What ya burning? Christmas in France edition

We decided our Christmas present to the kids and each other would be a big trip, and we landed on France. Right now we’re in Tours, taking tours of castles (chateaus). First one was here:


See the building under renovation to the left? Leonardo da Vinci is buried there. Anyway, inside this castle there was an active fireplace throwing off some decent heat!





Pretty cool seeing a public venue with a completely exposed fireplace—anyone could easily walk right up. Splits were cut to about 36”. (Rental car keys placed on top for perspective.)


One of the most beautiful and elaborate nativity scenes I’ve ever seen.


There were only a couple other sets of people walking around—very empty. As we were taking a picture, one walked up and asked “Y’all want us to take that?” They were from Georgia!

Down the road, Leonardo Da Vinci’s house had an active fireplace too. This is his kitchen:





Next stop, the beaches of Normandy for some WWII history. The kids are surprisingly interested! Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Definitely a Christmas to remember.
Excellent pics as well!

Any plans for Christmas Eve or day?

 

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for posting.

 

That’ll be a Christmas to remember. Nice pics, thanks for thinking of us back here. Love the old fireplaces.
Merry Christmas all.

 

Be safe and enjoy! Bring some BTU home with you? Checked bags can be heavy!!!!Merry Christmas

 

Awesome! What a great trip with many memories to come! Thanks for sharing the pics. Amazing architecture in those buildings.

 

Been there by bicycle! Awesome! The American cemetery above Omaha Beach is something that can't be missed. La Pointe du Hoc can't be missed either. American Rangers paid dearly to take something that was no longer there.

When in the Normandy region be sure to go to Mont Saint-Michel it's beautiful and really different. But watch those incoming tides! You can't out run them!

I salute you! This will be a learning experience your kids will remember forever!

Merry Christmas to you and yours and drink some wine for us stuck in the snow and freezing.

Mont Saint-Michel

 

We just got back from another chateau, and we’ll go to another tomorrow (Christmas Day). We’re staying in a little house, so we bought a bunch of food and we’ll mostly hang around inside and cook and watch movies. Most of the restaurants are closed, except for really expensive hotel restaurants. There are a number of little Christmas fairs around town, so we’ve been riding on ridiculous little kiddie rides and went “ice skating” (actually roller blading). I thought for sure I was going to end up in the hospital.

I bought a “buche de noel” for dessert tonight. They’re sold EVERYWHERE here…very common for Christmas. It’s the FHC dream dessert—it’s basically a cake that looks like a log! Some of them are very elaborate. Here’s an example:

We’re definitely going to MSM, but I don’t know what else my wife has planned. I’ll look up the other places—thank you very much for the advice!

 

The firewood geek in me has to point out the obvious here. There’s black locust in that pile It kind of doesn’t surprise me, as seeds were brought back to the Old World a long time ago, and the trees are naturalized all over Europe now. Enjoy your time over there and thanks for taking us along for the journey

 

A few other things I thought you might find interesting:

In between the two places we visited yesterday, there were houses carved into the hillside. They’re like caves inside, and you can see the chimneys sticking out of the hillside randomly.

 

Today we went to Chateau Chambord — it was basically a MASSIVE hunting lodge for French kings. It seems like all of the chateaus are under renovation. A couple of Fords on patrol…




Some active fireplaces, but the coolest thing was an inactive giant ceramic wood stove—at least 12ft high. It’s worth a quick read:

 

Thanks for sharing your Christmas vacation. That's an awesome trip. Glad y'all could go.
Eric VW I had to work this weekend or I could have taken the picture for them...

 

Very cool pics!

 

Great trip. Fantastic pictures.

How do those fireplaces not smoke up the place?

 

The one in da Vinci’s kitchen did…I could smell it long before I got to the room. And when I got there my family hustled through that room.

One last pic I took while driving through a small town…

 

Spending today around Omaha and Utah beaches in Normandy area, and then finishing up in Paris. Your roving reporter doesn’t expect to see any more FHC-related content, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled!

 

That's a great sign. Wish you could find a MS241 while you're there and bring it back for me.

 

I would love to see some pics of Normandy!