Walking in a cool, upland forest in the  Montagne Noire (The Black Mountains) in the south of France near Carcassone, we stumbled upon a Chestnut tree.  This one is the European variety, Castanea sativa.  There were many of them, some very tall specimens.  We got a glimpse of what the American Chestnuts must have been like, being that these are so similar in appearance.
We noticed the blight on the bark, and upon close inspection we found trees that were dead in the middle with many shoots around the side, a familiar sight in northeastern America.
It turns out that the European Chestnut is also effected by the blighting fungus introduced from Chinese Chestnuts, however they are not as severely affected as the American Chestnuts.
It was exciting to see these Chestnuts growing amidst European Beeches and Oaks on this cool hillside!
The ferns in these woods were taller than Isabelle.