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Published: December 29th 2008
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December 18th-21st: Tours, Blois…HOLY CHATEAUXS!
We got into Tours around 1 in the afternoon…we had booked our hotel online that morning and just randomly found it, didn’t read the reviews or anything…we walked out of the train station and BAM there it was staring us in the face. Literally 500 yards from the train station and the center of town, best location yet. I was a bit skeptical about our room because for one it had been 20 percent off regular price and two because it smelled nasty in the lobby. MITCH CHIMES IN: When we opened the door to our room it was quite a surprise: the nicest room we had been in yet, all antique furniture, huge room, even bigger bathroom, and a big ole’ bed that actually had a nice mahogany bed frame. It was perfect. We put our stuff away and went to the Tourism Office to book a day excursion out to the châteaux country because they are really hard to get to if you don’t have a car. We found a perfect little 3 and a half hour tour that takes you to 2 of the most famous ones for 20 only euros…we signed
up! We spent the rest of the day walking around Tours which was a busy little city similar to Bordeaux but not quite as cute. Tours is old and new, the newer buildings were built in the 60’s to replace the old ones that got destroyed in the war. We ate some of the best food we have had yet here in Tours, delicious sandwiches and pastries! In the morning, we caught a 10 o’clock train to Blois because we heard it was a beautiful little city right on the river and it has chateaux of its own right in the heart of the center. By the way its pronounced B-WOW, not BLAH or BLUE like Mitch and I butchered it at the train station when buying our tickets. The train ride was about 40 minutes from Tours as Blois is in between Tours and Orleans (the heart of the Loire Valley). The town was very small and quaint, with lots of little exciting alleys and one big street that had a few shops on it. It was definitely a much smaller town than Tours or Bordeaux and we were just about the only tourists there. It’s great to walk
around surrounded by French accents and the smell of warm pastries…you don’t even feel like a tourist! The French people we have had encounters with have been beyond nice, even if they don’t know English which about 95% haven’t. We were kind of skeptical because some of our foreign friends told us that they have little respect for Americans and will probably be rude to us…but, we haven’t experienced that yet, maybe in Paris? Anyway, our walk around the city of Blois was incredible, so adorable with all its little tiny cafes and old buildings all perched on this gigantic river. It was a classic French town. We basically walked the whole city in a matter of 4 hours, visited the chateaux which was beautiful. We were the only people in the whole chateaux and walking around was really strange because the halls echoed with our footsteps and our voices…I can’t imagine living there, its just so big. There were some great views of the whole city from on top of the chateaux, you could basically see all of Blois from there. We headed back to Tours around 5 to relax some and then go to dinner. That night, we
found the best dinner place yet. It was this little hole in the wall Syrian restaurant owned by a husband and wife who may have been the nicest people in all of France. They had this huge smiles, didn’t speak one word of English so we communicated through hand gestures and smiles…The food was so fresh and just had that homemade taste. WE basically sat in their dining room while they cooked in this tiny kitchen right behind us. Mitch had kefta (meat patties with these incredible spices), vegetables, and a salad and I had chicken, rice, and a salad. We both share all our stuff anyway and we agreed that it was the best food we have had yet, it felt like our own moms had made it for us. I loved eating there, I wish we had a place like that in San Diego.
In the morning, we had to rush over to meet our shuttle to the châteauxs. It was really our first sunny sunny day in France and it was a good one to have some sun on. The journey out to the châteauxs was beautiful because the landscape is just so breathtaking. We saw wine
cellars that were built into the rock walls, it was so cool. Mitch and I are the most enthusiastic tourists ever, I don’t know if its because we are young and ignorant or what but everything is just so awesome to us. The first chateaux we saw, Checenaoux, was the 2nd most famous and visited one in France, the first being of course Versailles. The overall grounds of the chateaux were quite impressive as not only did they have a vineyard stretching for miles, but they also had gardens, horses, forests, mazes, and their main chateaux situated on a bridge over the river. It was pretty absurd. Nobody actually lives their as the family who owns it is the number one chocolate maker and they just have made it into a public site. The chateaux does have a famous history so it was pretty cool to get to walk through it and everything. Unfortunately, they were doing remodeling on it and their was scaffolding up which kind of killed the whole “really cool picture” idea which was a bummer. I can only imagine what these places look like in the summer. The rooms in the chateaux were awesome, all of
them with these huge fire places and roaring fires. The kitchen area was bigger than the downstairs of my house. All the bedrooms were very luxurious and all had one of those huge fireplaces right near it. The chateaux itself literally extended out into the water on a bridge with a big oval shape domes between it and the water. It was definitely the most unique and exotic one we saw which is probably why it is the second most visited one in all of France. The second chateaux that we decided to go to was the home of Leonardo da Vinci. It was a wise choice, the house itself wasn’t that impressive, but the overall experience was incredible. The man was unbelievable, such a genius. Many people just think of art and painting when they think of him because of the Mona Lisa, but he invented some of the coolest inventions. He foresaw so many of today’s modern technology. Mitch and I had a great time walking around and seeing the models of his inventions, the coolest being the tank, machine gun, and wings. It was such a great day, and we capped off it with a yummy dinner. It has been a great visit, but we are ready to get to Paris. In fact, we can hardly wait.
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