Hotel La Breche 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>

... It had a moat and everything and the estate covers 5440 hectares. I can't believe it was rarely used. After having cappuccinos overlooking the castle, we caught the bus back. We grabbed some couscous and ham and bread and wine for dinner from the cute little downtown area in Blois and ate in our room. We headed out the next morning to Paris!<br>(Steve)<br> <br>After altering our travel plans yet again, we found we had a few days to play with on our way to ...

And so, the harvest is over. After 4 weeks of preparing, harvesting, cleaning and pressing we here at Clos de Meslerie have produced 6,050 litres of organic, biodynamic, unaltered, hand-picked, hand-pressed, grape juice. Which, given the proper time and care will blossom into a beautiful Vouvray Chenin-Blanc. It has been such a great time and a great learning experience on so many ...

... black room which was the bedroom of Louise de Lorraine who seemed to have been in permanent mourning with the death of her husband, Henri III, and devoted her life to prayer and wearing only black. The designs on her bedroom walls were cornucopias of tears, crowns of thorns, and feathers which were the symbol of pain. As Andre said, "this woman takes mourning way too seriously". <br><br>Interestingly, the chateau survived the French Revolution ...

... to his 4 year old daughter the history of the chateaux. It went something like this. King Henry II was married to a lady called Catherine but he also had a very good lady friend called Dianne. He gave Chenonceau to Dianne for her to live in, but when Henry died, his wife decided she didn't want Dianne to live there anymore. To which the 4 year old asked, "Why?" Dad was really opening quite a can of worms to which we had a good chuckle. How does one ...

... places we went and the storied Roel shared.  Just a few thoughts for you...Omaha Beach is over five miles long.....there are no sea gulls flying there although they are other places....there are stones there that turn blood red and actually bleed into the water every June and September... noboby knows why...the casualty loses on June 6, 1944 were 40%..all the tanks that were to come ashore sank in the high seas....of the amphibias vehicles that were to come ashore ...

... moat. The interior is mostly empty and because it is so symmetrical we eventually got the feeling of "if you've seen one room you've seen them all". It is definitely impressive, though, and we enjoyed having a picnic lunch there as well. The final chateau for us was the Chateau of Cheverny. This one is unique because it is still owned by the same family who built it in 1634 and family members ...