I'm a French teacher preparing to teach the Renaissance, and I'd love to show my students a Rick Steves episode on the chateaux of the Loire. They loved his walk down Rue Cler when we studied food, so I was hoping to find something similar. I've looked through the online travel store, youtube and the episodes available on hulu, and I can't find anything. Can anybody help me? It would be much appreciated!
Posted by
Texan in CA
4407 posts
After looking through all of his current TV shows' scripts, apparently the only Loire episode was done in his previous series, "Travels in Europe". It's a no-go on Netflix and everywhere else I could think of to look. You can buy it from Amazon...the availability of the (nearly complete) box set comes and goes. It's offered by Questar. For various reasons that I have to guess at, this previous series is persona non grata... You want Season 2, Episode 9: "Loire and Provence" Loire and Provence Episode 9 2/26/93 "The TGV whisks Rick to the popular Loire Valley, starting in Amboise. Rick tells of the hard-fought history in the region. Then it's off to the Mediterranean splendor of Provence. Rick advises all to be polite when visiting France." FWIW, I bought a used set from Amazon years ago, and it was in perfect condition. I still want to find someone to cheaply convert all of my series VCR cassettes to digital...Yep, I have them all...;-) Good luck finding this! Edit: Try Rudy Maxa's "The Heart of France" from 2004 (from his "Europe to the Max" series), available from Netflix.
Posted by
Denver, CO
731 posts
Hi Lauren, It's too bad Rick doesn't have a current episode on the Loire Valley - I'd love to see that! While this isn't an actual episode, you might find this useful. It's a link to a France Travel Skills talk at the "2012 Rick Steves Travel Festival" in Edmonds. The speaker is Steve Smith, Rick's cohort in several of his France episodes. He starts talking about the Loire Valley at around minute 45, and the chateaus in particular from mins 48-55. There are some good slides of the chateaus he talks about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgHzU5UBrw
Posted by
Texan in CA
4407 posts
I forgot to mention checking with your libraries, if you haven't already...or putting out an APB to anyone in your area that might have a copy of his old series (like travel clubs, travel agents). Good luck!
Posted by
Savannah, GA
1336 posts
I, too, am a French teacher. Unfortunately there's no current episode from Rick (I'll have to check out the old ones!), however I've used portions of the Rudy Maxa Europe to the Max episode to show the Loire valley. He's a bit less interesting, but they get to see the chateaux nevertheless.
Posted by
OP
Greensboro, NC, USA
4 posts
This board is incrediblethis is the 2nd time I have posted looking for something, and both times folks have been wonderfully helpful! I'm disappointed that there isn't an episode I can get my hands on in time for this particular lesson (Monday) but I'm going to try and get my school to order the Best of DVD mentioned on amazon so that next time i will be more prepared. For this time, I'll use the Maxa episode. The other poster is right in saying that he is just not as engaging as Rick. Again, thank you to all of youyour help and advice is much appreciated! And I'll just have to hope that the next season includes a Loire Valley episode for the next time I teach this unit! Lauren