A First Glimpse at the Loire Valley

Sorry for the delay in posts. There wasn't really wifi in Normandy (it felt good to be away from the internet for a while) so I posted it all this afternoon. Anyway, it has been a long but fun day of travel. We started out with another wonderful breakfast and a goodbye to our wonderful British hosts, Lesley and Grahm. Brynn helped Lesley with some technical problems on her iPad and we were off- not before signing their charming guestbook:) It was about a 4 hour car ride (with a stop for a baguette sandwich) to where we are staying- just outside of Tours in a very small village called Vouvray. We are at another bed and breakfast that is very cute and really nice. Brynn and I have a double room not far from Mom and Dad's suite. Grandma and Grandpa are downstairs. There is a pool that I'm sure we will try out tomorrow as well as beautiful gardens that we will surely explore. After getting settled we went to our first castle. It was called Chateâu Amboise. It was very large and from the 6th century! We toured the inside and the gardens. The most amazing thing was the view of the river as well as the internal furnishings. Something I would have never guessed was that Leonardo DaVinci is buried there. After the castle, we went nearby to a chocolate shop-of course we bought some to sample;) Then, we had to wait about a half hour for the restaurants to open for dinner at 7. We ate outside at an Italian restaurant. I had pasta with chicken and shrimp-it was amazing and a nice change from the usual french cuisine! While eating dinner there was a bike race in the street. They had blocked it off and it must have been a short track race because they kept going very fast in a relatively small circle. Anyways, after dinner we got some gelato. This time I got banana and caramel flavor. While eating gelato a guy was playing the accordian accross the street. He was pretty good so we tipped him. I guess its the little things like this that characterize my travel experience and leave an impression on me. We are are at the room now and getting ready for a fun day tomorrow! Thanks for reading:)

Panorama from the top of the castle

The Chateâu Amboise

Loving practicing my french all over! Even at the dinner table:)

For all you non-frenchies peach flavor, salt, and pepper.