Chenonceau
Upon the recommendation of Veronica, we visited Chenonceau. It is not the largest chateau in the Loire, but it is a very nice one. We took advantage of having a kitchen and made our lunches at home, then drove the short distance to the chateau, purchased our tickets at the machine kiosk (therefore no line), and ate lunch in front of it. A family of ducks tried to join us.
One thing I will never understand; how it is that there is so much standing water and not more mosquitoes and all the illnesses they spread. There are so many moats in so many towns and around so many castles. Yuck.
Obligatory shaded lane leading up to the entrance:
Fiona took lots of photos with her camera:
One day, I will load them onto my computer. Some of them are pretty good.
First stop was the labyrinth:
Unlike Versailles, most of the Loire chateaux survived the revolution unscathed, so most rooms contain original furnishings. The chateaux are also much smaller and homier, having been the actual homes of the various nobles that lived there. Chenonceau was improved upon by Catherine De Medici, whose initials are everywhere inside, and who added the bridge over the water with a great hall and apartments above to mimic bridges in Italy, in Venice I think.
Victoria fell asleep in front of a supernova:
More of my many photos of the Chenonceau chateau:
All the chateaux have their own chapels, complete with stained-glass windows:
She’s thinking “Please let it cool down a little”:
Catherine de Medici:
I think Coco Chanel stole her logo.
Not actually “his and her’s” bathrooms, but it would have been cool if it was:
Restoring a painting and frame that one of the Louis (the XIV, maybe) gifted the chateau upon his visit:
Counting the many many steps we climbed on our trip:
The chateau has nice gardens, but not a lot of shade:
We wandered into the medieval farm on the chateau grounds:
One for Mommy (or Daddy) and one for Fi:
LOVE all the ivy and plant covered buildings:
My only playground shot:
It was nice to see that there was playground for the kids. It seems that areas outside of Paris are a lot more kid friendly than the Paris area:
The donkeys at the donkey farm:
We had a great time at Chenonceau. It was hot, but not that hot, there were people but not that many, and most of them were French speaking, it was easy to navigate and the people working there were nice. Actually, even the people working at Versailles were pretty nice. When John was carrying Fiona, a worker told him there was a room nearby that we could go to where she could lie down, possibly in a bed of some sort. At Chenonceau, because it was smaller and less crowded, and because she was no longer jet-lagged, Fiona enjoyed herself more. She called the informational brochure a map and we used the pictures to figure out where we were, and tried to find where in each room the photo was taken. It was really fun and she was really into it. And of course, she enjoyed counting the stairs.
On our way back to the farm, we stopped at E. LeClerc, a giant Wal-Mart-like supermarket, where we purchased, among other things, a body wash and cream for Victoria’s rash, food, and a stroller we call The Bambisol because it is made by a company called Bambisol. We are still using it. At home, I was able to make purees for Victoria, who started solids just before we left California, because I was tired of the store bought baby food. Although, I’ll say this for French baby food: It’s really not bad, it might even be better than some of the non-baby food here. For one, it has interesting ingredients (in our case Carrotes des Landes, potimarrones, cooking water, and thyme from Provence), and the consistency is thicker and closer to what I might make at home. Victoria really liked it, but I was worried that she would get used to the store bought stuff and not eat home cooked when we returned to California. I never bought baby food before, so I’m glad that when I had to, it was in a country that appreciates good food.
Chaumont-Sur-Loire
On our second day in the Loire, per Veronica’s recommendation, we drove to Chaumont-sur-Loire. First, we spent a morning putzing around the farm and enjoying the cooler weather and the quiet of having our own space and being able to run around outside. Fiona was making friends with the sheep. I was enjoying lounging. We went to the chateau in the afternoon and it did not disappoint. It was not very crowded at all. Again, people were friendly, most of the tourists were speaking French, we had a stroller, what more could we ask for?
The same lady who set up the garden at Chenonceau also set it up at Chaumont, so the gardens were pretty cool here too. There was little “village” in front but we did not stop in the buildings.
Lots of purple (and a peek at the Loire through the trees):
Chenonceau is on the Cher River, possibly the slowest most meandering river I’ve seen.
Crazy art installation in the chapel, and me taking a picture of it:
Adam and Eve:
The entrance:
Something I love about old paintings is how big they are and how much detail they have:
This symbol:
It looks a lot like the Led Zeppelin Zoso symbol, I wonder if this is where they got the idea.
Coins and the molds that were used to make them:
The bottom right in the left-hand photo, and the right photo, are both molds. It was kind of neat to see the molds and their resulting coins. Fiona liked this part too and took a bunch of photos with her camera.
Catherine de Medici left her mark here too:
There were many art installations at Chaumont and we sort of got lost in some seemingly abandoned hallways following them. These were storage rooms, but also had art hanging in them:
We ended up in a room that looked like it was going to collapse any minute, so we quickly found our way back to the main building with the rest of the tourists. It was neat and a little scary at the same time. The ceiling was totally falling apart. I wonder who really went to look at the art in the rooms we went to. It seemed like no one really visits those hallways and wings, and they certainly weren’t being maintained, even the art show was current and some of it was pretty cool. I didn’t take any photos.
More stairs:
Is that a coat rack, or a torture device?
Ready for dinner:
They were real apples!
Fiona is standing in the fireplace the opening on the right):
A salon:
The wallpaper!
More porcupines:
The inner courtyard:
Riverview:
More chapel with bizarre art installation:
I like these, but they also sort of reminded me of stuff you might see in a hipper dentist’s office, or a law office, or something like that.
No lie, a place for you to leave your dog, complete with water dish:
Neat gate:
The entrance kind of looks like cheeks:
Being a larger chateau than Chenonceau, Chaumont had larger and more impressive grounds:
We had fun playing hide and seek in this wicker house:
Proof I was really there, with the girls:
John’s favorite pictures from the whole trip:
(Yes, I was nursing in the first one)
Neat gardens, with an International Garden Festival:
One of my favorites was “It’s a Table!” a garden made of edible plants:
One of my favorite things to nibble on (lower right hand corner):
A hanging garden:
African garden:
Our favorite garden overall was this one:
So many things growing in this garden:
We had a great time at Chaumont-sur-Loire. As you can see in the photos, there weren’t many people, the weather was kind of nice, lots of room to run around (and totally acceptable to do so), stroller parking, they even thought of the dogs, Festival of Gardens, the list goes on. Veronica recommended this one for the gardens and told us to avoid the behemoth Chambord, which is supposed to be really massive and looks great in photos, but is also apparently really crowded. She said no one who went told her they were glad they went. We were certainly glad about the two we saw, but decided that it was enough manor-housing for us. We returned to the farm where I made dinner and we all slept really well.
Amboise
On our last day in the Loire, we decided to explore Amboise, the closest real town to the farm, and also where Leonardo da Vinci lived out his last years and died.
It was an easy 15 minute drive into town and we found parking easily. Here, a Max Ernst fountain:
It was not that warm, we actually put hats on the girls:
Victoria’s “Wait, it’s not roasting? Get out of town!” look:
We loved this weather, cool but not cold. It was perfect. I think John was still wearing shorts. I wore crop pants and a t-shirt, or maybe a tank-top, whatever was not in the load of laundry we were doing that day.
The price of bread, literally:
We stopped at a patisserie:
Fiona picked out this giant macaron with raspberries and pistachio cream, and John and I shared some sort of cake thing, both delicious:
Sorry Victoria, none for you:
I LOVED all the pedestrian only streets in the various cities we visited:
We climbed this clock tower’s stairs, only to find they ended at nothing. Just ended in a wall:
It was kind of funny, and both Fiona and I and the people behind us all had a good laugh at how we were expecting more than we got.
I like to take photos of how short the doorways are compared to John:
I have similar photos of John at a big Templar Knights castle in Portugal, looking even larger with a smaller door.
An organ grinder:
We decided to check out one more chateau:
The artist did literally give a rat’s ass about the chapel:
The view from the top:
Leonardo da Vinci’s grave:
I think this scene depicts a typical day for me:
I really like this chair:
A model of the solar system:
Bushes trimmed to look like globes:
Houses built into the side of a hill:
We saw that a number of times in the Loire. I think it’s kind of neat. And a lot of the touristy wine places are also built into hillsides or cliff-sides, and there are restaurants that bill themselves as providing the Troglodyte experience and are built into cliffs and hills.
Going back in time on the way to the Clos de Luce:
The Clos de Luce, where da Vinci lived out his final years:
We did not go inside. First, the line was kind of long (no line at any of the chateaux, so we were spoiled). Second, we were all getting tired by now. Third, we just didn’t want to pay. However, we wanted to walk back to the car by way of the gardens and greenway, but in order to do that, we would have had to purchase tickets and go through the whole building and we didn’t want to do that, so we went back the way we came. On the way we stopped at a boulangerie on a quiet street away from the tourist center and bought tasty croissants and other bread and pastries for dinner and dessert and breakfast the next day. They were good and very very inexpensive. And despite it looking like rain all day, our clothes dried without a problem.
It was our anniversary, so Veronica gave us a bottle of local sparkling rose:
Normally, I am not a fan of either sparkling or rose, but this wine was yummy and I drank a little too much I think. It led to the tragic taking of selfies:
Meanwhile, back on the farm...
So what about this farm, and who is this Veronica person I keep mentioning? The vacation apartment I booked was actually a “loft” on this 18th century farmhouse. It’s owned by Steven and Veronica, who are incredibly nice people. They own an apartment in Amboise and a couple on Paris, and manage a few more, all that can be rented. The farm was a wonderful place and just what we needed, and at one point after we left, Fiona told me she missed it, not home, but the farm. Fiona had her own room with a big round window:
We had our own room, with it’s own living room:
The actual living room, with a TV we never used, and the kitchen with dining table that we used a lot:
Our view:
My phone does not capture how cool it was to wake up and look out onto farm lands. There were a number of sheep and Fiona spent much of her time feeding them very hard moldy bread:
My little lamb had a blast feeding and playing with the two little lambs that were born not long before we arrived.
Our stay gave us a new meaning for the phrase “breaking bread” as we had to literally break the bread in order to feed it to the sheep, and it was very hard bread.
After such hard work, a rest was in order:
Firewood ready for the winter:
Some ruined buildings on the property:
There were two chickens too:
One hid her eggs for over a week, but Veronica found them, then let Fiona “find” them the next day:
She let us keep the eggs and the basket. The eggs were cooked in Lyon together with some delicious goat cheese we bought at a farm down the road, and the basket is now in our backyard being used by Fiona to collect tomatoes.
One day, Veronica brought out bubbles:
There was a garden to walk through:
Eating breakfast and also lying around:
Victoria sleeping peacefully:
She slept through the night a couple of time on the farm, and not since then.
A giant willow, our car, and Veronica holding Victoria:
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the Loire. Steven and Veronica were wonderful hosts. They did not have to interact with us at all, but they did quit a bit, giving us advice on where to go and what to see, where to get food, and even bought a brand new Pack-n-Play for us because their baby bed was old and broken. They are both really interesting people but I will not discuss them because I don’t have their permission (I didn’t ask for it). They said they don’t get many children out on the farm, which is too bad because it is a perfect place for kids. They were warm and provide a fantastic retreat. It was the best sleep we had the entire trip. And the best bathtub ever! I highly recommend a stop at their place if you are ever in that area. I know if I ever return, I will definitely made a stop for a few days there. I think it would be cool if they ever visited here. I could go on and on about how cool this place was, how they know how to appeal to the American tourist (lots of towels and toilet paper and ceiling fans!), I think I could write a post on just how much we enjoyed staying on this farm and talking to and interacting with Steven and Veronica. It also helps that, little tidbit, we considered Veronica as a name for Victoria. Family name won out, but Veronica was a close second. It was almost like it was meant to be. And they lived in the Bay Area years ago. So many similarities. I’m going to stop there. Just go there yourself. You’ll see.
At last it was time to leave. We packed up our things, fed the sheep one last time, Fiona cried because she did not want to leave (neither did I, neither did John), and we hit the road. Fiona fell asleep holding the snack bag (a common travel theme of her’s):
A rest stop:
Even though it was sad to leave the farm, the drive was beautiful, full of fields of sunflowers, farms, hills and valleys, and the best part? At the end of the journey we would see Krista and Sophie.
But that is a story for my next post: Lyon!
