FRANCE BY CAMPER

THE JOURNEY

The camper rental is 1400 euros for 23 days (a little less than 60 euros a day)...My travel companions are Begona, a Spanish woman, her 7-year-old son Alejandro and my legendary little dog Ugo Beddu (sign up on the Facebook page..just type Ugo Beddu. Their arrival from Spain is scheduled at Ciampino airport at 14:30 but Ryanair arrives about 2 hours late and so we set off directly with the camper at 16:30. The new home is a 90s Elnagh....4 seats....We set off along the road, first the Aurelia as far as Livorno, where to our surprise we find traffic only near Civitavecchia, and then the motorway as far as Ventimiglia. Toll €38.00...We fall asleep among other campers at a service station in Genoa....

AIX EN PROVENCE

We enter France and the motorway costs an arm and a leg...every 10 km there's a toll of about 3 euros, we have to do more than 200 km and so we do the math.....I set the satnav (essential) and we take the state roads and avoid every kind of toll. We pass through very picturesque little towns and views. We eat a sandwich in the middle of the French countryside and arrive at Aix en Provence, where we look for a spot in the Arc en Ciel campsite, but the campsite turns out to be full, so we go to the nearby Chantecler campsite, where for 28 euros we book one night for 3, dog and electricity. We're tired but after a nice refreshing swim in the pool and a shower we set off on foot to visit Aix en Provence, a beautiful Provençal town, whose beauty was immortalised by Cezanne.

We stroll along the Cours Mirabeau, an elegant street dotted with outdoor tables, visit the Place de l'Hotel de la Ville, with its charming cobbled courtyard, and the fascinating Place d'Albertas. Around 20:00 we meet an old French friend of ours called Florence whom we haven't seen for a very long time. Sipping a good glass of rosé wine at one of the outdoor tables, we retrace so many past stages.....incredible how fleeting time is....We're tired and go back to the campsite where we cook a plate of pasta with a ready-made Barilla pecorino sauce...Long live Italy!!!

LES BAUX DE PROVENCE - ST. REMY DE PROVENCE

We wake up around 08:00 and after breakfast we leave the campsite and head towards Les Baux de Provence, a splendid village perched on a rocky spur, with a castle and old houses....a return to the past....a shame about the too many tourist shops that have sprung up along the main street and ruin the almost magical atmosphere of this place...Around 13:00 we leave this village and head towards the adjacent town of St. Remy de Provence. We find a spot at the Camping Pegonas, where for 32 euros we get a pitch and electricity. The campsite is 500 meters from the centre and is super organized, with a pool, hot and clean showers and perfect for campervans....We visit the town of St. Remy de Provence, a typical Provençal village, with boulevards lined with plane trees, cafés with outdoor tables and small squares with fountains.

The usual baguette each...though half of ours go to Ugo who wags his tail happily and around 16:00 we return to the campsite. A swim in the pool, a shower and a relaxing evening with dinner of meat and salad bought at a supermarket....We enjoy the campervan....reading, chatting, in the shade of a tree at the campsite. Tomorrow?? History awaits us..we're off to Arles....

ARLES

A thought for my grandmother...who passed away a few years ago...today would have been her birthday...hi grandma Mimma you are always in my heart!! We leave around 09:00 in the morning and arrive in Arles, avoiding toll roads, around 10:20. We book one night at the Camping Les Roisiers, € 30.00 and this too will be a good choice, thanks to the hot showers and the nice pool. The only problem is that it's about 5 km from the centre. We decide to cover the distance on foot, it's hot but luckily breezy, we arrive in Arles centre and the city immediately wins us over. Its colours and its liveliness possess something magical. We visit the beautiful Amphitheatre and theatre (€ 6.00 for the two entries). The Amphitheatre, thanks to its elegance, literally bewitches us...wonderful!!! Of the Theatre, however, only part of the tiers, some columns and the orchestra remain.

We eat a baguette in a bistro in the centre, unfortunately we visit (it opens at 15:00) only from the outside the church of St. Trophine and at 15:00 we return to the amphitheatre to watch the gladiators' show...to tell the truth, not much....Around 16:00 we arrive at Les Alycamps, one of the most prestigious necropolises of the West (€ 3.50). The place is beautiful. We stroll around the centre again and Ugo with his great charm is breaking hearts among the French lady dogs....around 17:30 we set off for the campsite...(another 5 km of sweat and toil). We arrive, a quick dip in the pool and dinner with pasta and ragù....so much for the diet...Tomorrow we leave for Avignon.

AVIGNON - BOURGES

In the morning around 09:00 we leave for Avignon, the City of the Popes. We leave the camper at the free Ile Piot car park, where a free shuttle takes us into the centre. The city offers an exceptional historical and artistic heritage. We walk towards the Palace of the Popes and immediately have an unpleasant surprise, dogs are not allowed in, so we are forced to go back to the camper and leave the legendary Ugo Beddu in the camper....our faithful friend looks at us puzzled and with pain in our hearts we return to the centre. The queue for the Palace of the Popes is quite long...after about 30 minutes of waiting our turn arrives and we pay the very expensive ticket (€ 12.50). The palace shows itself with its austerity and majesty on the outside, but disappoints inside, too bare and scanty in furniture. After about two hours of visiting, we leave the palace and visit the famous St.

Benezet Bridge (€ 4.50). In this case too we are a bit disappointed, especially because its interior is too bare. We take a tour of the centre of Avignon, characterised by its squares, fountains, outdoor tables and the inevitable carousel. It's hot and around 13:30 we leave Avignon to stop an hour later in a supermarket car park to eat something. A long and very exhausting journey awaits us, 600 km to Bourges, 600 km of mountains, curves, paths and unfortunately it also starts to pour with rain. The camper also has problems: when shifting from 5th to 4th, the campervan slips dangerously forward...we fear the worst but then things pick up again for the better and the camper works again. The rain stops falling, we have dinner in the middle of an unknown French village, we find an open petrol station and pass by a fantastic castle, in the middle of a lake, this fairy-tale fortress rises up.

Around 02:30 we arrive exhausted at the free car park set aside for campers in Bourges!! What a day!!!

BOURGES -CHEVERNY

Wake up at 08:30 and after a quick breakfast we leave to visit the Cathedral of Bourges, St. Etienne Cathedral, an architectural jewel with extraordinary stained-glass windows, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Shortly on our way back to the camper, a postwoman on a bicycle is hit head-on by a car, she hits her head on the vehicle....I run to help her and luckily all that remains is fright...and the postwoman gets up and sets off again. We are back in the camper and after about an hour we are in Cheverny, we leave the camper in the free car park and enter the castle (€ 7.50). Unfortunately I have problems with the video camera which can't read the DVD, let's hope it's just a problem with the disc.

The castle of Cheverny is a building with sober and elegant lines and offers a graceful park with a kennel housing 90 dogs, "crosses" between the English Fox-Hound and the French Puitevin. Alejandro is sad because he has lost in the castle garden a small toy shaped like a snake. We leave the castle and get back into the camper. We stop at the Camping le Chateaux de Bracieux a stone's throw from Chambord. We take showers and then taste some good chocolate at an exhibition right outside the campsite...In the evening risotto and cheese.....

CHAMBORD - CHENONCEAUX

A day of castles, lost in the little roads of the Loire. The temperature has dropped considerably and we wake up to a slight cold. Breakfast and departure for the nearby Castle of Chambord (€ 9.50) and camper parking € 6.00. The fortress rises with its white pinnacles, in the middle of the green of the park, giving visitors a fantastic play of colours. Chambord is the largest castle in the Loire Valley and its interior offers many rooms to visit, all rich in paintings, statues and sumptuous furniture. The view from the terraces is wonderful. After about 2 hours of visiting we leave satisfied and aware of having seen something unique. It's lunchtime and we're feeling a bit peckish, we stop in a French village and eat a sandwich immersed in the flat green of the Loire Valley. Around 15:00 we arrive in Chenonceaux, where another castle awaits us (€ 10.50).

This one is also beautiful and of a unique elegance, a shame about a part covered by a veil for restoration work. The interior is very interesting, especially the kitchen area. There are a great many visitors and sometimes it's hard to get from one room to another, they shouldn't let all these people in and above all they shouldn't allow tour guides to talk for an hour to their group in a room, not allowing others to see it except with difficulty or by pushing. Among the crowd I stop two girls wearing the legendary Roma shirt....giallorosse sisters photo together!! Daje Roma Dajeeee!! We leave the castle and enjoy the gardens, first the elegant one of Catherine de' Medici, then the maze, where Alejandro makes an impression on a French girl, and the vegetable garden, very rich in flowers and various types of tomatoes.

Around 18:00, after shopping at a supermarket and talking with my father, we arrive at the Las Acacias campsite, in the small village of La Ville Aux Dames...6 km from Tours, a city we will visit tomorrow. We have dinner with steak and salad...the happiest of all?? Ugo of course....

TOURS - AZAY LE RIDEAU - CONCARNEAU

After the inevitable breakfast we set off for Tours, the capital city of Lorraine, which offers the visitor the splendid Saint-Gatien Cathedral, with its harmonious façade and interior very rich in stained-glass windows. Leaving the cathedral we head towards the old town and visit the picturesque Place Plumenau, bordered by beautiful half-timbered houses; the Rue Briconnet, where at no. 16 is the house of Tristan, and the Rue du Grand Marchè, one of the most interesting streets of old Tours, rich in slate half-timbered houses. We leave Tours and stop for lunch in the middle of a park..baguettes one after another and then we continue to the Castle of Azay-le-Rideau (€8.00). A small castle that nonetheless offers an exceptional landscape, as the fortress rests on the Indre river in the middle of a park...we take photo after photo. Around 15:00 we set off for Brittany.

After about 450 km we arrive in Concarneau. We stop at the Lochrist campsite and at the reception something unique happens....We ask the usual information, price, availability, electricity and so on but up pops the owner of the campsite, a man of about fifty, obese, with a red face and staggering because he is drunk...in fact there is a party going on at the campsite and we notice numerous bottles of wine and beer everywhere. The campsite owner tells us to go in, to use everything and that tomorrow he would register us!! But we honestly tell him that we only need to stay one night!!! And he...replies: "I'm sorry but there's a party...do as you like because right now I really can't deal with you"!! We choose a spot in the campsite...we are practically alone....in the middle of a hectare of land....splendid...with Ugo running from one side to the other!! For dinner pasta with pesto....

CONCARNEAU - QUIMPER

We wake up around 08:00 and after breakfast we honestly pay for the campsite (€ 22.00) and begin our tour: Concarneau and instantly the spectacle of marine life opens up before us, seagulls, beaches, boats and the inevitable citadel that with its irregular little streets captivates us and takes us back in time. After about 2 hours of visiting we leave for the nearby Quimper, ancient capital of Cornwall, it offers the beautiful St. Corentin Cathedral, a nice square and the Rue du Sallè and the Rue Kereon, with splendid half-timbered houses and many little squares with outdoor tables. We have lunch in a street in Quimper and set off with the camper heading north. 200 km of Brittany's green then plunging into a blue sea bordered by rocks. We stop in Perros-Guirec, where the Pink Granite coast begins (which we will see tomorrow).

After trying 3 campsites..all full, we finally find space in one for 38 euros. Seaside campsites are notoriously more expensive. We have dinner of chicken and salad and a delicious French herb cheese. In the evening we go for a nice walk along the town beach. The water is not cold, we climb over some rocks and enjoy the colours of the sunset...Ugo is overjoyed and runs right and left, we return to the camper very tired. It is 22:15, tomorrow the Pink Granite and Emerald coasts await us.

PINK GRANITE COAST - EMERALD COAST - DINAN

We wake up around 09:00 and after breakfast we set off for the Pink Granite Coast (Armour) and the Emerald Coast. The Pink Granite Coast is so called because of the colour of the rocks that rise above the sea and along the coast. We enjoy Perros-Guirec and the view of Tregastel-Plage, where the area stretches as far as the Sept Iles..Then we dive into the Emerald Coast, first walking along the golden beach and then continuing to the Cap Frehel lighthouse, from where you enjoy a breathtaking view. Near the lighthouse is the Fort La Latte lighthouse (€ 5.00), an ancient and marvellous fort situated on the sea, with cells and doors that open directly onto the ocean. We expected far more organization from the French especially for the Pink Granite Coast, it is in fact really difficult to find signs and discover the most pleasant spots.

We continue around 15:00 along the Emerald Coast and set off for Dinan, we stop at a campsite just outside the port, called Camping de Lyvet. The owners are a French couple and the price is only € 15.40 per night. Still not sleepy we visit the picturesque little town of Dinan and for us it is a pleasant surprise. The town is in fact a genuine architectural gem and thanks to its picturesque streets and characteristic houses it is decidedly enchanting. Around 21:00 we return to the campsite..for dinner caprese pasta.

ST. MALO'

We wake up to the bitter surprise of rain, we have breakfast and hope for an improvement in the weather, but the sky is grey and promises nothing good. We go in search of umbrellas and then set off for St. Malo. The city, completely destroyed in August 1944, has been so well rebuilt that visitors easily find the spirit of history again. We leave the camper in the Paul Feval car park (€ 7.20 for 24 hours) and with a free shuttle we head towards the centre of the French town. We don't want to speak ill of the French, but unfortunately we have to confirm what other people had already told us....nationalists, haughty, they refuse to speak any language other than French and treat the tourist with superiority.....and I think of dear Albertone who sang...Ma ve c'hanno mai mandato a quel paese?' E vaaaa e vaaaaaa.

We resume our visit and take advantage of the low tide to visit the ILE DU PETIT BE', an island that houses a fort (€ 5.00) and above all offers an exceptional view over the bay and the Ile du Grand Bè, where the tomb of Chateaubriand is found and from which you enjoy a marvellous panorama. Unfortunately the rain gives us no respite and around 17:00 we decide to return and get back to the camper where the legendary super Ugo Beddu awaits us...To get out of St. Malò there is terrible traffic and it takes us more than an hour for a single kilometre, the camper overheats and we are forced to stop and then set off again after about 15 minutes...we find a petrol station, plenty of water in the camper and off we go again....what a scare!! The campervan fortunately comes back to life!!! Dinner with rice, aubergines and good French wine. Tomorrow we aim for Normandy: Mt. St. Michel.

MONT ST. MICHEL - HONFLEUR

We wake up a little earlier and after breakfast we are already on the road heading for Mt. St. Michel, one of the most incredible and fascinating places in the world. After impressive traffic we are bewitched by the beauty of the place, both architectural and natural beauty, thanks to the mystery linked to the rhythm of the tides and the wild immensity that surrounds Mt St. Michel. We park the camper in a car park around the abbey walls (€ 10.00). They tell us that if we don't want the tide to swallow the camper we absolutely must retrieve it before 18:00. We walk along the Grand Rue, a narrow uphill street, lined with ancient dwellings and little tourist shops. For my personal tastes I must say that Mont St. Michel so far tops all the satisfaction rankings of this trip and reaches first place in the hit parade.

We walk along the walls and our eyes jump from architectural to landscape beauties...km of sand and islets that emerge from the sea for a few hours, only to be swallowed up again!! Fantastic!!! We enter the Abbey (€ 8.50) and it is a leap into the past, the halls, the cloister, the refectory, the buildings, the crypts and the church are of a heart-wrenching beauty...Around 15:30 we leave and find the camper.....saved from the tide....Several times we turn around to capture the last images of this place. Splendid..a place worth the trip on its own!! We take the road again and enter Normandy forcefully. After about 180 km of green, we arrive in Honfleur, where we stop at the Phare campsite (€ 27.00).

For dinner omelette and salad and then we go out to enjoy Honfleur by night.....which welcomes us with lights, outdoor tables, many little boats in the small port.....beautiful!! We get an ice cream and return to the campsite, aware of having spent a fantastic day!!

HONFLEUR - ETRETAT

In the morning after breakfast we leave the camper just outside the campsite and explore the picturesque Honfleur, a maritime and river town that offers the Vieux Bassins, surrounded by splendid quays, dotted with characteristic boats. We visit only from the outside the bell tower of Sainte Catherine, an oak bell tower covered in chestnut wood, and the Eglise Sainte Catherine. Before entering this church we wait for a funeral to finish, and seeing so many people crying partly ruins our day. The church is truly different from the others we have visited; the naves are covered by a wooden vault, resting on oak pillars. Truly beautiful. We leave Honfleur and after just 2 km we cross the astonishing Pont de Normandie, a masterpiece of art and technical daring; of cable-stayed bridges it is the longest in the world.

Despite its lightness it can withstand the fiercest winds and collisions with the largest cargo ships. The bridge is splendid and evocative; we cross it armed with video cameras and a camera. The toll is €5.00. We leave the bridge and after about an hour we arrive at Etretat, a wonderful seaside resort, thanks to its pebble beach and above all thanks to its high cliffs. We walk along the Falaise D'Aval, which allows you to reach the summit, rewarding you with extraordinary views such as the Manneforte arch and the Aigoielle, a full 70 meters high. On the way back Alejandro and Begona are tired and stop on the beach; Ugo Beddu and I go to discover the Falaise d'Amont, which offers a spectacle of white rocks dotted with seagulls....the scenery is astonishing....Around 5.30 pm we return to the camper...I forgot, for lunch we ate some good kebab in a small local Turkish restaurant.

Towards 6.30 pm we find a small campsite in the direction of Fecamp, named Epivent, which asks us for €20.00 and the price also includes three chocolate croissants for breakfast...We are tired and decide to stay at the campsite...For dinner, pasta with clams and French red wine....

FECAMP - ROUEN - PARIS

In the morning, after the 3 croissants at the campsite, we go back to Etretat because Begona needs to use the internet and there is a tourist office there that offers it for free. After this we set off for Fecamp, a visit to the town which presents itself with a large port that today, besides welcoming fishing boats, also hosts tourist boats. We visit the abbey church of the Trinity and above all we walk along the wonderful pebble beach in an enchanting landscape, where the blue of the ocean crashes against some high white cliffs...beautiful!! We leave the beach and slowly return to the camper parked in the Carrefour parking lot, open 24 hours a day; we have lunch with cod and fresh shrimp (in Fecamp it's a must to taste the fish, as it was for a long time the French capital of cod fishing). In the afternoon we are already on the road, heading for Rouen.

We arrive in this town around 3.00 pm. Historically rich, it welcomes us with all its beauties. We visit the beautiful Cathedral of Notre-Dame, which inspired the famous series of cathedrals by Monet; we continue to the Rue du Gros Horloge, a busy and touristy pedestrian street with the Gros-Horloge, an enormous golden clock, one of the most interesting monuments in Rouen. We take a few photos of the Palais de Justice, with a beautiful facade, and we visit the Place du Vieux Marchè, a picturesque square that was the place where convicts were put in the pillory or executed in the Middle Ages. Right here Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and for this reason there is the Church of Sainte-Jeanne D'Arc, with a modern structure, with fantastic stained-glass windows and the shape of a ship.

We resume our walk and visit the vast courtyard of the Aitre Saint Maclou, one of the last vestiges of the ossuaries for plague victims in the Middle Ages. Towards 7.30 pm we leave the beautiful city of Rouen and with the camper we set off in the direction of Paris. We arrive after about 2 and a half hours with some difficulty; the camper's engine overheats and we are forced to stop again....Luckily this time a very kind French gentleman stops and helps us and even brings some chocolate eggs to the frightened Alejandro. Luckily this time too, after putting a lot of water in the engine, we set off again and arrive at the International campsite of Maisons Laffitte (€38.00). A campsite that will be one of the ugliest of the entire trip, not very clean and disorganized!! We are very tired; we have dinner with some meat and go to bed. Tomorrow we will visit Paris.

PARIS

The alarm is at 7.30 am, breakfast and then we take first a train and then the metro to get to Paris. First impression??? We understand nothing with the public transport and nobody speaks or pretends not to speak English. We get off at a stop in the center of Paris, eager to discover the city. For tickets, we recommend the day pass which costs €10.00 and allows you to use all the city's public transport for 24 hours. We get off and find ourselves in Place Chateneuf, beautiful and elegant. After about 1 km of avenues and buildings and the first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from afar, we find ourselves in front of the entrance of the Ste Chapelle (€8.00).

The impact is thrilling; the two-story structure has an upper chapel just 7 meters high, full of relics and unfortunately of souvenir shops that are a real punch in the stomach!! And an upper one that offers the oldest stained-glass windows in Paris. Beautiful, but let me play the Roman here, nothing compared to "our" Sistine Chapel!! We leave and head towards the nearby Cathedral of Notre-Dame, one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. As a layman I can say that the cathedral disappoints me and frankly I preferred those of Bourges, Rouen and Tours, not to mention the Basilica of St. Peter.

We visit the interior and I expected much more; the building in fact is rather bare and I continue to be perplexed and disappointed!! I expected much more!! We try to climb the tower but paying a full 8 euros to go up seemed like a rip-off to us and we refused....by the way..do you want to light a candle inside the cathedral?? Fork out 5 euros....so much for sacredness!! We leave the cathedral and the weather alternates between rain and sun; we walk along the Latin Quarter, constantly crowded with bars and small restaurants. We stop to have lunch in a small Greek restaurant...one of the few places where you really spend little, €19.00 for meat, fries, water, Coca-Cola and salad...(for 3 people). We leave and from the outside we see the famous Sorbonne University and then arrive at the Pantheon (€8.00). A building dominated by an enormous dome.

This construction houses the "ashes of the great men of the era of French liberty"; Voltaire, Baudelaire, Rousseau, Hugo and many others are buried here. Outside in the meantime it is pouring rain and we stay in the Pantheon waiting for the weather to improve, which will happen after about 30 minutes. We study the metro map carefully and finally start to understand something...despite the P for parking being mistaken for the P for metro stop.....We get off at the Trocadero stop and enjoy the Eiffel Tower, this technological monster right in the heart of the city. The sun comes out and the sky clears, so we take the opportunity to go up by elevator to the top...(€13.10). After a queue of about an hour we manage to get in....the elevator stops first at the 2nd floor and the panorama is exceptional.

Paris stretches out for many km showing all its sides, the domes of the churches, the bridges over the river, the skyscrapers of the modern part!! We go up to the 3rd floor and the ascent by elevator is nothing short of impressive...I capture everything with the video camera and then we enjoy the panorama from the height of the 276 meters of the 3rd floor. It is almost 7.00 pm and time to go down and return to the campsite where Ugo Beddu awaits us, rejoicing with joy!! We have a light dinner, salad, little mozzarellas and go to sleep.....

PARIS

Rain...rain...rain..over Paris the universal flood...we decide to wait until the early afternoon to go out and enjoy the Eiffel Tower lit up at night....Now that I am writing it is 12.02 pm and outside the camper the rain continues relentlessly and the sky promises nothing good!! We try at 2.00 pm, despite the rain, to go out. We head towards the Montmartre district and visit the beautiful Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur, characterized by its beautiful dome and its white color. I also recommend visiting the crypt and going up the tower, from where you can enjoy an exceptional panorama of Paris (€5.00). We leave the basilica and eat chocolate and cocoa crepes, delicious, and wander around the characteristic village of Montmartre, a real village in the heart of the metropolis, with its Place du Tertre, where among the outdoor tables artists crowd, offering landscapes and portraits.

We say goodbye to Montmartre and go down to the Pigalle district, the area dedicated to Paris's nightlife. The photo in front of the Moulin Rouge is a must, and right here something really funny happens....has it ever happened to you that a guy asks you to take a photo for him? Surely yes...and up to this point everything is fine....but a guy who asks you for 50 identical photos? That happened to us....I must have taken about 50 photos of a French man, all identical, always in the same position...lots of laughs, and then by metro we go down to the Place de la Concorde, an immense and very beautiful square that hosts an obelisk, fountains, statues and is surrounded by buildings and gardens...very beautiful!! A shame about the rain...we walk along the Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous in the world, with very wide, elegant avenues full of shopping centers....it's cold, it feels like Nov

ember...Begona buys Alejandro a little toy and even a scarf; we reach the Arc de Triomphe soaked and for this reason we avoid going up and limit ourselves to seeing it from below. Since 1921 the Arc has housed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...Chilled, we refuse to go on and around 8.00 pm we return to the campsite and decide to abandon the idea for today of seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night...We have dinner with a nice plate of pasta with clams and, very tired, go to sleep...will there be a bit of sun tomorrow??

PARIGI

We wake up and the weather betrays us too.....black sky and light rain...an improvement compared to yesterday though. Breakfast and we go out a bit depressed to visit what's left of Paris....the doubt is there...Louvre Museum or not Louvre Museum?? Next to us there's a family from Bergamo...a family that will accompany us for the rest of the holiday and who will be extraordinarily kind and helpful...Thanks to them we solve our Hamlet-like doubt, in fact Paolo (the husband) exclaims: "The Louvre?? A rip-off....." So we visit the National Museum of Natural History (€ 8.00), 3 floors displaying films about animals, the environment and the history of life..Interesting but the Natural History Museum in London is on another planet....

We leave the museum and take the metro to visit the Louvre Museum only from the outside, the building, beautiful, was for eight centuries the residence of kings and emperors. Even the pyramid, once criticised, is very beautiful. We take some photos and set off for the Opera House, a building with a monumental façade, with marble and gilded sculptures..We go into the La Fayette shopping centre, very expensive...and for this reason we quickly flee to enter another, more humane shopping centre, where Begon buys a sweatshirt to counter the cold. By metro we go to visit the Hotel des Invalides, characterised by the cannons along the bastions, a façade 196 metres long and a splendid courtyard of honour...Inside this complex is the Eglise du Dome, with a dome with 555,000 gold leaves...The interior disappoints.

Napoleon's Tomb is in the Army Museum, but the entrance is 9 euros...too much, so we skip it..With 10 euros instead we board the legendary Bateau Mouche....and we retrace Paris and its monuments by river, taking photo after photo and finally the sun comes out too!!.It's evening..back to the campsite, dinner with meat and salad!! With the family from Bergamo, Paolo and Antonella and a 7-year-old little girl called Giorgia, who will become a great friend of Alejandro, we decide to set off in Paolo's car and, with the help of my sat nav, head for the Eiffel Tower by night.... Paolo a great Atalanta fan, me a Roma fan....what can you do...it's not my fault if you're inferior!! Ha ha ha...The illuminated Eiffel Tower is splendid, we take loads of photos and we also go to visit Notre Dame Cathedral at night.

It's midnight and we go back to the campsite....Tomorrow with the family from Bergamo (weather permitting) we'll go to Eurodisney and it will be the worst day of the whole holiday.....

PARIGI: EURODISNEY....NON CI ANDATE!!

After breakfast we set off, electrified, with the family from Bergamo, heading for Eurodisney. We take the train and the ticket office recommends a particular type of ticket that would guarantee us a 20% discount on park entry.

The journey takes about 50 minutes and on arrival we already have our first surprise...the discount only exists for a two-park ticket in one day...practically impossible to visit two in the same day.....we accept anyway and, despite the discount, the price is extortionate...€ 53.00 for adults and € 45.00 for children...absurd!! We go first into the Walt Disney Park and the queue for every ride is monstrous...90 minutes...for every attraction, we lose patience and first see the Animagique show, where music and dancing retrace the classic Disney films..We come out and because of the incredibly long queues we practically do nothing!!! We manage to see the dreadful Armageddon attraction..a few explosions and fires and nothing more....We try again to have a wander round the park but we can't do anything....irritated, we go to the other park, the Magic Kingdom, and here too the queues are, unfo

rtunately, hallucinatory....it's not possible to let 2 million people in when there are 40 attractions....After a queue of an hour and a half we manage to get into the world of Pirates of the Caribbean and then, after another 90-minute queue, into the world of Peter Pan, and there the whole thing goes wrong......in the middle of

LUNGO VIAGGIO DA NORD A SUD

After breakfast, we and the family from Bergamo, who are in a caravan, set off... we cut across France from north to south and thanks to our GPS we avoid all the highways and take only main roads. We cross splendid villages of Burgundy, huge vineyards, lots and lots of roundabouts, and arrive around 10:30 p.m. in the Southern Alps region, on the great Lake Bourget, the largest lake in France. The campsite found by the Bergamo family is in Aix les Bains, a little town on the lake, known for its thermal spas. Since the campsite is closed, we sleep in its parking lot, and luckily the caretaker, an Algerian guy, lets us use the bathrooms and showers.... We are dead tired, have dinner with meat, say goodbye to our friends from Bergamo, and go to sleep.

ANNECY - LAGO DEL BOURGET

After breakfast we meet up with Paolo and Antonella and set off in their jeep to explore nearby Annecy, the Venice of France. Annecy is a splendid little town, nestled on the lake, with alleys and old quarters that are largely pedestrianized, penetrated by the waters of the Thiou and the Fasse that feed the lake. The lake is enchanting, and it's extremely pleasant to stroll within the Old Town. The day is fantastic with beautiful sunshine and a cobalt-blue sky that makes everything more pleasant and colorful... We visit the little squares, the castle (from the outside), today used as a museum, devour a delicious baguette with fresh products, and head toward the lake.... and here we remain spellbound by this splendid body of water.... splendid, crystal-clear, surrounded by the peaks of the Alps.

We rent a pedal boat for 6 (€ 20.00 an hour) and set off with the Bergamo family toward the wonderful center of this lake. The temptation to dive in is great, but we don't have our swimsuits.... but who cares!! We're Italians, aren't we?? So in our boxers, first Paolo, then me and Alejandro, we plunge into the clean, freezing waters of the lake. We spend 30 minutes swimming and diving, and then we bring the pedal boat back to its spot. We leave Annecy and return to the campsite, where we grab our swimsuits and set off for Aix Les Bainz and its enormous Lake Bourget. We walk along the lakeshore, characterized by bars, benches, trees, and playgrounds for children... this time we don't swim, the water is decidedly dirtier than Lake Annecy, and we decide to skip it. Walking along, we see a nice sports center with pools, slides, and little beaches on the lake.

The entrance fee is € 5.20 but dogs are not allowed in. So I, Paolo, and Ugo Beddu return to the campsite and leave our faithful four-legged friend in our camper to go back to the sports center. We buy the ticket, undress, but here's another unpleasant surprise... one of the lifeguards tells us that it's not permitted to swim in the pools in shorts... they want brief-style swimsuits.... I can't believe it, I ask for explanations, also because nobody wears brief-style swimsuits anymore... furious, I go back to the ticket office and simply say: "Either you give me back the ticket money or I go swimming"!! In the end they give me back the money, and I, Begona, and Alejandro reach the campsite for a nice invigorating shower. We have dinner in Paolo's caravan, a mega-galactic feast with steaks, sausages, chicken, fries, ice cream, ham, and cheese, all washed down with a good red wine....

Around 11:00 p.m., stuffed, we return to the camper to sleep... But it will be a rough night... Ugo breathes heavily so I'm forced to get up several times to stroke him.... too many fries for him too!! It's very hot and we don't sleep a wink.... see you tomorrow!!

BRIANCON

In the morning after breakfast we set off... heading south, towards the border with Italy. After 70 km, first problem: the camper at a traffic light, while I downshift, gets stuck.... what to do??? We call roadside assistance... it's 10:30 and after 4 hours of waiting...

I repeat, 4 hours of waiting at the edge of the road, the tow truck arrives.....I take the opportunity to publicly thank Paolo and Antonella who stayed with us the whole time, basically giving up a day of their holiday.....The tow truck takes us to a nearby garage.....incredibly the camper works again, almost like a miracle, without doing anything....and without anyone touching it....Around 15:00 we're already on the road and we arrive around 20:30 in Briancon, stopping a few more times along the way, partly because the camper overheats, other times to admire a fantastic landscape....among the Alps we enjoy a superb lake complete with a rainbow....beautiful!!! Paolo and Antonella arrive before us and book a campsite, we arrive around 20:30 just in time to have dinner with a nice plate of spaghetti with pesto....After this day spent among engines and tow trucks, we decide to go to sleep...

.tomorrow we head back to Italy!

MILANO

Around 09:00 we set off, still in the company of Paolo and Antonella, heading for Milan. We cross the Montgenevre without any problems and, singing the Italian national anthem, we enter our beloved and unique country.....At a motorway service area we stop and say goodbye to our friends, hugs and kisses with the family from Bergamo, and here we are back on the road. The weather is nice, it's hot, and we arrive in Milan around 12:30. We stop at the Camping Village, a few km from the trade fair and the Meazza stadium (€ 35.00).

The campsite is very nice and well organised, with a small zoo for children, a restaurant, where we buy 3 portions of lasagna.....long live Italy!!! Shower and relax in the afternoon and then around 18:00 we walk to the San Siro stadium to watch the Italian Super Cup final Inter Roma...armed with yellow-and-red scarves we go into the away sector and watch the match, unfortunately we lose 3-1 but we stay cheerful and smiling anyway....Around 23:00 we're back at the campsite. Tomorrow we head back to Rome!!

ROMA

We set off not exactly early, around 10:00 we're on the motorway and we travel along the Highway of the Sun, from north to south.....there's no traffic, or at least there's only traffic on the other side of the road, in the opposite direction.....The journey goes quite smoothly even though the camper shows signs of giving up, it overheats and keeps having problems with the gears. 20 km from arrival we're already off the motorway, and there's the camper getting stuck again....tow truck again, but this time we're lucky, the insurance covers the 20 km and we leave the camper, after emptying it of our things, directly with the owner.....

HOME

When you come back from a trip, contrasting feelings always mix together....happiness, sadness and nostalgia take hold of the human soul....without one prevailing over the other, but splitting our feelings into equal parts!!! There are many images I carry inside me from this trip...the disappointment of Eurodisney, the coastlines, the monuments....but what is hard to forget is the very simplicity of the journey...a glass of red wine, a laugh, friends, the many faces met by chance, the campsites, the road.... The secret always remains the same....even in the land of Napoleon and the Sun King it's possible to find the human side of every journey..... Goodbye France....