Loire Valley, France

  Amboise, France
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

In what is becoming a tradition, Jim, Nicole and I got together somewhere fun over Thanksgiving.

Loire Valley, France
20-26 Nov 2006

20 November 2006
Jerez-Stansted

Flew from Jerez to Stansted on RyanAir-stayed at the Hilton at the airpot and met Jim and Nicole on the 21st in the airport.

21 November 2006
Stansted-Amboise

Met Jim and Nicole at the airport in the a.m. to fly to Tours. Easy check-in, chatted at Starbucks until boarding time.
This was the loudest RyanAir flight I've ever been on as there was a large group of English football fans sitting all around us. One played a fight ong on a flute as we waited to go through passport control.
Got the rental car and found ourhotel fairly easily. It's a chateau-Ormeaux near Negron-we can see the Loire river from the front of the chateau. The room is huge with blue checkerboard pattern wallpaper and a large bathroom. The owners are 3 men who take turns running it. Dominic greeted us and showed us around and to our rooms. He gave us dinner ideas and we were off exploring Amboise-the closest town. The weather is cool and drizzly. We wnet looking for a specific restuarant but it was closed on Wednesdays so we ate at the only open place in town-Hippo something, The food was good the wine was great. Before dinner we wandered around town-looked in the shops and had some local wine apperitif at a local bar.
Back at the Chateau, we looked through some local photography books and went to bed early.

22 November 2006
Chateau hopping

Had breakfast at the chateau and we were off by 9:30 to see some famous chateaux in the area. I navigated, Jim drove and Nicole watched the beautiful but rainy french countryside go by. We listened to the new Beatles Love CD-very good as we drove.

Nicole and I

Chambourd

Chambourd: Hunting lodge to the aristocracy prior to the french revolution.

Red umbrella

There's an outside walkon the second floor and a double helix staircase designed by Leonardo da Vinci while he was in exile in France. The staircases intertwine so people on opposite cases can see each other but never meet. It smelled like the fireplaces were actually used yesterday. Lots of huge tapestries. Large gift shop.

Michaelangelos staircase

Chenonceau: Home built for a French king's girlfriend, taken over by his queen. Built over a river, it's got a more lived-in feeling than Chambourd. Lots of tapestries and a wide variety of bedrooms. It rained all day and the rain intesified as were leaving Chenonceau which had a small but crowded gift shop.

window

Remember the woman in the white coat who took up so much of the shopkeepers time that she had to call her on it. We slogged to the car in pouring rain still listening to the Beatles CD. I think something I ate at lunch didn't agree with me-major intestrinal issues. Leave it to me to get Delhi Belly in France!
Dried out in the hotel and hung out in the common room area and drank a bottle of wine we bought yeaterday as we talked about religion, souls, extremeism in all areas of humanity-we thought it was deep but we'd had a bottle of wine so who knows!
Dinner at the Chateau Noisey-very fancy! The maitre'd met us at the door, took our coats and escorted usto the waiting area where we had an aperitif of sparkling Veuveau as we perused the very fancy and mysterious menu. Nicole was helpful in deciphering some of it but we had plenty of questions for the waiter as he came by. We placd our orders and were escorted to the dining room. The waiter poured the EXCELLENT wine (Bourgoise-Haute Medoc 1999-St. Estephan) from the bottle over a candle into a duck or dragon shaped carafe to clarify the color of the wine which had no lighter color on the surface indicating it had very little free water. Nicole had fois gras, Jim had sweet breads and oysters on the half shell-disgusting of course! I had langostinos for appetizers (on this menu they were called entrees). For main courses I had Monkfish with truffle sauce (YUMMY!), nicole had dusk and Jim had wild boar. We all enjoyed our dinners very much. For dessert, JIm and I enjoyed a variety of cheeses-the waiter arrived with at least 20 different varieties on a cart and we chose 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 poetry as we discussed what we were thankful for, the importance of friends and family and the myriad flavors of our belches.

23 November 2006
Chateau hopping again

Breakfast in the chateau as usual-I've still got gut issues but I think I'm on the mend. It's another dreary day weather-wise but we're anxious to get started.

Azay le Rideau

Blue boat

Drove to Azay-le-Rideau-situated on a river, it's very french looking. Nicole and I agreed that it reminded us of Chateau Josselin in Bretagne. It's very picturesque-loved the small blue rowboat. We wandered into the town, found lunch-my guts hurt and I'm not hungry but I know I need to eat and I'm VERY tired. A coca-cola lite (Yuck!) helps keep me moving on.

Azay le Rideau

Garden

On to Villandry-it's just starting to sprinkle. This chateau is known for its spectacular gardens and for very good reason. This time of year its full of various kinds of letuce, peppers-timy red ones, cauliflower, cabbages and other green leafies. They had bright orange pumpkins on stone slabs for added color. The chateau itself was closed for the season but the gardens were wonderful.

Gardens

Next: Vouvray for wine tasting and shopping. Tried a sparkling rose and a very dry white that smelled like vanilla. We baought the dry white to take home and one bottle to drink before dinner. I took a nap while Jim went for a walk and Nicole wrote in her journal. Changed for dinner, still with sore guts and shared the bottle of wine in the lounge at the chateau.
I drove to dinner in Aboise-l'Alliance. Nicole had a fascination with the centerpeice. After waiting several minutes for the staff to notice we had arrived, we enjoyed a more simple meal than last night. Again, we had a great bottle of Vouvray, this one a Chinon red. Jim had beef, Nicole had fish and I had a wild bird of some kind with a wonderful brown sauce. and teeny tiny shrimp. I had a fish and potato saffron entree with tiny bones in groung textured fish. We all had an amazing chocolate dessert and chatted about visiting Orleans tomorrow, Jules Verne and politics. Things get complicated when Jim has a few glasses of wine. Another balmy night as we returned to our rooms.

24 November 2008
Orleans

Joan d'Arc

Easy drive to the city and we found parking easily. It rained most of the morning, quite hard much of the time. We practically ran to the Cathedral St. Croix. It was one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen. The walls were extremely high without obvious external buttresses. The stained glass was very clear and realistic with wonderful light. We had lunch at a local creperie with locals as it rained and then finally stopped. Visited Jean d'Arc's birth home right on a very busy square with a very ultramodern train line running directly in front of it. Inside was a rehab'ed version with very detailed dioramas of the siege and taking of Orleans. I missed most of the audio/visual show since I went to the bathroom when they handed out the headphones. It seems like a lot of effort to dramatize the very short life of an obviously schizophrenic teenager. We did some shopping-they had their Christmas market set up-I bought a few gifts and tried to conduct the transactions in french with some success.After an easy drive back to the Chateau, we got ready for dinner. We had our now obligatory cocktail hour in the lounge with a bottle of wine.
3 new couple checked in for the evening.
Went to the very small village called Noisey and had another amazing meal at Auberge de Benneire. The amuse bouche was a tomato glace-very unusual but good. For entrees Jim had fois gras-only with the white Vouvray. The wine was from Burgundy-Les Beaun-subtle. We spent time teaching Nicole how to aerate, smell and taste a good red wine. Main courses: Jim and Nicole shared the duck surprise (mushrooms and mussels), I had beef and scalloped potatoes-also very yummy. The cheese course was, again, educational and smelly. Goats cheese and new and aged brie were favorites. Dessert-Nicole and I had pears and an unsual pink lechy sorbet with pistachios. Jim had an apple-pear conconction. Each course was served slowly so we had lots of time for conversation. We talked about International Bon Vivant status, literature, writing and this amazing experience and life we lead. Dinner finished with congac (burns longer than scotch but has no after taste like scotch. It's grape based and double distilled).
Dominic describing what "biche" means--"The wife of the deer."

25 November 2006
Tours-Stansted-Jerez

Our chateau

This was our only clear day with bright blue skies. Took pictures of the chateau before we flew home.