France Summer Road Trip | Chantilly (& Senlis)

By now we were headed south towards the direction of Paris and our third stop was Chantilly, a small town within the metropolitan area of Paris.  This town is known for Chantilly cream and lace.  It is also known for the Chateau de Chantilly and the Great Stables.

The beautiful chateau behind us

We arrived late morning and found some off street parking which thankfully turned out to be free.  The plan was to have an early lunch, and then explore the chateau.  The chateau looked very majestic from afar and we were excited to explore, and we saw it as a preview of what was to come, which was Palace de Versailles the next day.  Pushing our two buggies on the gravelled path was very challenging.  It was also very dusty.  We bought our tickets and decided to take the little train around the estate to save us pushing the buggies.  We walked a lot that afternoon, and the walk back to the carpark was easily another 20min from the entrance of the chateau, so K kindly suggested he would walk back and get the car to fetch us.

Happiness

Izzy took this photo!

On the train ride

All is calm on this sunny day

Picking stones and pebbles

Inside the house

Finally some peace and quiet for daddy and mummy

We arrived in our accommodation in the evening in a little medieval town of Senlis.  Our apartment was right in the middle of the town centre which was great.  The owner lived next door and everything was perfect - the place was clean and well stocked.  She even left a box of toys for the kids to play - so thoughtful!  As we were all dusty and tired after so much walking, we decided to buy some food from the supermarket and heat it up in our apartment for dinner.  And then we decided to go for a quick after dinner walk to explore the area.

The first cathedral which was round the corner from our apartment

The second gothic cathedral a 5mi walk away

This is a quaint little town and we loved the evening vibe of people dining al fresco, friends chatting happily.  The night was nice and cool.  On hindsight, we regretted not leaving Chantilly earlier and giving Senlis more time for us to explore.

A very happy Izzy

Love exploring the cobbled stone back streets, looking at people's houses, their French front doors and windows in particular for me

This was around sunset

The deserted main shopping street as it was late in the evening and shops were already closed

So far, our trip has been a little off the beaten track, having visited small towns and villages that are not touristy.  The other tourists we saw were mostly the French themselves, visiting from another region, making use of this covid times to explore their own beautiful country.  From here onwards, the next few days we will be hitting more well known touristy places.  Stay tuned!