The Journey Begins...05/04/2024

When Linda and I travel abroad, I make a record of each trip through an online journal. The address for this trip is amboise2024.blogspot.com. We will be making this trip with Harry & Amanda Kearley. Harry and I worked many years together and had many adventures as Alabama StateTroopers, and our adventures continue.

This trip has been a long time coming. This trip was planned pre-covid. We had made our reservations, bought our airline tickets, planned our itinerary, and were just waiting for our departure day, then everything fell apart. Covid turned our world upside down. (and the world of everyone else). We cancelled our reservations, Delta cancelled our flights, and we stayed at home.

Going forward, Covid is our past and France is in our future. We rebooked our airline tickets and made reservations for the same apartment we had reserved over three years ago.

We are in the Centurian Lounge at the Atlanta Airport and we will board in a little less than two hours. Our flight will take us to Paris. When we get there, we will change flights with our final destination of Bordeaux.

This trip will be one of adventure and a search of history, both good and bad. While in Bordeaux we will attend a wine tasting class. It will last about two hours. They said that we will learn averything we need to know about French wines. I can't wait to share that knowledge with Jerry Hankins.

We will be in Bordeaux for 4 days, pick up our rental car, and head to Sarlat. This is a medieval village from the 15th century. This will be our base, while we explore the Dorgone River Valley. We have read that 10 of the most beautiful villages in France are in this area. Our mission is to visit as many as we can.

When we leave Sarlat we will head north to Amboise. This is chateau country. These castles were built by the aristocracy of France in the 1500 to 1600's. Wealth on display.

Our route will take us by the village of Oradour- Sur-Glane. This village was destroyed by the German SS troops, 4 days after the Normany landings on D Day. The SS killed over 600 villagers and then burned the whole village. This village was never rebuilt, it stands today as a memorial to remind us of the atrocities that occurred in WW II.

We will return to Bordeaux at the end of our trip, fly to Amsterdam, and then home.

Travel with the Kearleys and the Hatfields and they will take you on a tour of the heart of France.