Day 14: F O N T A I N E B L E A U

Early wake up call again! This time 7 am Breakfast call. We have quite a way to drive to reach Fontainebleau so we leave at 8.15 am.

On our way we stop in at Chartres (11.15 am) to see its famous cathedral. The stained glass and wood carvings are unbelievable in detail. It's cooler today which is great and though there are grey clouds above, we have not seen any rain yet! Quite lucky! We spend about 1 hour here and then press on.

We make our way to Fontainebleau and arrive at 1.45 pm, just in time to grab some lunch. We then make our way through this VERY large and extremely ornate chateau. Luxury does not even begin to describe it! WAY over the top. Opulent and unreal. This chateau really takes a couple of hours to go through but after one hour we start our preparations to leave. Yes, we should have spent more time, and were even booked to stay at a nearby hotel; but some how the idea of driving back to Geneva had been tossed around at lunch .... and accepted! So at 4.30 PM, we're back in the car and hitting the autoroute. Just as we get going on the highway, the first signs of rain begin.

As we get closer to Geneva, the rain really lets go and we see, in full force, the threat that we had managed to hold off for 14 days! Apparently, Interlaken is underwater now! To think we were just there a week ago with all that briliant sunshine?!

Again, the magical Auntie Caroline has whipped up an amazing feast, which greeted us upon our evening arrival.

And another surprise; Suley's cousin, Zeid who is supposed to be in Spain is in Geneva to greet us! A bonus to the trip.