Orleans Lyrics

A French may recall the song from childhood, often sung as a round. The four of these historic cathedral towns lie in a region known as la Douce France (Gentle France).

Here, orchards and wheatfields are punctuated by a remarkable assortment of sights: ornate hilltop chateaux, troglodyte homes, cathedral gargoyles that have gaped at 10 generations of worshipers, 500-year-old windmills, and friendly, delightful villages that few Americans ever travel to. It offers all the charm of France.

In Beaugency is the land of the "other" Loire river: Le Loir, smaller and less celebrated than elsewhere. You get to a very different world.

Orleans, Beaugency,
Notre-Dame-de-Clery,
Vendome. Vendome.

Awake to the sound of a distant carillon chiming out of this song once Joan of Arc's called to arms. Now you understand why Vendome is mentioned twice.