Ibis Hotel - Chambray-Les-Tours (Sud)

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 ...

Seeing the lights of La Meslerie fade into the distance last night was a bittersweet experience. It's a place that, for so many reasons, has become near and dear to my heart. It's not often in life that we give ourselves over to the unknown, but it's a validation of the beauty of existence that you could take a chance and be so rewarded. Granted, I only spent a month and a half in France. But when I look back on this period of my ...

... 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!

Thursday 29 Oct
Drive to Amboise - Loire Valley
Feeling good we took on our longest drive yet to Amboise, nestled in the heart of the Loire Valley and on the banks of the Loire River. We used the time during the drive to type up our blog ready for upload once we hit our next McWifi. We arrived just after dark and found several other campervans parked near the river so we decided to join them. Kim ...

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 ...

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

... on a back road and Len decides no way, so we turn around and head back, the GPS is not taking us down single lane roads past farms. We sure are seeing the country. We went over this little bridge, no picture, darn, that was so small it is a wonder we fit over it! You know how big our car is.

Back on track and we eventually hit the main road towards Paris. Wow, it is bumper to bumper traffic for hours. The kilometers go by so slowly. Every now and ...

... It was expensive to go in, so we took a picture outside and walked back down the street. We went into a special chocolate store and it smelled amazing. That is what I hope heaven smells like. Anywho, we bought a piece of chocolate cake there and split it. We ate it on some steps overlooking the Loire River. At about 1:50, our group met up again and we walked to the Amboise ...

... narrow and apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville the architecture is of little interest to the purists. However, the "old town" has been preserved, maintained and largely pedestrianised, and is now a charming cobbled restaurant quarter, with some interesting galleries and boutiques, much appreciated by locals and visitors. I arrive just before noon as the train was half an hour late and then search for ...

... this country (don't worry, we were not either until we met some friendly Canadians who enlightened us to its existence) it is a small "city/country" landlocked on the East coast of the Italian peninsula. Due to our train schedules, all we really had time for was a scenic bus tour that took us to San Marino's premier attraction, the country's castle, which is situated high up on a sheer-faced cliff. We visited on a beautiful day where rolling fog made it appear as if the castle ...