Blogs from Amboise, Centre, France, Europe - page 2

The great thing about staying in a B&B is the quaintness and the fact that the owner is usually extremely friendly. That's certainly how it is where I'm at. This morning I literally opened my door to the living room, and sat down to a home-cooked breakfast. The family dog, Farah, laid at my feet the entire time. And I think I definitely got on the host's good side by admiring her book collection, especially her prized book of Charles Baudelaire's poetry. She's letting me have breakfast earlier than usual tomorrow, since I have to leave early. After hopping on my bike, I set off for the relatively leisurely ride down to Chenonceau, the absolute best of the many chateaux in the Loire. The ride was a little over an hour, and wound through a beautiful ... read more

Majusban egy kellemes korutazason vettem reszt, ami igen sokszinu volt. Eloszor Magyarorszagra repultem, ahol egy kis idot Budapesten toltottem par volt kollegammal/baratommal, majd leutaztam Szegedre. Eppen borfesztival volt, igy paran ugy gondoltuk, kilatogatunk, azonban epp, ahogy odaertem, este 7-kor, elkezdett szakadni az eso, bezavarva a sok latogatot a szabadteri padokrol a ponyvak ala. Mivel nem akarta abbahagyni az eso, meg a padok total vizesek voltak, vegul a szokasos kocsmaban es pizzeriaban beszelgettunk kicsit. Masnap egy barati beszelgetes/latogatas utan osszefutottam par baratommal, es egy fozessel egybekotott kellemes estet toltottunk egyutt. Vasarnap, kesoi indulast kovetoen vegul a Vendeglo a Regi Hidhoz nevu etterembe (regi Ego Arany) tertem be, ahol egy nagyon finom harcsafilet ettem tuzdelve, gombaval es sajttal elkeszitve, hercegno burgonyaval es egy pohar nagyo... read more

Geo: 47.4104, 0.981122 The Chateau d'Ussé was the chateau we visited in the morning. This stronghold at the edge of the Chinon forest was first fortified in the eleventh century by the Norman, Seigneur of Ussé. The site later passed to the Comte de Blois, who rebuilt the chateau in stone. This chateau was one of several that inspired Walt Disney in the creation of many of the Disney Castles.In the afternoon we visited Château d'Azay-le-Rideau. The chateau was built between 1518 and 1527, and is one of the most popular of the Loire Vallet chateau. For dinner we went to Auberge de Launay, which is a restaurant we visited on our last trip to the Loire Valley. ... read more

We feel terrible about falling behind on the blogs, it's been a rough couple of days (more on that in a sec). I forgot to mention on last night's blog that we did laundry before leaving the apartment in Paris! For the most part everyone still line dries their clothes, but this apartment features a washer and dryer in one (why don't we have these in the US?). They are very very tiny so not a lot of clothes at one time but it certainly did the job. The only downside is that the dryer is actually heated with water around the cylinder. I know this because in the morning when I pulled out the clothes, the jeans were wrinkled beyond recognition. I tried to "re-toss" on 'dry only' and heard water (slight panic attack) and ... read more

Geo: 47.4125, 0.98266Visited the Chateau Du Clos Luc (Parc Leonardo Da Vinci) in the morning. Leonardo was brought to the Chateau at the age of sixty by King Francois 1 in 1516. Leonardo was given this chateau and he lived there for the remainder of his life. Leonardo was not only one of the finest painters to have ever lived, he also designed the following:-- early design of a plane- army tank- machine gun- helicopter- mill- parachute- double winch- paddle boat- diving suit- gear cogs and many more inventions too numerous to list.He also discovered plant growth and nutrition before botany was a science. He studied the human body and drew the musculo-skeletal system in detail. In the afternoon we visited Chateau de Chernonceau. This chateau adjoins and spans the River Cher. It is a beautiful ... read more