TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

Four friends interrupt each other. Memories of a recent trip to the

Loire Valley in France have gotten Lary Freeman, Cheryl Swegan and Gary

and Leba Kramer a bit excited.

Chambord Castle had that huge, amazing staircase. The L’Orangerie at

Chenonceau, with its fairy-tale gardens and moats, was beautiful. Then

there was their favorite -- what was it called? The small yet invitingly

charming castle. No, not the Amboise -- the Langeais.

For four days last November, the Corona del Mar residents visited

castles, lounged through four-course, two-hour meals at least twice a day

and napped. They returned home well-rested.

The four -- Freeman is an airline pilot, Swegan is a flight attendant,

Leba Kramer is a clinical psychologist and her husband Gary is a

certified public accountant -- have visited France before.

This time however, they slowed down -- napping and touring without

consulting itineraries, catching a castle here, a castle there, between

eating gourmet meals in chateau dining rooms and cafes with roaring

fireplaces.

“I would recommend this trip for people like us -- who’ve done the

beaten path,” said Leba Kramer.

It was on this path that the two couples met three years ago. On a

Princess Cruise around the British Isles, the Kramers approached Freeman

and Swegan, who are engaged, because they looked like a “nice couple.”

They learned, while aboard the same ship thousands of miles away from

home, that they lived about five minutes from each other in Corona del

Mar. Since then, the two couples have become close friends -- spending

holidays and having dinner together at least one a month.

“It was not a summer romance,” Swegan said.

Freeman played designated driver during the Loire Valley excursion.

The car rental agency was not able to offer the full-size car they had

promised, so the tourists made do with a Mercedes station wagon instead.

They stayed for two nights at the Chateau DePray, a four-star castle

built in the early 1200s. Their last two nights were spent at the Chateau

de Rochecott, the former home of Lord Talleyrand. Thick scarlet curtains

and finely-detailed rugs gave the couples a sense of the royal.

Their daily schedule involved breakfast in the morning, a castle

visit, a “big, fabulous lunch,” a nap, another castle and then dinner,

which they dressed up for.

The ladies looked lovely every night, Freeman said.

“They looked gorgeous 24 hours a day,” Gary Kramer quickly added.

Most of the castles they visited were grandiose. Chambord and

Chenonceau chateaus gave the travelers a sense of time, helping them

understand that the floors they stood upon had endured centuries of wars

and change.

“Being from a place that’s so new, lodging in a place that was built

before Europeans came here to America -- that just really to me is so so

astounding,” Leba Kramer said.

The smaller chateaus were intimate. The Amboise and the Langeais

castles -- where rooms were small but dotted with careful decorative

touches -- left an impression on the Kramers, Swegan and Freeman. They

also visited the last home of Leonardo de Vinci -- Clos Luce -- where

copies of his drawings and models of inventions such as the precursors to

the automobile and the machine gun were displayed.

The last chateau they visited, the Usse Castle, is also called the

“Sleeping Beauty” castle. It is said to have inspired Charles Perault,

the writer behind the fairy tale, with its beauty and numerous tableau

scenes, Freeman said.

Driving to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on their last day, the

four friends remembered seeing the Eiffel Tower and other famous

monuments through the car windows.

“I was great to see it from a distance,” Leba Kramer said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.