For more than 300 years St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec City has been a place where healing miracles occurred.

One of the reasons I am so enamored of travel is that it overlaps every aspect of life and also my writing for the News-Herald.

Example: In my quest to make recommendations for a friend's three city road trip between Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, I remembered my last trip to Quebec City which included a visit to St. Anne de Beaupre, a large church just outside the city which is known for amazing cures of  blindness and crippling diseases.(see photo) It dates from the 1600s and has relics of St Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. Relics are pieces of bone and it is those relics that are credited with the many cures, which have been documented through the years.

Because I also write stories for the newspaper's religion page, I was was working on a story about the St. Ann's Shrine in Highland Heights, where another relic of St. Ann resides. It will be venerated in a three day celebration next week at the local church. (See Saturday's Religion page)

Turns out the bone from St. Ann's forearm came from another bone that was among three St. Ann relics at the Quebec church, so I thought I would do a little digging (pardon the pun) to find out where they came from originally. After all, St Anne must have lived an awfully long time ago to be the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus.

Carcassonne is an ancient French city I'm writing about for Travel from which a relic of St. Anne was brought to St. Anne de Beaupre in Quebec in 1670.

Research on several different websites revealed that the first relic of St. Ann came to the Quebec church from Carcassonne, an amazing walled city in France (see photo here)  that I visited a month ago and which I am also in the process of writing about for the Aug. 12 travel section. But the St Ann relic at the local shrine came by way of Rome, where it was housed in a church called St Paul Outside the Walls, begun long ago by the Emperor Constantine near the Vatican.

To me these connections are nothing short of amazing, but, in truth, they happen all the time.

I've begun doing my homework for a France wine and food trip I'll be taking in a few weeks. We'll be in Languedoc, the area in the southeast part of France where one of my favorite wines comes from. It's called Picpoul de Pinet and it's an inexpensive white that is our summertime house wine. To celebrate being invited on this trip I bought a bottle of it to drink this weekend.
The wine region is quite large, stretching from Montpellier which Ill fly to from Paris, to Narbonne, which we will visit on the trip's fourth day. It takes in more than 120 villages and the vineyards which surround them.
The majority of wines produced in this rather large region - the appellation called Coteaux de Languedoc - are red and rose wines. Many are now being imported to the United States and they are quite reasonably priced. I very much look forward to exploring in depth what the French call terroir at the wine chateaux I'll be visiting. Terroir is about soil, but its also about the kind of stones that make up the soil, the incline the grapes are grown on, the amount of sunlight they receive and a  number of other elements that give the wine its characteristic taste. In this country we usually call terroir a micro climate, but that word tends to understate its importance as far as the French are concerned.
I know I'm going to have to learn to spit - something I'm self conscious about - but something those who taste a lot of different wines must do on a regular basis. If I swallowed the wine in every glass of wine I'll be offered there's no way that I would be able to take coherent notes or remember much about it for my story.
The fact is, I'll be taking this trip for the purpose of developing a series of stories about the region and that's not something I could do while tipsy.
So if you and I should cross paths  in the next several weeks at a wine tasting,  please don't be offended to see me spitting my mouthful of wine into a container after I've tasted it
 It's all a part of my job, you see.

Chateau Chissay is one of several chateaus in France's Loire Valley to offer overnight accommodations to visitors.

Chateau Chissay's dining room awaits with fine china, crystal and starched tablecloths.

Both Johnny Depp and Mick Jagger keep chateaux in the Loire Valley, known as the garden of France for its mild climate, wildflower strewn roadsides, and solid place in French history. But except for a glimpse of Jagger’s manse from a hot air balloon, we writers didn’t see their places on my fall press trip. We amply contented ourselves instead with explorations of the chateaux where Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years, where the 16th century rivalry between Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers played out and where the Renaissance bloomed.   Many of the 300 chateaux in the Loire Valley have been reinvented to showcase the past for modern visitors and it’s the experience of a lifetime to see them.
This part of France is just a little more than two hours by high speed train from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris so is an easy-to-arrange destination for Americans.

A hillside strewn with wildflowers frames the chateau's swimming pool as seen from a stone patio where wine and cheese is served before dinner.

Quite a number of the still privately owned chateaux have been reconfigured to provide overnight lodging to visitors and it’s an experience quite unlike any other. We enjoyed two nights at chateaux - nights that went by all too quickly. It was dark when we arrived Chateau de Pray and bedtime for me at 10:30 when we’d finished a lovely meal there.


Departure was shortly after dawn so I didn’t even get the photos I’d wanted.
We arrived in late afternoon at Chateau de Chissay, which isn’t far from Chenonceau Chateau, the subject of the final story in my Loire series, which runs on Jan. 8. It was a charming finish for my last night in France, but I desperately wished for a longer stay. It's so often the downside for travel writers that so much must be covered that its impossible to spend time enough to soak in the ambiance at wonderful places. The photos here were taken at Chateau Chissay and you can see how delightful it is.
Much to my surprise, ancient  fabrics still are in place, antiques fill public areas and some guest rooms have working fireplaces. I fell in love with Chissay, which predates Christopher Columbus, and in modern times has hosted Charles de Gaulle and other notables meeting for strategizing during World War 2.
It’s likely that I had the very suite where deGaulle may have stayed, or at least I like to imagine that. But the chateau was completely renovated in 1986, so perhaps not.

Silk wallcoverings and a comfortable canopied bed with high thread-count linens characterize guest rooms at Chateau Chissay.

My room had silk wallcoverings, grandly vaulted ceilings and a huge canopy bed the equal of those we’d seen in royal chateaux. My bathtub had claw feet and handpainted tiles showing chapters in French history adorned the bathroom walls.
Tall stone framed windows looked out on the gardens and swimming pool below with frothy bathroom curtains catching the breezes from a forested area beyond. Fine linens draped the bed for my silky sleeping comfort .

A deep claw-foot tub allows a full submersion bath

It was no surprise to discover that rates in euros ranged from 135 to about 350 a night ($175 to $475 with meals) But   those lucky enough to stay there say it's   worth every penny.
Many of the chateaux offering overnight lodging are members of Bienvenue au Chateau, an organization designed to protect and enhance private chateaux, manors and historic houses in France with standards that guarantee a personal touch to paying guests. Click on the English flag at its website, www.bienvenueauchateau.com to view the accommodations by region and find out about them.
Each listing also indicates whether or not English is spoken.
Both of the chateaux where I stayed are closed for a time during winter but reopen in the spring when the Loire valley is arguably at its loveliest. I cannot imagine a more pleasant thing than using one of these places as headquarters for a meander among the villages and chateaux of the surrounding countryside.
  Learn about them at www.chateaudepray.fr and www.chateaudechissay.com

 Chateau Chenonceau visitors look over some of the gardens originated in the 16th century by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici as kayakers on the river over which the chateau  was built explore by water.

The gardens at the Royal Chateau Amboise  were designed in an English style with regularly placed and carefully manicured boxwoods as a focal point.

Ordinary wood boxes were stacked for shade and display of plants that need little water  in this biodiversity garden at the Chaumont-sur-Loire Chateau where each summer more than 30 gardens are created around a theme in an international competition among landscape architects and students.

The spires of Chaumont sur Loire Chateau are seen beyond one of the Gardens of the Future which competed in the April to October  2011 International Garden Festival. 

Walking on the grass is discouraged in gardens throughout France, which are instead criss-crossed by walking paths for enjoyment by garden lovers. 

This Garden of the Future at the Chaumont Chateau competition used meshing to replicate large mushrooms in its design

Chateaux where rivals Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici lived are just 12 miles apart in France’s verdant Loire Valley. Their lifetime rivalry over King Henry II of France played out at both of their homes and its many stories continue to fascinate today 's visitors to their  beautiful chateaux. Diane, 20 years the king’s senior, was his mistress while Catherine was his wife, marrying the young king when he was 15 and she was 14. Both Chateaux were owned by the King and he moved between them.
But many who visit care little for the Renaissance intrigues of the mid-1500s, coming instead to visit the gardens.
The hundreds of acres surrounding Chaumont are the scene each year for an international garden competition while the gardens of Chenonceau perfectly set the scene between sky and water. It’s unlikely that either Diane or Catherine ever actually got down on their knees to work in the soil, but both women were sources of ideas for armies of gardeners and landscape architects among their staff members.
Since 1992 the landscaped park around Chaumont has hosted the International Garden Festival from April to October. Thirty new gardens are created here by landscape artists each spring around a theme. When I was there in September I viewed several of the Gardens of the Future, which framed the theme of biodiveristy around new blooms, new materials and innovative ideas and approaches, some of which are seen here.
I wasn’t there at night, but if you go in summer you should be. From 10 p.m. to midnight the chateau itself is illuminated by 2,500 candles while part of the gardens are lit by electroluminescent diodes, their colors revealing strange and mysterious shapes and shadows of the plants.
Meanwhile, at Chenonceau the vast, 1,700-acre gardens of both Catherine and Diane, which flank each side of the chateau, also are illuminated on summer evenings. Visitors can stroll among them to musical accompaniment from Arcangelo Corelli, Italian master of classicism.
Those who take an i-Pod tour of the chateau’s rooms will certainly be smitten by the many fresh flowers on display. They change with the season and are designed with blooms grown in the gardens. Those who wish can visit the floral workshop in the courtyard of the 16th Century farm on the premises. This time of year, majestic fir trees brighten the tour, which is warmed by blazing fires in the chateau’s many fireplaces.
That chateau was built over the Cher River, a Loire tributary, and boat tours can also be arranged by those wishing to tour by boat. learn more at www.domaine-chaumont.fr and www chenonceau.com

On Labor Day Im headed back to France, this time to a small section of the Loire Valley where I'll visit the hometown of Jules Verne and see and see how his genius is influencing those  who have followed him.Im told to expect a cross of steam punk and sci-fi. I'll be visiting some chateaux to see how theyve been reinvented for the 21st century and will go to one where Leonardo DaVinci spent the final few years of his life and where he finished the famous Mona Lisa,  which he reputedly carried with him when he crossed the Alps from Italy into France.. It should be a great trip and I'll be blogging whenever Im able to get a wi-fi signal. One of the most interesting things about this trip will be my travel companions, all invited guests of the French Tourist Office. I'll be one of just two Americans in this international group of journalists. It will be interesting to see how they do their jobs, and I'll keep you up to date too. So please check in here betwee nnow and Sept. 11, the day I fly back home. And tell me: Would you be anxious flying internationally on 9-11?

Here's my news from the spring meeting of the Midwest Travel Writers Association, of which I've been a member since 1983. Those who follow my regular blogs got other aspects of these two stories last year.
I am so honored by these awards.

The News-Herald's Janet Podolak has won two travel writing awards from the Midwest Travel Writers Association. The honors were announced Saturday at the organization's spring meeting in Chicago.

In awarding an honorable mention to Podolak's "Say Bonjour to Something Different" Judge Cindy Richards, said "This two-part series gives a nice overview of the least populated corner of France with its donkey ride along the Robert Louis Stevenson Trail, boat ride along the Tarn River and a huge underground cave."

See that story at http://bit.ly/saybonjour.

Podolak's "Meet those sharing Adriatic Voyage" won an honorable mention in the competition's photojournalism category with Richards writing: "This piece about a trip aboard a wooden sailing ship off the coast of Croatia advertised it all — photos, text and video."

Find that story at http://bit.ly/adriaticvoyage.

Podolak, who has been with The News-Herald since 1973, lives in Mentor. In addition to Travel, she writes for the Food, Health, Religion and Community sections of The News-Herald.

The plane ride was rough, no doubt. A five-hour layover in Newark and six-hour flight on AirFrance. Yet here I am, in Paris again.
And completely breathless.
Today marked the first of my six-day press trip to France. I have a full day in Paris tomorrow (Tuesday) before being whisked off by a Rail Europe train to Bordeaux.
It’s been six years since I was last in this city. It had bewitched my heart then, haunted me with every year that passed and seemed to beg for my return. So when the opportunity arose, I couldn’t hesitate.
But now … now I find myself more taken with every curve of architecture, every antiquated piece of history, every bite of savory food and sip of aged wine, than I ever thought possible.
The other women I’m traveling with can’t help but giggle every time we passed the Eiffel Tower today, which is right near our hotels, the Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan and Le Dokhan. For every time we pass I find myself in awe, lips slightly ajar, whipping my camera out yet again as though I can’t quite get enough pictures of her intricate layers and metallic weavings.
As we drove from the airport in a taxi to the Le Dokhan, we passed the Arc de Triomphe and I shook my head in disbelief. Could I really be here right now, driving over cobblestone roads to a hotel that is over 100 years old?
Yet there I was, being escorted up to the fifth floor by an elevator that was created out of an old Louis Vuitton wardrobe trunk. The wallpaper was still scratched and worn from years of wear and tear, giving it character the hotel decided to keep.
After passing out for an hour and getting a tour of each hotel – the Le Metropolitan being renovated to a much more modern style compared to the Le Dokhan – I felt like the media relations manager and other coordinators had read my mind by putting me in the Le Dokhan.
Its empire furnishings and 18th century décor in the bar and dining area, not to mention its posh, yet cozy and soft atmosphere in its business suite, are just a few reasons I’m enamored of this charming hotel. But enough about that, after all, I must save some things for my travel article.
Once we had champagne cocktails, complements of the Le Dokhan, other women in our group invited me out to dinner to top the long, jet-lagged day off.
We walked across the Seine River, past the Eiffel tower – then sparkling feverishly at random and accented by an ethereal crescent moon – and found ourselves at the la Fontaine de Mars restaurant.
One hint to the relevancy of this quaint, left-bank bistro: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama dined there when they were in Paris last year.
My course included an omelet entrée with chocolate truffles. It may sound strange, but it was a balanced savory taste and potent with flavor in every bite. My salmon and spinach main course was equally delectable as was the crème brulee, which seemed to melt into my very mouth with each spoonful. I was lost in a way I haven’t been in a long time … and it felt good.
The streets are more relaxed, less crowded in the off-season. The staff is also more noticeably at ease and peaceable, much more so than they were during the summer 6 years ago. And sure, it’s January, the weather is chilly and I’m in my winter gear.
Yet, none of that matters right now, because I’ve answered a call. And as the jet-lag threatens to take me over tonight, I can fall asleep with a trace of a smile on my lips.

-- Cassandra Shofar
CShofar@News-Herald.com

Caves are usually cool places to be, a compelling thought in this heat. Depending on their access to the surface, a cave is between 55 and 65 degrees year round...quite pleasant these recent days.

Caves are a theme in several of the locally written stories on Sunday, the third edition of the new monthly travel section for The News-Herald. It wasn't planned that way, but caves figured in the trips that Tracey Read and Michael Blair took to Indiana, the visit made by Jason Lea to Chattanooga and my own recent trip to the Lozere region of France.

I'll have more on France in August - just in time to help you plan your own trip there this fall or next spring. I'm really sad that Continental cancelled its service between Cleveland and Paris because that flight made it so much easier to visit my favorite city.

But the Lozere region in Languedoc is about as far from Paris as a place can be, reached by a white-knuckle drive from Montpellier on the Mediterranean coast of France. I think my video captures that experience, so have a look.

We took a funicular the first 50 feet down, and then walked down stairs into the cave, which was one huge room big enough to hold several football fields, or the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Here's my press group inside the funicular car.


I've had many recent calls from readers wondering why their travel section is not in their Sunday paper - its home since the 1980s. Three months ago the section went monthly, and I must say it looks good. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to pick it up on Sunday July 11 or subscribe to The News-Herald so you can get it every month. Without your support it may go away, like so many things that once were part of daily newspapers.

Soon I'll be off to France. I'm shown here with the clothes I'll wear on the flight and the things that need to go in my personal bag.
The act of packing for a trip is meditation, a time to contemplate the hours of transit, the adventures, the social interaction and overnights ahead.
Parameters for a writing research trip are quite different from a vacation, although the same pitfalls can occur without mindful packing.
Research trips typically involve a heavy schedule planned and implemented by others, following an itinerary received a week or two before departure. Hotels are one-night stands and baggage is the responsibility of the traveler.
I pack to meet airline restrictions for carryon, which means one bag will fit in the overhead compartment above my seat and a second, smaller bag can go under the seat in front of me.
Carryon affords flexibility - a proactive, desirable thing in this era of travel.
When your bag and its contents are beside you, it’s easier to cope with unexpected changes and take advantage of rare blocks of unexpected free time.
After a long haul flight, free time often means a hot shower in the airport. Many airports now make them available for a fee and they’re spotlessly clean and incredibly effective refreshers, especially after sleeping in your clothes in a narrow seat. See http://tinyurl.com/2da4cde to read last year’s blog about airport showers.

I’ll have a three-hour layover between my arrival Monday morning at Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris and the departure of my connection for Montpellier, on France’s Mediterranean coast to the south. Given the need to clear customs and travel to another terminal for the connecting flight that’s not nearly as much time as it seems
But know where the Air France showers in Charles DeGaulle are and I will pack a Freshhanger (see below) on top of my bag so that my clothes can also be refreshed and have their wrinkles steamed out as I shower.
That’s good, because I will join a walking tour of Montpellier directly from my midday arrival the airport, with hotel check- in still several hours (and miles) away. The itinerary calls for dinner at 8 (which will be 1 a.m. back home) so a 22-hour day without sleep is almost a certainty that first day.
I pack very specifically for the trip, making sure to include hiking boots if walks in the mountains are expected, as they are with this trip to Languedoc. Not having the correct footwear can ruin a trip. Catch this Sunday’s Travel section fo a photo of me sliding down a glacier — a victim of inocrrect footwear. Here’s how I have packed for this five-day trip. The list includes the clothes I will be wearing since I need to dress up each night for dinner and pieces will alternate.
My carryon bags include my laptop, camera and Flip-Cam, for documenting the adventures.
4 pairs pants, including jeans
3 tops, including 1 T-shirt
2 tanks
1 jacket
3 changes underwear
2 socks
2 pair shoes
1 pair boots
2 Freshhanger
Also: a compass, small towel, nylon tie-sack


Once I always packed in large plastic zipper bags until my daughter gifted me with one large plastic bag with a double zip on top.
Light fabrics this time of year allow clothing to slide easily into that bag. Underwear and socks are tucked into shoes. The bottom of the bag is covered with a 2-quart plastic bag that provides a layer of waterproofing and can serve to hold soiled laundry to be washed en route.
Once my belongings are in the bag it’s placed on a chair or another firm surface and I sit on it to squeeze out all the air. That squeezes my clothing into a 4-inch thick, tightly sealed package — just the right size for my suitcase, with room on one end for my camera, and one-quart bag with toiletries, which is double-bagged for leakage.
Flying in comfortable nonrestrictive clothing encourages sleep on overnight international flights. In coach I can pull out the bag placed under the seat in front of me to use as a footrest because my legs are short. I bring an inflatable pillow, sleep mask, earplugs, and shawl, which can serve as a blanket since airlines often are out.
If I arrive at the hotel early enough to wash out underwear it usually will be dry the next day. If it’s not, the in-room hairdryer will finish job.
So my clothing doesn’t acquire a stale scent I unpack every night and use the Freshhangers to air it out. Before I discovered them I always added a couple fabric softener sheets in my bag.
The compass is along because I am not good at keeping a sense of direction and I try to include some directions in my stories. Its also valuable when I’m on a subway underground and need to know which way to turn once I emerge into the city above.
The ties on the nylon tie sack configure as a backpack, so can be great for carrying my umbrella, maps, notebook while exploring a new place on foot.
What size for carryon?
The size restrictions vary by airline and the class you are traveling. On domestic flights a good rule of thumb is to figure 45 inches, which is the bag’s width plus height plus depth. My 22 by 15 by 7 inch bag fits nicely. An extra zipper opens to allow for a little extra space, which sometimes is needed for press material and purchases. It’s a nice feature, but if the bag expands I will need to pay to check it.
My Continental flight to Newark permits my carryon bag to weigh 40 pounds, but once I check in to my Air France flight, 26 pounds is the limit.

My personal bag holds my camera, laptop, Flipcam, glasses and sealable quart size bag of toiletries. Once I’m beyond airport security I stop and transfer heavier items to my wheeled bag, padding them carefully for the rest of the trip.
Also in my personal bag are my medications, hairbrush, and toothbrush. My cosmetics, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, saline solution and cosmetics all are in my sealable plastic bag, per Transportation Security Administration rules.

I save tiny plastic bottles used by Lancome for samples. Each one holds one-day’s shampoo with a second for conditioner and a third for styling product. I use an old contact lens case for squirts of my foundation, with face moisturizer on one side. One small bottle of contact lens saline solution lasts a week.
Details
Transportation Security Administration: www.tsa.gov
See www.luggage limits.com to learn the restrictions for most airlines.
Freshhanger.com; 866-530-6580
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