.

It had taken a little less than 2 hours to reach the Geneva airport.

On the way home there must have been an accident on the fast highway. Every entrance was barricaded. We had to take the small roads that wound their way through the Jura mountains. Fortunately, adrenaline kept us all awake and chatting for the 5 hour return trip.

The Godon's car that I usually drive needed some repairs. For the time that Margery and Gary stays with me, we created a lot of laughs driving around the countryside in this gift-wrapped rental!

Gary took some beautiful photos of pots that hang out around the Blanot pottery.

On their first day in France I took Margery and Gary to the chateau at Cormatin and up to Mont Saint Roman for the valley view.

We did some touring of small roads and passed by this riverside lavoir again...

On Thursday we took Anne with us to have lunch in Charolles. Along the way we stopped to photograph a hillside of genet (yellow flowering wild shrub).

Since I was driving, Gary offered to take a picture on my iPad. This created merriment as he first took numerous pictures of his thumb...

The genet (pronounced jen ay) blooms for a long time and it really is quite spectacular .

We had taken the "green" or tourist route to Charolles. Margery and Gary were looking forward to their first taste of Charollais beef.

After our lunch on the restaurant terrace, we headed towards La Clayette, planning to first stop at the Chateau de Dree in Curbigny along the way.

Margery and Anne paused under a tree...

 Gary was busy photographing trees...

They all inspected the estate jail...

This same shaped building on the other side of the chateau is a dovecote.

Dree is definitely an impressive chateau, but it was time to move on to the one in La Clayette. We found a parking space under the trees by the lake next to the chateau and checked out the signage...

This chateau gets viewed from the street...

The moat is a continuation of the lake...where ducks and ducklings cavorted...

and the chateau's cows watched from the farther shore...

Lions lie along the railings overlooking flowers and steps that reach down to the water's edge...

The drawbridge for the moat fascinates me. It would really be a short hop, except there would be no place to hop to if the wooden bridge was raised. Plus someone could stand above and dump hot oil on your head...

Before leaving La Clayette we found the chocolateir and bought some of his goodies! We then followed different winding roads home, passing by lots more genet...