France: Day Eight

Our last Official day in France 29th March 2011

So our last day...we woke up and had a lovely breakfast. We then left the sweet little town of Chenonceaux and stopped here and there to take photos.
We went to one last Chateaux, which was Chambord. Very "over the top" and one of the most impressive we went to.



Unfortunately we did not get to see Usse-one of the Chateaux I really did want to see on our trip. They call it the Sleeping Beauty Chateaux, In fact the story of Sleeping Beauty apparently comes from this castle.

Photos of what we saw during the day:
We went to Cherverny and Chaumont-sur-Loire also.





I liked this...the little sign would tell you your speed and either a smiley face or a cross face appeared!
I can't remember all the little towns we went to, but we stopped in quite a few.

One particular town was Blios. More like a City. It had a Parisian feel to it..hustling and bustling. I really liked that town. We stayed there quite a bit, walking around and I even got to go into some clothing shops, one of them was Etam and try on some stuff. I found a gorgeous jacket which had been marked down from 50 euro to 25 euro! I could never get a jacket that nice here for that! But we weren't sure of our finances and couldn't check our credit card as the internet signal was working on my hubbys blackberry, so we left it... such a pity... But I did get two nice pair of leggings for a steal and a jersey for my mother in law, paid 6 euro for the lot!








I took this one for my sister-made me think of her!




We ate supper in Blios and then headed back to the Hotel for our last night there.

The next day the 30th March 2011, we had breakfast, packed up and left to go back to Paris.
On the way back, we went to Ambiose to look at the Chateaux and see where Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last years of his life at Clos Luce-his home there. (1516-1519 died at age 67)We did not go in as we were pressed for time. (would of loved to though!)



We then went back to Paris, got there around 4pm and found our Hotel, Hotel Taylor.






Jonathan left to go and return the car and he was gone so long I was starting to worry that something had happened! Eventually he returned! I was so relieved!
We got changed and went on the metro for the last time to The Eiffel Tower.

Fooled around with some pics-actually love how they turned out!








Ate supper and went back to the Hotel to pack and sleep.


We were up at 6am the next morning and at the Airport around 8am.
Our flight left at 11:30am.

And that is the end of our lovely trip!
Thanks for sharing it with me and for all the comments!

France: Day seven

Finally I am better. I eventually had to go to the Doc on Wednesday to get Antibiotics which i took until Saturday. Friday I was feeling much better already.

So Day Seven was Monday the 28th March in France, Chenoncheaux

It was quite a chilly day, with a bit of drizzle here and there, but for the most part clear. We had a lovely breakfast

and then set off to explore the nearest Chateaux- Chenonceaux which was literally down the road from our Hotel.




Some shots of inside the ChateauxJust love these tiles! They must of been beautiful in their day!

One of the bedrooms.




The Chateaux.
A bit of history as taken from the site : "Château des Dames as recorded in the French history books, Chenonceau owes a large part of its charm to women: it was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, then made even more attractive by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis, and saved from the rigours of the French Revolution by Mrs Dupin."


Oh this was our little car we drove around in.

Next chateaux was Villandry.
Villandry was completed toward 1536 and was the last of the large chateaus built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. More history here. (really interesting)

The gardens here are amazing. I would love to see them in summer, they must be spectacular!
Have a look at the gardens here over the seasons! Beautiful!


We could walk into the forest above the castle which was lovely, lot's of flowers growing here and there, daffodils and tulips. The earth soft and moist with that lovely fresh, wet ground smell and leaves lining the trodden paths.







This is a good view of the different vegetable and herb gardens. The one in the foreground is the Garden of Love-can you see the heart shaped hedges? So pretty. In summer, in amongst the hedges are full of flowers, color co-ordinated.

We could also go the castles keep and look out over the valley. Really a spectacular site!


Some views of inside.





Heading back to the hotel again...
We got back and went for a walk around the Village. This was one of my favorite parts of the whole holiday.It was just so peaceful and quiet and the sun was setting and everything was bathed in that warm, yellow dusk light. I love that time of day! Walking around a village in the middle of France, it was just so special.








Cute donkey.




And then we took a drive to Montrichard and caught the sunset and ate dinner at some cute little place.



And that was the end of our day 7!
One more day to show you and then I want to show you my journal and some of the vintage postcards i got there. Enjoy your day!