Blogs from Villandry, Centre, France, Europe

Issy says that we should have a look around Tours, so we set off in our trusty little Golf. I thought she wanted to have a look at the town’s historic centre, but she's set the GPS to take us to an art shop. She says that she gets a bit bored sometimes when I go off on my own when she’d rather rest, so she thought she might stock up on art supplies so she can throw together a few masterpieces while I’m off doing my own thing. We park the car and walk to the art shop. Unfortunately it’s Sunday and the art shop is closed, but at least it was easy to park. We walk into the historic centre past the very ancient looking Torre de Charlemagne. Tradition has it that the Emperor ... read more

We started the day by mailing 3.5 kg (7.7 pounds) of packing materials and a few clothes back to our friends in Paris in an effort to lighten our load! In retrospect, I could have kept two garments, but...I am doing fine without them. We feel so much better, I can tell you. Annie kept saying, I cannot believe that you didn't weigh your panniers before leaving home...Annie, if you only knew that we travel at the last minute! Getting to the bike path was quite an experience, due to the fact that people were driving to work in municipal part of Tours and Annie was not sure of the directions. Fortunately, we had our cell phones and were able to stay in touch with one another. The path was smooth and FLAT! We cycled along ... read more

Today we got up early to go to another castle. It was called the Villandry but it was known for its gardens more than its castle. Phillipe came to pick us up to drive us to the castle at 9am. It was the first time we had seen him since he was living with us in New Zealand. The drive took about an hour and a half as the castle is one of the furtherest away. Once we arrived we went and brought our tickets which where only for the garden as we didn’t feel we needed to see the castle. The gardens where huge! They were so well kept for such a big area. The first part we went into was filled with bright colourful vegetables. The section was divided into 6 smaller sections. On ... read more

As a group, we may have collectively overestimated our biking abilities. Since some of us don’t have class Fridays, today we attempted to bike to Villandry, a chateau known for beautiful gardens—it’s only 17 km from Tours, so like 10ish miles. Quick ride, right? No. There was supposed to be a super easy bike bath to follow once we crossed the Cher river, but it was nowhere to be found. So we were lost, slightly south of Tours for a while, Denise, Annie, and Allison ended up turning around because they needed to be home before too late, leaving me, Mackenzie, and Steph’s cousin Adam (who was visiting for the week) to continue to try to find the right path. Luckily it was a beautiful day—perfect for biking except a bit of wind coming straight at ... read more