At 6:00 there is a distinct sound of a gas burner used in a Montgolfière, better know as a hot air balloon. The appearance of balloons in the sky usually signals a beautiful sunrise or sunset, so Tim jumps out of bed and follows the balloon into town.
Even though the town is deserted this early in the morning, the access to the view of the castle reflected in the lake is behind lock and key. So the drone hovers just above the lake surface to get the same result. When there is a sound of a large splash made by a big fish, Tim gets a shock, but the drone is still there. Time to return and enjoy a walk through the forest back to the camp site.
Olga and kids wake at 8, take a shower and prepare breakfast while Tim packs the tent and car.
It’s super nice to be camping again, and to be so much outside in sunny weather and nature. It’s a bit fresh in the night, but it was not cold at all.
We pick up our croissants at 9 and walk 900 meters to the castle. We take turns in walking backwards as we learned yesterday it’s a good exercise for your balance, flexibility, muscles, lower back and brain. Easy win!
Château Pierrefonds is a 12 century castle that was demolished in the 17th century by King Lodewijk XIII to prevent its capture by his enemies. The ruins are forgotten until Napoleon buys it in 1801. Napoleon III restores it to make it an emperial palace, however in 1867 it opens as a museum. The restauration was done staying close to the medieval remains.
The castle has eight impressive towers, with several knight statutes on the exterior. We buy our tickets and enter the courtyard. There, we’re surrounded by different styles, from medieval to renaissance and many mythological creatures. The kids pay special attention after Cleo’s mythological creatures kids party.
We enter the castle itself and pass a chapel, donjon, many rooms with none or few decorations. There is no furniture, but some rooms are well decorated with flower figueres on the ceiling and stained windows. There are also some exhibitions of statutes, such as a giant lion, and weapons.
We can climb to the roof, enjoy the view, and go down via a double staircase.
Then Zeno has to go to the toilet so Olga and Zeno run through half of the remaining castle to get to the single toilet outside. Tim and Cleo can pay more attention to the final halls and see throughs. Even exploring the castle’s cellars with casts of famous French nobles.
We reunite in the exhibition hall, with pictures of the old ruines and the renovations. Some other tourists have arrived as well, we were alone until now.
The kids enjoy their croissant in the sun and we walk the 900 meters back to the campsite. Unfortunately the boat rental we pass is still closed as it looked like a fun activity to cross the lake in a pedal boat, looking up to the castle on its cliff. We’re clearly too early birds for the French!
We refresh ourself on the campsite, play a final game of pingpong, and start our 4 hour drive South at noon. After a short pitstop to get some lunch at Lidl, we conquer busy and hot Paris by avoiding the city center, and taking a wide loop around the eastern parts of the city.
At 17.00 we arrive at the supermarket again to buy diner, 15 minutes later we check in at our new camp site. We can still choose a place on the banks of the river Cher and get into our swimwear and try the river. Olga likes it but the children prefer the pool. So Tim takes them there and when we get back diner is served on a picknick table next to the river.
Olga goes for a walk as Tim entertains the children and later we change up. As the sun sets over the river we go to bed.
