Hotel Des Arts Amboise

... cliff a few times we finally found the campsite.(Damn you GPS) .We are trying to stay away from night driving but when the drive is 5 hours long and its dark by 5pm it gets difficult.

I also remember that France has A LOT of farm land. That’s all we drove through. It’s crazy. Anyway, after a quick stop here it was off to Bordeaux for the real fun to begin!

... 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.

Words can't describe all that we saw in the Loire Valley so we hope our photos help.

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!

... history and grandeur. It was quite extravagant and took us 4 hrs to see all of it. The grounds were just as impressive - serving as a nature reserve with an abundance of wildlife. The circumference of walls built around the property is about 35 kms in length.
The castle in Blois was smaller but also interesting, composed of several wings built in different time periods and styles.
Having completed our detour, we headed for our last stop in France: Paris.

... we could head over to Chantreaux which is a Chateau built into the river with nice gardens. We get there in about 20 minutes so we have plenty of light left to see it properly and get the popular reflection photo from the other side of the river. We spend the rest of the night trying to figure out where the hell we are going to stay the next day - but we have no luck.

We get up the next morning and finally find a town that ...

... The cloisters are always my favourite part of an abbey and this one was no different. They are always such a peaceful place that it makes you want to pull out a good book and just sit and read in silence. The beauty of this place was also that it wasn't full of tourists like most of the chateaux, so we could walk around the grounds in silence and enjoy the serenity. The drive to and from the Abbey was a spectacular sight in itself. We drove along the Loire River, which ...

... lots of local cheeses to choose from. Our desserts were beautifully presented, too. We drank an excellent local red wine with dinner then had a pear digestif while sitting in the garden after our meal. Afterward, we walked upstairs to bed - perfect! Although there was no AC in the chateau, there was a wonderful breeze that kept us relatively cool all night.

... the ones we wanted. Nicole got a choloclate dream! They provided us with a finisher of an anise liquer, caramel and amazing chocolate truffle. After, we retired to the wiating area again for a final drink, I got coffee, Jim shared his scotch and we talked about the prupose of scotch as a digestive as we burped our way through the flaovers of dinner. Drove to the hotel and spent an hour outside the chateau taking in the clear, warm night. Jim quoted ...