Etap Hotel Amboise

... of France after the revolution, but he insisted on being crowned under the King colors rather than the tricolor of the revolution. As a result Napoleon stepped up to the plate and took the prize from under his nose. In more recent history the chateau was used to hide and store much of the Lourve's art work during WWII. <br><br> Words can't describe all that we saw in the Loire Valley so we hope our photos help.<br><br> Goodbye Loire Valley, hello Dordogne here we come!

Awoke to blue skies - yippeee - as it was forecasted for more rain. We set off to Blois chateau first thing. We never really intended to come to Blois but it was part of our multi-entry ticket. Blois is all about the architecture, however the state apartments were ...

Next stop Cheverney. This chateaux had less of a grand opening as it was able to be seen from the road, however the size of the grounds impressed. One would not have guessed what lay inside. We were wowed by Chenonceau but by Chevereny we were blown away. The detail of the rooms were simply overwhelming and at times hard to take it all in...just check out the photos we have uploaded on this page.

... 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!<br>

<br>(Whitney)<br> <br>We wanted to see some cool castles so we headed to Blois in the Loire Valley in France, abouttwo hours south of Paris. It took us ages to get from Bruges to Blois because we took a roundabout way of getting there to avoid paying high supplement fees on the fast TGV train. We arrived at our hotel around 8- we managed to find a cheap last minute hotel again which wasnice. We only had one day in the castle region so we toured through the ...

... side to side like a lion munching on a zebra, in order to rip off a chunk of it. So primal, so good! <br><br>Even the excessive amounts of butter couldn't ruin this meal, and it was possibly the best 4 euro lunch you could have. As Ben would say "Me like baguette!!!" A bit of those wonderful tomatoes from Sarlat would have taken this sandwich to a whole new stratosphere, but I guess tomatoes in a pre-made sandwich would only soggify it (and yes, I made that ...

... amboise. We almost made the trek without a hitch, until we got to a stop which was the time our stop was supposed to come. First mistake: trains can and do arrive late- contrary to what katy thought. Mistake two; listeningto the loud speaker that we cant understand a word of except the word amboise, the third mistake: getting off the train without lookin at the sign. After these three poor decisions, we got off the train, realized we didn't see ...

... dinner yet. Driving back to Amboise, we stopped at a wine cave to sample some wine and brandy. I couldn't resist and bought another bottle of dessert brandy... strawberry this time. Yummy. There was still a smidgen of light left when we got back to Amboise so we strolled through the town and along the river for an hour or so. With a long drive ahead of us the next day, we decided to retire early.

... heavily most of the day, but didn't take away from the amazing green countryside. With no particular plan of where we were heading, we researched the Loire Valley en-route and decided to stop at Amboise which is central to the chateaux for which the area is famous. A stop in the local tourist info centre fluked us 2 nights in great accommodation, a gite on the banks of the Loire River looking straight across to the Amboise chateau ...

... html . We leave our car at the parking lot, buy our tickets (&euro; 8.00) and walk down the impressive avenue of lime trees towards the building. This lovely building was constructed between 1513 and 1576. The most famous occupant was Catherine de Medici. The building actually spans the Cher River, on what was originally a bridge. It is a very unique construction. It is surrounded by glorious formal French gardens, and we are lucky that the spring ...