Monday we got up and drove to Guernika.  On April 26, 1937 Franco allowed Hitler’s Legion Condor to bomb Guernika.  Almost 2000 people died in the attack.  It was market day and the town was full of people shopping.  Hilter’s Legion Condor were practicing with their new airplanes.  The town was totally destroyed but now they have rebuilt the town.  Then we drove to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Museum and the famous dog made of flowers in front of the museum.  We weren’t planning to go in the museum and that’s a good thing.  It’s closed on Mondays.  The dog was being worked on and had scaffolding all around it.  Barbara and I took pictures anyway.  We decided to drive out of town and look for a restaurant but we were unable to find a restaurant.  We had crackers for lunch on the A8. 

In the tour book they wrote about a beautiful drive between San Sebastian and Bilbao and Susan tried and tried to find the road.  It was impossible and every road we took led us back to the A.  A word about driving:  it is difficult to find your way even with a garmin.  We stayed two nights at the Hotel Parma in San Sebastian.  It was a wonderful hotel and we had a great time.  Everyone there was so nice.

This morning we got up and the first thing we did at breakfast was wish Barbara a Happy Birthday.  Then we drove to Pampolna.

Last night we had dinner at Chez Pablo, a traditional Basque restaurant in St. Jean de Luz.  We had so much fun.  First, Chez Pablo came up to us and introduced himself.  He was a very funny host.  A young girl was on her cell phone and he said something to her and the whole place laughed.  He was a real entertainer.  Dinner was wonderful again.  We drank lots of wine and had a great last night in St. Jean de Luz.

We also drove to Biarritz and Bayonne.  The white beaches of Biarritz are beautiful to see.  We had a glass of wine and did a short tour.  Bayonne old town was great to see too. 

Today we arrived in San Sebastian.  We got here very early because it was only about 45 minutes from St. Jean de Luz but we are now in Spain.  We didn’t like the hotel The Lonely Planet and Rick Steves recommended so we drove around and found this great hotel for the same price.  We also had tapas for breakfast and lunch.  I have never had them before.  The bars set out a bunch of different little plates of food displayed beautifully on the bar and you select what you want.  You can see what you are getting.  I like that. 

About two days again we were driving on the A63 and we had an incident.  For those of you that don’t know the A roads are the freeways and the fastest way to get anywhere but it costs to be on them.  About every half hour or so you have to go through a peage and pay to be on the road.  It cost about 20 Euros to get from Mortemard to St. Jean de Luz.  We pulled into one peage and there was nowhere to put in money and you had to use a credit card.  Lola got her card out first and Susan fed it into the machine.  The machine spit it out.  Susan tried several more times.  Meanwhile a line is forming behind us.  We can’t back up.  Lola grabs another credit card and Susan tries again and nothing happens.  Susan motioned to the cars behind us to let us back up and we slowly started backing up.  Then the lady right behind us got out of her car and came up to help us.  She tried our credit cards and still nothing happen.  She pushed a button (who knew) and spoke to someone about the paege not working.  Voila’!  Two young girls apeared and we paid 1.80 Euros and after several exciting minutes the gate when up.

It has been a couple of days since I have been on the blog because our hotel had WI FI but after I entered the security code of about 20 numbers and letters it wouldn’t work.  I am currently in a Best Western in St. Jean – de-Luz and their WI FI works so, here we go.  We left Chinon and said goodbye to a very lovely girl, Karin, who worked at our hotel: Hotel du France.  Karin was very, very kind and helpful to us.  Thank you Karin!  We headed toward Limoge.

We stopped to have lunch in a tiny village and it was fabulous.  Who would think a tiny village store that sold clothes, groceries, meat and cheese would also fix a fabulous meal?  Lola called her friend John and he took her off to visit and Barbara, Susan and I headed for our next site.   

We stopped to visit Oradour-Sur-Glane which is a village where on June 10, 1944 the Nazis murdered 643 people, 193 were children.  The entire town was destroyed.  It was a haunting thing to see.

After visiting this village we headed toward Mortemart to buy gas and then we began the search for a hotel Rick Steves recommended.  We found it but it was closed.  We found another Bed and Breakfast but it had 28 stairs and the man said he couldn’t carry our big heavy bags and recommended the hotel we had just tried.  We called the number on the hotel door and the lady said she would be right there.  We saw the rooms and got three rooms.  It was called Hotel Le Relais.  We called Lola and told her where we were and she got there in time for dinner.  Dinner was incredible delicious.  In Rick Steves book he said the lady who operated the hotel was very helpful but didn’t speak a lot of English.  When I couldn’t get on the Internet she called her daughter in Atlanta, Georgia to see what was wrong.  Susan told her daughter that nothing was wrong we just couldn’t get on the Internet.  Now, that is helpful.

Today it rained but we are fearless travelers so off we went to see the castles.  We visited Usse Chateau.  Susan and I paid 14 Euros to go inside and see the interior.  You couldn’t take flash photos but I got one of the dining room.  The gardens outside were designed by Le Notre, the famous architect of the Gardens of Versailles.  Susan climbed to the top of the Sleeping Beauty tower.  Then we left and drove to Amboise and had a coffee and pastries.  Te chateau at Amboise was beautiful also.  We saw more chateaus along the road.  Tomorrow we are heading south for Limoges.

Susan has asked me to inform you that there is no need to pack a blow dryer when you go to France.  We have one we bought specifically for Europe and we haven’t had to use it yet.  This is something new.

Today we moved to the Hotel de France, a Best Western Hotel.  It is a much better hotel.  While we waited to check in we drove up to the Fortresse Royale de Chinon which was begun in the 15th century.  Despite the rain we toured the entire fortress and visited the Royal Quarters and towers.  Then Lola and Barbara rode a free lift down to our hotel and I stayed with Susan to drive back down the hill.  This was about the scariest ride I have ever been on as the street kept getting narrower and narrower.  We had to pull in the side mirrors at one point.  Another car was coming up and he had to back up as we inched (and I mean inched) forward.  Another car came and he had to back up too because there was no way we could back up to let him through.  I saw the end of the road and it appeared so narrow I just knew we wouldn’t get through.  I had visions of a crane lifting us out or having to take the car apart but none of these things happened and we finally arrived home safely.  Then we had another fabulous lunch, toured a church, went to a Cave (wine tasting) and then looked in the windows of all the little shops.  It was a good day even though it was a rainy day in Loire Region.

I’m sorry to have taken so long to get back but somehow I logged off my blog and couldn’t remember my password and so last night I texted Zach and he texted back my password and I’m back in business. 

We spent a lovely two days at a wonderful hotel called Hotel Manoir de Rigourdaine outside Dinan.  The innkeeper was a lovely man and very helpful.  We visited Dinan and St. Malo. In Dinan we visited the Basilique Saint-Sauver built in the 12th century.  We had lunch at a nice restaurant and had galettes, which are buckwheat pancakes. Barbara and Lola enjoyed them alot.  St. Malo was destroyed by the Germans during WWII.  Over 80 percent of the city had to be rebuilt. We had two lovely dinners at a restaurant called Le Cale and had a wonderful young waiter named Clement.  After dinner he bought us an after dinner drink: run and vanilla.  It was fabulous. 

Now we are in a town called Chinon.  We don’t like our hotel so it looks like we are moving.