Beautiful Yvelines!

Wow, did we discover a gorgeous region of France!!! After a leisurely Easter morning of the kids doing their Easter egg hunt around the house and beaucoup chocolate eating, we loaded up the car and drove the 400 kilometers to the town of Chevreuse, just 35 km south-west of Paris. Beautiful, beautiful area! It was very hilly and green and just covered in quaint, picturesque little villages with buildings and houses that were at least 1/2 of a century old. Fantastic! We drove straight to the Chateau de Breteuil where they have a beautiful castle and grounds built in the 18th century. "Louis de Breteuil, one of the ministers of Louis XIV, was a contemporary of Charles Perrault. They both served the Sun King, one as General Financial Controller and the other as Director of the Treasury Department. But it is above all as the author of fairy tales that Charles Perrault is still remembered." I copied that little blurb off the Chateau website to explain why the castle that we visited was covered in references to fairy tales. They had robotic and stationary figurines and works of art based on the fairy tales like Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Tom Thumb, Little Red Riding Hood, etc. The kids really enjoyed all of these little themes as well as the guided tour we took of the grand house - still decorated in the 18th century style but also displaying modern day pictures of the Breteuil family who still own and reside in part of the home. The surrounding gardens were gorgeous and had large play areas as well as a hedge maze which our kids played in for ages! So much fun! After the home tour, we joined in a huge chocolate Easter egg hunt in the forest on the property. There were 100's of kids but plenty of eggs to go around. After the egg hunt, we were cold and tired (there were actually snow flurries yesterday and today in that part of France) so we headed to our hotel in the neighboring village. We dined at the local Chinese restaurant (our first Chinese food in France - absolutely delicious!!!!) because it was the only place open on Easter Sunday before hitting the sack. This morning, we all enjoyed another lazy morning before checking out of the hotel and heading to yet another castle. This was an imposing fortress on the top of the hill outside of town. Amazing!! It was the Chateau de La Madeleine which was built in the 11th century! It was mostly in ruins but gorgeous with a nice museum area about the national park system and with hiking trails all over the hills around the castle. We had a nice little hike before getting in the car and heading for home. Without my GPS, we struggled a bit with finding our way around France. Things are not clearly marked and roads are often very, very small. But, we were in no hurry today so we took our time finding our way and enjoyed the sight of yet another gorgeous castle before actually heading for home. This was the Chateau de Dampierre which was finished in the 17th century and now used for a restaurant as well as for weddings and large receptions. Beautiful!!! We'll have to remember this one when the day comes for Tabitha's wedding! This was our first trip with Coco, the puppy. She did beautifully! France is so dog friendly that we could take her everywhere except inside the castle. When the time came for our guided tour, we put her to bed in her crate in our car and she was happy to take a nap until we returned. The kids loved having her along.