The first 3 weeks were spent in Boulogne-Sur-Mer, a ferry and fishing port on the English Channel, studying in a French school. Then we all split up to travel to the various families we had made arrangements to stay with.
Boulogne - a road to the old town.My first stay was in the Loire Valley, where the beautiful chateaux of the French Renaissance stand. I was staying with a family who ran a summer boarding scheme for French schoolchildren. One of their friends was an elderly French woman, a teacher of English, who repaid the hospitality she had received in England over the years by taking me to some of these glorious mansions.
Chambord
Chenonceaux, home of the King's mistress, Diane de Poitiers.
Amboise.
The Chateau du Clos Luce in Amboise is where Leonardo de Vinci spent the last years of his life. It now houses an exhibition of models made of his amazingly prescient designs - armoured tanks, helicopters, etc.Then I went to the south of the country to Montpellier. I spent most days on the beach at the nearby Palavas-Les-Flots.
Montpellier
The family took me to the millionaires' playground, La Grande Motte.
Travelling alone on trains and boats was an incredible experience for one so young. Even though I could translate a piece of French literature into English, I had never learnt the French for a return train ticket. I had to learn it all on the wing. It was very "character-forming".
By the time I came home, I was dreaming in French.
