France - Chateau Tilques

Late start to the day – our body clocks are way out of sync.

Took the kids to the indoor pool at the Chateau (new since we were here last (12 years ago)). Very surprised at how good it is – normally indoor pools seem a bit ‘naff’ but this was a lovely space(lots of windows overlooking the lovely grounds and creek). The boys loved it , a great bit of exercise(luckily we had it all to ourselves – I’m sure we would have scared anyone else off otherwise). Such a beautiful blue winters day today.

The boys kicked their new soccer ball around the grounds, Chris played the outdoor chess set with Lachlan. I had a quick walk around the grounds - there is something I really love about the  French countryside on a blue winters day - so still and sublime – quite meditative.



Boys playing ball

 

 

 

 

Chateau Tilques lounge - trying to look the part.

Visited 'La Coupole' in the afternoon . Pretty good stuff for boys. The exhibits had been finely tuned since we last visited maybe 15years ago.
Great video presentations with headsets (ours was in English, but poor Ollie mentioned later that it was hard for him not understanding French - he had his headset accidentally set to French language and had assumed ours were too).
Poor Ollie also got to experience his first(and last) microwave burger there for lunch(the rest of us were sensible and had sandwiches) - as you can imagine he was horrified by it.

Most interesting facts:
Not a single V-2 rocket was launched from this site (It was built by Nazi Germany between 1943-1944 to serve as a launch base for V-2 rockets directed against London and southern England), construction was never completed due to repeated heavy bombings.
The lead rocket engineer, Werner von Braun, surrendered near the end of the war and was bought, with some colleagues, to the USA to work on U.S. rocket development. His Nazi past was never disclosed. He acquired American citizenship and lead the team that developed and launched 'Explorer 1'(1st American satellite) and the 'Saturn V' moon rocket.

Network of tunnels housing storage areas, launch facilities and crew quarters.

 

Flying Bomb

La Couple Dome in the background

 

Got to enjoy another dinner at the chateau. I was amused by Lachlan's comment:
"This is so annoying , one taster and two dinners before pudding" – in fact he meant one amuse-bouche , one entrée , one dinner and one ‘pre-dessert’  before dessert – all a big ask for a little appetite on a little boy. The neighbouring table watched with amusement. The main waiter was not so amused but the other was all smiles.
The boys were all giggles watching the waiter soak up his water spill on the table, with such precision, I was amused too.



A swim the next morning, blue sky turning to hail - Jarvis couldn't resist a dash outside.