A Journal from a Week of Visiting the Chateaus of the Loire Valley!

Day 1 - The Road to Chisseaux in the Loire Valley from Lintivic

I left the house in Lintivic at 7:30 and drove south via Camors, Auray, Vannes and St Nazaire.

I did not see Pont Chateau, a chateau that I had read about being visible from the highway, so I decided not to stop and try to find it.

I tried to find the St Marc cromlech, but no luck....not the way I hoped my morning would go. Oh well. The scenery is great and I've been driving along the Atlantic coast most of the time.

I tried to find some stones at St Pierre en Ritz, but again no luck, so I wound my way down to Les Sables d'Olnne and tried to find some other sites near Arville. But, when I couldn't find them this time I decided to give up for the day, it is already 2 (1400)!

I am heading directly for Tours. The rain is coming and I know I'm going to be late. I had to get gas again in Tours, and then I got lost after leaving the gas station, but I finally figured out where to go and then found signs for Amboise, oops, I have to stop and look at the map, I don't think I want to go to Amboise. The map says I can get there from here, so I continue, and I finally made it and I wasn't too late.

Monsieur Delaveau greeted me and took me on a tour of the house. He was practicing his saxophone while he waited, and I told him the saxophone is my favorite instrument, too, and I had bought one to try to learn, but wasn't getting very far. While he is taking lessons, I am not.

The house is nice and pretty big. Three big bedrooms. Price was good and the location was perfect for my stay. I am only 2 km from my favorite Chateau Chenonceau!

I'm really tired, over 8 hours of driving, and lots of missed stones and sites. I did see beautiful scenery, though.

I unpacked the car, ate dinner, left a message for my sister that I had arrived safely, and relaxed with a glass of wine. Whew! I made it. I was in bed by 10 (2200).

Day 2 -

I slept until a little after 7. No hurry today. I'm going to Chenonceau!!! The chateau opens at 9. I am so excited!

A wing of the chateau spans the River Cher. The chateau combines the influences of 5 women, including Diane de Poiters and Catherine de Medicis. There are two beautiful gardens bearing their names.

Catherine de Medicis gave the house to her daughter-in-law Louise de Lorraine. Upon the death of her husband, Henri III, Louise redecorated here room in BLACK!

There was a tapestry image of the chateau hanging in one of the corridors. We were able to walk all over the chateau. You would check out an iPod headset and wander and listen. It was very interesting. I had a great time.

An exhibition of paintings was being held in the main gallery on the first floor over the river. Very interesting paintings. The show was fun and unexpected.

Chateau Photo Gallery for more photographs from this week and from other French Chateaus.

They have a small wine cellar (cave), so I was able to by a nice wine from the chateaus vineyards!

I wander the gardens and the path back to the car park. I found another little garden and a gazebo, and stopped there for a few minutes.

I'm so close, I can come back easily, if I want. I like the idea of that. I also want to see if I can see the chateau from down along the river, and visit the village here.

That visit made up for all of the disappointments of yesterday.

I surprised myself by deciding to leave and drive to Amboise. It is not very far away, and I'm well rested, and feeling great, so off I go!

I went first to the Chateau d'Amboise, think this was where the DaVinci Museum was, but it is not here. The chateau was interesting though.

I went into the village and was able to ask directions to Clos-Luce and the DaVinci Museum. I walked about a mile, but finally found it.

DaVinci came to Amboise in 1516 with some art for Francois I, one painting was the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

The Museum is great! IBM partnered with the French to build replicas of some of DaVincis ideas and place them around the grounds of the Museum. What an imagination! What great ideas!

I do have to say that many of his inventions displayed here are weapons. I was surprised by this; I did not know he had created so many weapons. They are pretty interesting!

On the way back to the car, I bought some chocolate croissants and a small quiche. I also found a combination stopper/spout for a wine bottle.

I got back to the house and did a little laundry and had the quiche. It was very good!

Day 3 -

I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up at 3 cold. I got a little warmer, but don't thing I got any more sleep.

I watched some TV from 7 to 7:30 and then got ready for the day. I drove east through Chissay-en-Touraine and Montrichard to Cheverny.

While I was waiting for Cheverny to open, I was wondering in the shops nearby, and lo and behold, there was a rock shop! (If you haven't looked at pictures or read the Brittany week, you don't know that I am very fascinated by stones.) The chateau is not huge and has smaller grounds, but it is nice.

After I left my tour of the chateau, I went into the rock shop and found a real nice egg shaped polished stone! Yeah!

On to Chambord, the largest chateau in the Loire Valley. It is pretty big and quite amazing. I arrived in time to take a tour, and was able to find a tour in English. This chateau has very interesting architecture. There are quite a few chimneys and towers, roof terraces and some interesting spiral staircases.

The most interesting staircase is the central double helix staircase (like the DNA pattern) said to have been designed by Leonardo DaVinci! However, he had already died when this was built, so no one is sure. They have found some of his drawings that suggested a design for a double staircase.

Two people can enter the staircase from different sides and never meet until they reach the top. But, at certain places on the way up, if you both are walking about the same pace, you will be able to see each other across the center.

There are at least 440 rooms and 365 chimneys. It was mainly a hunting lodge fro Francois I.

When he wanted to come to the "lodge" from Paris, he would have a whole entourage come out. They would bring the furniture and everything! He had to have a place for all the servants as well as his guests. Quite a production.

The chateau is surrounded by the Parc de Chambord, and was a prime hunting area. The forest is surrounded by the most extensive wall in France, 20 miles long and 8 feet high (32 kilometers long and 2.5 meters high).

I left there for Blois. I had a hard time finding the right way to the chateau and there was only pay parking. Then I couldn't find anything I really wanted for lunch. I decided not to go into the chateau, either. I went back to the car and reviewed my map and decided to go to Chaumont.

Again I had a hard time finding parking, but it did. Then I had to walk up the hill to the chateau. By then I was pretty tired, but I went on a quick tour of the chateau.

On the way back to the house, I stopped at the Super U in Montrichard for groceries and gas. I decided on spaghetti tonight instead of just my usually bread, cheese and wine. I'd not really eaten any lunch today, so I was pretty hungry. I opened the wine from Chenonceau, it was all right. I had a delicious raspberry tart for dessert!

Day 4 -

I haven't been sleeping well, so a little slower getting going, which is fine. I left at 8 for Tours and got there at 8:30, rush hour traffic... I finally made it to Parcay- les-Pins, only to find the museum of sculpture closed. I didn't do my research will enough, I guess. I got a little turned around with the foggy day, and ended up going the wrong way twice, so spent an hour "touring" the countryside trying to get going the right direction.

Finally got my bearings, and decided to go to Angers. Information in my books make me believe that it is an interesting town, and it is fairly close. I arrived a little after 11.

Angers was fun! The chateau was interesting and I walked all around inside and on the ramparts. The towers are round and flat on top. The chateau displays some of France's most famous tapestries. There are gardens inside the walls, and colorful flower beds in what was the moat. It is made of black and white stones, and in places looks striped.

Then I walked over to the large Cathedral St Maurice, and around this area of town until I found a creperie. For lunch I had a raspberry/almond crepe with whip cream. It was very good!

I left there for Gennes and on the way decided to take a detour to see Chateau Brissac. It is said to be the tallest Chateau along the Loire.

On the way I found a dolmen and what appeared to be the ruins of several others near le Bourgdion.

I did not go into the Chateau Brissac, but took a few pictures,it is quite magnificent.

In Gennes, I could not find the stone sites, and I didn't want to spend a lot of time looking, so I drove onto Saumur. I stopped to take a few photographs of the chateau, but decided not to go inside.

I spent the next hour or so at Abbaye de Fontevaurd. It started out as an Abbaye, founded in 1101 for both men and women. It is the largest of its type in France. After the Revolution, it then became a prison for about 150 years. It is a very interesting place. Fifteen members of the Plantagenet family are buried here, including Eleanor of Acquitaine who died here in 1204. She was married to King Henry II of England.

I stopped outside of Chinon for gas, and went by Abbaye Seuilly and through Azay-le-Rideau toward Tours on the back roads, and finally drove through Francueil to Chisseaux. I arrived back later than usual at 7:45. I'm tired, but had a pretty good day even though I had a lot of trouble finding things that were open or stone sites, during the morning. Angers and the Abbaye were highlights today.

Day 5 -

I've been here two weeks today. Wow! I have done quite a lot and seen quite a lot. Sometimes it seems I have been here longer, sometimes it seems like I just arrived. I have two more weeks to go!

I went to the Chateau de Villandry first today. The gardens are the most amazing I have seen so far! They are beautiful! I spent a couple of hours here walking through the chateau and around all the gardens. The patterns, shapes, plant varieties and colors are great! There is a water garden, a flower garden and the kitchen garden. They replant the whole garden every 6 months to with different plants for the seasons.

When I left there, I went to the Chateau d'Usse, which is the real "Sleeping Beauty" Castle. This chateau inspired the French author Charles Perrault to write the fairy tale. The architecture of the chateau is fantastic! Inside was nice, except that they used wax figures in most of the rooms, and I did not care for that.

Next stop was Chinon. Chinon is being restored from ruin. Not much is done. So I want and had lunch. I had some excellent bruscetta with tomatoes, mushrooms, ham and cheese. I had a raspberry sorbet (framboise glace).

My last stop on the way back to the house is Azay-le-Rideau. This is a different looking chateau. It looks like it is floating on a lake. I like the corner turrets.

I found I liked Villandry and Usse the best today, but each chateau has its own character, and they were all interesting. My route today also made for a nice loop of chateaus without driving any long distances.

On the way home, I stopped at the Super U and got some desserts. My weakness when in France is pastry. I like to start and end my day with pastry. Chocolate croissants for breakfast and a mousse or tart for dessert. It is fantastic!

When I got back to the house, I decided to have a new plan for tomorrow. I think I will go to Vendome and maybe the zoo to see the white tigers.

Day 6-

I left about 8 and was in Vendome by 9, not much wa open until 10, so I stopped and looked at the map. Chartres is only 100 kilometers (60 mile) away, or an hour, and since I feel good I decide to go there.

The cathedral in Chartres is magnificent! I was surprised to see that the two spires were not identical as I have seen in most churches. Interesting! I was lucky, today the chairs were moved aside and you could see the labyrinth! I don't remember every seeing anything like it, except in pictures. I did not take the time to walk it, I guess it takes over an hour if doing a meditative walk. Most of the labyrinths had been destroyed by the church. I did spend time walking around inside the cathedral. It is so beautiful. This is one of the most beautiful churches I have seen in France.

When I was finished I drove back to Vendome and wandered around the town. Vendome is built over a group of islands in the Loir River. There is a nice looking Abbaye de La Trinite.

I had lunch near the clock tower by place St Martin. Today I had steak and frites and chocolate cake for dessert. This as a very good meal

On my way back to the house I stopped at a patisserie for bread and a treat (surprise, surprise).

Between Montrichard and Chisseaux I had seen this place called Fraise d'Or, and today it was open, so I decided to stop. I know Fraise is strawberry, so I was curious about what they were selling. The make liquor from fruits. For 4 Euro, I went on a little tour and met the Owner. I talked to him for about 30 minutes, since I was the only one there. He showed me the whole process and the still. Then I was allowed to sample 3 liquors, I chose Fraise, Framboise and a blackberry.. I bought a couple small bottles of Fraise and Framboise. It was so good!

Back to the Super U for some fresh chocolate croissants for the bakery and to get gas.

I started a load of laundry. Tonight for dinner I used a tomato soup base, and added red peppers, fresh tomato and a little red wine. That was a delicious meal!

Day 7-

It is Friday again, and my motivation has waned. I have to clean and pack and prepare for a very long drive tomorrow.

I left the house at 9 and tried to find a path along the river I could walk to Chenonceau. But when I got to the end of the path, I was far enough from the end of the garden, that I could not really see much of the chateau.

I decided to take a short drive to Montrichard. When I got there I found the Festival of Pain (Bread). I found a parking lot up above the town, and was easily able to walk back down to the market. There I was able to find another one of my favorite foods, olives! This is the first time in two weeks I have seen them in a market. I took my time walking through the market and around the village looking at the shops. It was great.

I thought I might try to go to the zoo, since I hadn't made it yet, but on the way changed my mind and drove over to Montpoupon and took some pictures of the chateau.

I went back to Chenonceau and decided to have lunch in the village. I walked around and checked menu's and prices, and finally found a place I liked. I had vegetable soup, steak and frites. Food was okay, not great. So I had some cheese and a chocolate mousse for dessert.

I came back to the house after that to relax and get my chores done, and finish preparations for the trip to Languedoc-Roussillon tomorrow.