Program 675: Appalachian Music Trails; Loire Valley Chateaux; Achtung Baby

British travel writer Will Hide recounts his journeys along the back roads of Appalachia, where country music first arose from the melodies and instruments of immigrants from the British Isles. Then tour guides from France share tips on exploring the Loire Valley's many magnificent châteaux. And author Sara Zaske reveals what she learned from the German style of parenting while raising her young American children in Berlin.

• Travel writer Will Hide
• French tour guides Virginie Moré and Patrick Vidal
• Sara Zaske, author of "Achtung Baby" (Picador)

• Will Hide wrote about exploring "America's Country Music Heartland" for BBC Travel.
• Among the places Will Hide visited for bluegrass, gospel, and old-time music performances is the Floyd Country Store, near the Blue Ridge Parkway in southwest Virginia.
• Virginia Tourism includes music listings and an interactive map to help explore the sites and heritage of traditional mountain music on the region's two-lane highways, which they've dubbed "The Crooked Road."
• Chenonceau is the among the largest and most-visited of the chateaus in the Loire Valley. Viewing the chateau interior requires timed entrance reservations. 
• Virginie Moré specializes in small group tours of Lyon and Burgundy. 
• Tour guide Patrick Vidal lives in a 17th century stone house he's been renovating in Brittany.
• Sara Zaske writes about her experience, raising toddlers in the parenting atmosphere of Germany, in her book "Achtung Baby."
• Sara has also written about parenting in Germany for several major US publications.  
• Berlin places bronze stolpersteine, or "stumbling stones," in the sidewalk, to remind you of people who were taken during the Holocaust.