It’s been two years, but Chamaret hasn’t changed much. If anything it has gotten better as, this time, we’re enjoying the company of our good friends Dominic and Jenn.
It’s been two years, but Chamaret hasn’t changed much. If anything it has gotten better as, this time, we’re enjoying the company of our good friends Dominic and Jenn.
In this case, pictures speak much louder than words.
As it was literally down the block, we started with Chenonceau, and managed to get in first, thus having completely unobstructed views of the entire chateau. Amazing.
And this Is Chambord.
We have a 600km drive today, so there may not be any exciting photos, but you never know. A demain.
To start the day off right, we enjoyed a fantastic breakfast with our wonderful hosts, Marcel and Katharina. Sadly, we then had to say goodbye and drive to Amboise. We wandered the village for a bit and found a place that made sandwiches… and then ate them on the bank of the Loire river. Good views seem to always make the food taste better.
After lunch, we walked over to the palace in downtown Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci is buried – what a gorgeous site! He’s been there since 1519, but got moved from a lovely spot in the garden to the chapel in the 1800s at some point, poor chap. Still, I hope my resting place is half as nice.
Plus, his view isn’t too shabby either.
Along with that, the grounds and the palace are pretty great.
After touring the palace, we thought we’d go off to check out old Leonard’s digs. It seems he had a pretty good gig going, with the king inviting him to come live in France at the princely sum of 300 crowns a year, and offering him a gorgeous house to boot. Alas, the house was overrun with seemingly hundreds of yelling children, and at $20 a person, we decided to give it a pass and go drink wine on our bedroom’s patio instead. And that brings us to the present; with good Chinon wine and good Amboise cheese in our bellies. A demain…!
As I said, tres froid. In fact, we were both so unprepared for the wind, we each had to go to the local supermarket and buy a fleece sweater. Nonetheless, we had a great day, visiting the local city’s castle in the morning and going on a wine tour in the afternoon. Laid back, but lovely.
Tomorrow, we’re off to Chenonceau, where there is even larger and more impressive chateaux. Can’t wait!
What a great evening and Tuesday! We had a fabulous meal last night thanks to our hosts, and today we managed to see three chateaux (one just from a distance as we’d heard it was all Disneyfied inside), have a fantastic lunch, visit a caveau for a mini wine tasting and go out for some authentic Italian pizza.
Sheena and I are pooped. Tomorrow we’ve got a winery tour lined up and we’re going to wander around Chinon some in the morning. Can’t wait!
The above were from last night’s walk in the neighborhood, then dinner ( check out the cheese selection and the homemade apple pie!) … the following are from today.
See you tomorrow!
Well, we made it to France. We managed to get adjacent seats on our flight (not as simple as you might think), we caught our TGV, picked up our rental car, and navigated to our first B&B. All without yet sleeping a wink. For us, it’s currently 5:30am… but we’ve got a bit of gas left, thank goodness. Tonight, we are checking out our hosts’ wine cellar before they cook us a lovely meal. We’re pretty pooped, but we may yet find the energy to wander about the village.
Us at the airport, waiting for the TGV, looking and feeling pretty weary. 🙂
A pretty little street in Tours, on a bit of a wander while waiting for our car to be ready at Avis.
I just had to stop for a photo of this.. everything here is just so beautiful.
And finally, the view from our bedroom window; this is where we’ll be for the next three days!
More excitement awaits tomorrow… adieu!