Hi, I'm going to France for the first time in November. I will be in Paris but will consider side trips. My father was in the US Army in the early '50s. He was stationed in France as well as Germany, I think. I believe at least some of the images linked are in the Loire Valley. Does anyone have the specific locations for any of these sites, such as the statues or castles? It would mean the world to be able to walk in those steps again.
Feel free to comment in the photos or here. Thank you!
Hi Matthew. I'm 99% certain the first photo was taken in Chinon. I'm curious to see if other readers can identify some of the other sites.
Anita
Great photos. here are the locations for most of them. One of the Chinon photos has me baffled, but it could be a tower that has been modified since.
Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/X8iTt4ZpYdX7mXSV7, Tours https://goo.gl/maps/ePBSCGUw7uALA7TB8 , Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/WRqjqeF1qgREEhFn8
Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/T7dk3itbtgC3Fjyc6, Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/G6dA6nDKMFrVrkrG9, Chinon (chateau, but can't find a match)
Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/Wetfkg1K4bkMtG489 (I can recreate this photo for you!) . The next two I suspect are on the coast
Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/mChM5yPUTkrN4PNKA, Coast again?, Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/Ea2qm4bxe3HvSJgt6
Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/5vpgA8mqu981AKBu5, Tours https://goo.gl/maps/FdWGUvAsUkxJr4E1A, Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/vu14wmF48hFovpZt8
Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/SZqrFhVsztyP5q1s7 , Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/xhRKwJ2UrskDv4b7A , Chinon https://goo.gl/maps/evHW51871Ex2WBC17
Tours https://goo.gl/maps/QCd54vZKYLQYrRMs7
Edit - actually, the two photos of the park I have suggested could be at the coast - they might be the riverside park in Chinon, looking towards the railway bridge (Promenade du Docteur Mattrait)
https://goo.gl/maps/ybb9RoWjvWATyHqn9
Edit 2 I think the unidentified Chinon pic is this one https://goo.gl/maps/9w6Gcm9AFbwyftJc9. Until recently, Chinon was the biggest restoration in French history, so things will have changed slightly...
Wow, that's great, Simon-very kind.
Great photos, matthew! Looks like you know where to go next!
Merci beaucoup, Simon, Anita and others! That is amazing!
I like trains. Sounds like a great way to get down there! Any other recommendations from Paris to Chinon?
Definitely train - an hour from Paris to Tours, and about 50 minutes from Tours to Paris. Although unless you're wedded spending all your time in Chinon I'd think about staying in Tours and doing Chinon as a couple of day trips. The connextion to Chinon isn't exactly convenient.
Make sure to go to Chinon and enjoy, it's nice. It's one of our favorite near Paris wine areas and it's very underappreciated by tourists. I'm not sure if the poster above mentioned, but the cafe de la paix picture is also in Chinon (as are many of the other photos, as already mentioned). If you are there for market weekend in the main square, you can buy some pastries or beignets and have a coffee at cafe de la paix. It's a bit of a symbiotic relationship on market day.
Le cave voltaire is a nice wine, cheese, and meat place down a side street from the main square. You can't get many of the wines that he has and he does them by the glass. I'd recommend trying one of his old vine wines plus others. Chinon wine is good and he's an interesting fellow. Do stop by. I prefer his cheese platter to his meat platter.
Les annees 30 is a nice place for dinner and is always busy.
We normally stop there when driving through but the drive there is uneventful/not that interesting. If I were you, I'd take the train.
Matthew - have you seen this website? http://randall143.tripod.com/
I'm pretty convinced the unidentified photo of your dad on a beach is coastal
Great stuff. I'm going to check the years he was down there. You all have brought to light in literally one day what was a mystery since at least the 1960s.
Incidentally - I did post on a french forum about 15 years or so ago asking about this. The technology wasn't there at the time to get answers as precise as these. Utterly amazing stuff.
Thanks again. Any other ideas - keep 'em rolling. I will enjoy every part of Chinon - thanks for the tips.
I've been looking at the area - there are a lot of buildings and parts of buildings of the engineering depot remaining, but it will take a bit of forest walking to find them. Some have been incorporated into modern factories, but most of the remaining buildings are still painted a strange green colour - not khaki, but a sort of arsenic green which makes them easy to identify. According to records there were "10 miles of railway track", but apart from some evidence on arial photos, it appears like most of the track has been removed and the track beds ploughed up.
The Military hospital was on the site of the current Chinon Hospital, but I can't see any buildings of the epoch you're interested in.
For both sites (and especially the Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt site) you will need transport. You can catch a bus to the hospital and the village of Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt but they are few and far between and will require some pretty serious walking to explore.
