Afitel Hotel Tours Chambray-Les-Tours

... is a parasite that grows on other trees and they are really easy to see in the winter because all the leaves have fallen off. I thought it was pretty cool so the whole way to tours I looked for mistletoe trees. I found lots and took some pictures.

France isn’t big on lighting up their roads and boy does it get dark at night. After almost driving off ...

... I know I'll wonder how I did so much living in so little time.

Something special happens to an estate that's been around for almost 250 years. It starts to take on it's own personality, and through that it attracts the type of people that would make what it is that much better. My hosts at La Meslerie treat the people that visit with such undying grace and character that it's easy to chock it up to some mystical ...

... that straddles the River Cher and is surrounded by gardens which even though its late October are still stunning. Inside over 3 floors we take in the places beauty - all of the rooms werer specatuarly painted withj deep blues, green and gold finishes, fine tapestries hang down the ceilings, large oil paintings litter the walls, period furniture gives us an insight into the life of its inhabitants over the years. This chateau wowed us!

... big, delicious macaroon biscuits (but not as good as the ones I heard Laura made for Kim before she left London!!!). Kim went for another wander through the village and found a little cave under the chateau that offered free wine tasting. She tried a sparkling, rose and savingnon from the region. The sparkling won her vote (even though it was not pink!). I on the other hand giving Scooby some more TLC ...

... amazing chateau second in splendor only to Versailles. It's an amazing castle built across the river (see the pictures), and after my 90-minute video i-pod tour of the joint, I'm pretty much an expert. It was definitely worth the trip, and I spent so much more time there than I thought I would that I wasn't able to go to Clos Luce, my second destination of the day. I did, however ...

... around here, and to visit some of the friends that I've made during the time that I've been here. I'll hopefully have lots of pictures of the various chateaux in the area, as well as any other adventures I may have. This post is mainly to update you with alot more pictures that have come my way since my friends were here for the harvest, so hopefully you'll enjoy them.

I'll keep you updated!

... rotate (kind of like the teacups at Disneyland). I'm not sure if that's how Leonardo intended it to work, but I can only imagine that anyone using it would have died of exhaustion after an hour.

Yvonne and I wandered back to the coach through the town of Amboise, stopping for postcards and to tch-tch at a black cat along the way. I had been hoping to stop for an espresso, but it was getting too close to the time we were supposed to be back on the coach.

It took ...

... all the men had to stay on the bus. She led us down toward the river to see a reclining -- and quite naked -- statue of Leonardo da Vinci. We all giggled a lot and posed in front of him, and then got back on the bus and felt very smug about not telling the men what we were doing. Turns out, a lot of them seemed to think it had something to do with shopping, even though we didn't come back with any extra bags.

We arrived in Chinon just after 4:00 and ...

I took a day trip into Tours, which is the biggest city around here. It's a pretty amazing places, I still have a lot of exploring to do here yet, but I wanted to post some pictures of my first trip that I took into Tour alone.

Enjoy

... juice concoctions. After we order, Janice takes the kids for a little walk to a nearby tourist shop ... and a fiasco begins. First, Janice returns after two or three minutes with a scowl on her face. "That woman was so rude!" ... she tells me as she points at the shopkeeper who has followed Janice out of the store and is now staring in our direction. "The kids were just touching some magnets, and she came and shouted DON'T TOUCH!", Janice explained. ... Ah, the rude ...