Welcome to the Loire Valley!
As you may remember, I left you on May 9th, John’s birthday. On our route to Amboise, we stopped at our first chateau, Chambord. John didn’t remember anything about it from our first trip — 27 years ago, but I did! The double helix staircase inside was still vivid in my mind as well as the beautiful outside. It was built by Francois I, but he never lived there and only visited four times, mainly to hunt.
We were hungry by now so stopped at a market to buy fresh strawberries and ate in the car with some cheese and crackers that we had.
We drove into Amboise, a centrally located city for going to visit the chateaus. We have loved our hotel, Le Manoir Les Minimes. It has ample parking, a short walk (or ride for me) to restaurants, a beautiful room with a view of the Château d’Amboise to the left and the Loire to the right. Great find!
You also might remember that we have not had a proper meal since leaving Campbell et al. We had a great escargot, onion soup, steak frites and dessert meal to celebrate John’s birthday at Chez Bruno. We did share!
Wow! Welcome to French dining!
On the next morning we drove to Cheverny, home of many dogs and John’s favorite one. We had a bunch of interesting experiences, starting with meeting their dogs at the kennel. Cheverny is known as a hunting venue and houses about 100 French Hounds.
Next stop — the Chateau and inside:
Onto the Love Garden — beautiful statues that have been recently added.
We decided that we should go through the maze. That might have been a mistake as it took us awhile to get out and we had been going all day and getting a little tired.
One more picture of the chateau as the skies were darkening. This is what the weather has been like — lots of overcast skies with occasional drizzle, often changing to full sunshine.
That was a truly wonderful day….but it was not over — dinner at a creperie!
On the 11th we went to Chateau Chenenceau. The history of the Château de Chenonceau is defined by an almost uninterrupted succession of women who built, embellished, protected, restored and saved it. The first château was a medieval château dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, of which only the dungeon remains: the Tour des Marques. The château in its current form was built between 1513 and 1517, by Thomas Bohier and above all his wife, Catherine Briçonnet. (The history comes from the internet.)
We hope you have enjoyed our first three chateaus….much more to come, but enough for now!
Beth
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