Domaine des Bidaudieres Vouvray

Well we didn't really stay in Tours so I can’t say much about it. I don’t even really remember the campsite we stayed at! That’s why I should write these things right away!

The only thing I remember is the Mistletoe. I had been wondering what the big balls in all the trees were and while we were in Paris my uncle explained that they were mistletoe ...

... that the property holds, but it's what gets put in that comes out. And I'm sure that if you know what to look for you can taste hints of that grace and character in the wine that is made there.

So it's with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to all my friends in France, however briefly we met. There's no way that the times that I've had wont shape the rest of my experiences in my travels, and for that I'm grateful.

... as they contained some lovely period furniture and frescos on the roofs and walls. 4 types of architcutre can be seen from standing in the centre court yard - flamboyant gothic, classical, early renaissance, and gothic. Our favourite was the renaissance wing.

... moved to NZ when he was little but now living in London. We organised to have a drink later on.

Blois is the biggest place we have visited on this trip - population 50,000 and neither of us warmed to the place. Scuffy looking people, beggers and an unwelcoming air made our trip around the town quick and with its main purpose of finding a supermarket as Maison du Scooby cupboards were bare!

We spent the ...

From Amboise we had a short drive to Chenonceau where we keen toursits along with one tour group we there early and had to wait 10 minutes until the chateau opened for day. Once through the gates it was a lovely walk through the forest where the leaves were all changing colour - amber, yellow, red - so pretty. As we approach the end of the forest the chateau appears before us and its like stepping into a fairy tale. The chateau sat on ...

... 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 ...

... We decided to head into the heart of France and spend some time in the Loire valley looking at castles. Unfortunately, the weather had turned sour and most of the bus tours had closed down for the winter but we managed to see Chambord, the most famous chateau of the area and the castle in Blois. Chambord had been built as a hunting lodge and has an interesting history. It is now open to the public and the rooms are mostly exhibits defining the chateau ...

... depart from my safe place here in France, I have a place to stay set up in Canillo, Andorra, a country in which you could pretty easily walk from one border to the other in a day. I set this up through www.couchsurfing.org which I have to say is really a wonderful idea with a great philosophy behind it. But I digress, my time in France has been really spectacular and I feel like I've made friends here ...

... a year. This was very special in many ways, because it was actually the first bottling of the wine under the new owner of Le Clos de Meslerie, Mr Peter Hahn. It was really fantastic to be a part of this, because it was a new experience for mostly everyone involved, so excitement filled the air.

Since then we've had one weekend were some harvesters have come ...

... storing wine in these caves. The tour was free and even a few tastes. Of course we had to buy some wine to bring home! After our tour we walked to the main area of town which can be missed easily and bought some wine, cheese and other delicasies, found a park bench and ate our lunch! We quickly became a little tipsy and talked about our changing lives! It was such a wonderful experience catching up this way with a wonderful friend from another time in ones life!