Hotel Agnes Sorel Chinon

... 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 ...

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... The Clos Lucé is where Leonardo lived when Francois I invited him to live in France, and there's a view of Amboise Castle from Leonardo's bedroom window. He and Francis were very close and it is said that Leonardo died in Francois's arms. The grounds contain some working models of Leonardo's inventions, including a helicopter rotor, an armored military tank, and a device for bringing water from a river to a trough. Yvonne and I got into the tank to spin the wheel and make ...

... the grounds. In fact, it's where the ladies of the court would go to watch the hunt in the surrounding forests. (There are still deer and wild game in the forest today.) Plus, you're right there at the base of the turrets, and there's a nice view of an exterior, towered spiral staircase, which is very pretty.

There were several little sandwich places and crêperies just outside of the chateau on the grounds. I sat with Anne, Bert, Linda (who may or ...

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

... part was well-executed at least.
Amanda and company are totally adorable and fantastic hosts, by the way. I have definitely been well-fed, and this place would be perfect if it weren't so damn far from civilization. They have fresh tomatoes, apples, grapes, pears, pumpkins, eggs (yes they have chickens), and other delights that I'm sure I'm forgetting. For the first two days it was great to unwind and relax ...

... around the pool in the sunshine for a week, until the weather changed and became more autumnal. Helene left us after a fez days, and we stayed on our own in coussay whilst papa, maman and granny went back to Thouars. It's nearly the end now, only one more stage until we come back home!

Even though the weather is starting to slowly go to hell we are taking the road to Chambord, one of the biggest castles of the area. A little background: it was the summer house of Francis the 1st so the expectations are quiet huge. We are all surprise by the size of the thing.... it is way too big for one person alone. The rooms are amazing and for the times quiet comfortable, but to top it all it features "the staircase" the one ...

... back to Tours (the town) for our tour (of the Chateaux).  After a few problems with the composteur (ticket validation machine) and an entertaining group of french boys we finally made it to Tours (the town) and met our tour guide (....this is just getting too hard).  

First stop the Chateau Chenonceau and just as we arrived, so did the rain.  And it didn't stop!  So, soggy and muddy we filed through the amazing 16th century fairytale castle along with hundreds of other soggy, muddy ...

... we still didn't find Norton down there. We tentatively journeyed into the mouth of the cave, but seeing no sign of the tour which was supposed to have started at 11:00 am (now 11:30), and not really comfortable wandering into the dark passageways which seemed to be lit with no more than a dim Sortie (exit) sign every fifty feet, we quickly found our way back to the bright morning light outside. (Another note about the bizarre cave: As we were leaving ...