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Published: December 30th 2016
We were up at a leisurely hour in Paris before our TGV journey cross-country to Tours. Nick & Alicia are travelling this leg with Nick's parents Dan & Lorraine so between the six of us it was quite a luggage pile. With the luggage racks onboard overflowing we ended up stacking our giant bags in the train vestibule near the exit doors knowing we were the first stop and then got upstairs to our seats. Seats weren't required for a 3 year old which was a nice money saver and Roman sat quite well on Alicia's lap and the kids largely drew, coloured, and were good for the whole journey; helped along with some snacks and drinks of fresh OJ.
We think the train did 250km/hr + to get us to Tours in the time it did. The landscape out the window zipped by very fast but was otherwise relatively unremarkable European farmland in winter, it reminded us of the UK.
Arriving into Tours we had a momentary setback when 2 mins from the end we couldn't find one of our backpacks which we'd left in an overhead rack but after sorting that out we
got off the train in good order and built a luggage stack indoors the station to stay out of the cold whilst Dan & Alicia went to sign up the hire car.
Nick was annoyed to see the hire care was barely big enough to fit us all plus luggage. By the time we squeezed everyone in Lorraine was squeezed in the boot back seat like a magicians assistant and everyone who was passenger had their knees up to their nose.
Upon arrival at our Loire cottage in a rustic lane in the midst of tall trees, with thick autumn leaves on the ground and bare vineyards we were feeling the country-vibe of the area. We pulled into the pebbled driveway to find the hosts main house (they were wine makers) was a vast light blue mansion approx 40m wide and 7m high whilst our 'humble cottage' was a mere three bedrooms, two bathrooms, separate two toilets, and a spacious living/ dining area adjoined to the kitchen with a great raised fireplace and generally loads of space everywhere! We were very happy with the place and in particular the fireplace
which our thoughtful hostess had burning for us. We pottered around discovering the house for a while and then ate some lunch of baguettes with ham & cheese and the hosts home-made creamed honey & fig jam (both fairly tasty).
In order to prepare for our week in the cottage we headed to the local vast 'Leclerc' supermarket; it was about 1.5x bigger than any supermarkets in Australia or the UK.
With Dan's 70
th Birthday tomorrow Nick encouraged Dan to pick out lots of nice Fromage (cheese) and Salami which we did and then proceeded with an epic shop that had everyone exhausted and the kids going mad: laughing hysterically, wrestling one another, and then eventually weeping and falling apart. The kids were briefly entertained as we found a self-serve Orange Juice machine and produced a couple of bottles of fresh OJ watching the machine rotate and squeeze the oranges fresh at the press of a button.
Eventually Nick made it to the beer section and was delighted by the excellent range of Belgian beer and a couple of French craft brewers too. I bought all the
Trapiste Rochefort range, a 250ml x 6 sixpacks of Leffe Brune and Leffe Blone, Chimay Blue, Orval, Chimay Trappiste and many more. Nick was over the moon excited with all the great beer choices.
Our first full day in the Loire was Dan's 70
th Birthday and the underpinning reason behind the whole trip. We cooked up a poached egg and very tasty thick cut bacon breakfast on toast and enjoyed our lovely fire. We then gave Lucy and Roman their 'Chateau region' presents Alicia had thoughtfully got them. Lucy a lovely princess purple dress and Roman a knight sword and shield so they could look the part at the Chateau's. Lucy was pretty happy with her dress and curtsies & smiles in it beautifully.
Setting out most days in the Loire for the first few days it was relatively clear and cold say 3-8c. In the latter part of our week it was overcast/ foggy and 0-3c.
On this first day we visited the fairly charming moated chateau of Azay-Le-Rideau and were pleased to find they'd done up some of the rooms with Christmas themes and decorations which made them look
smarter and fresher.
We then did a drive by of the closed but very picturesque Chateau Usse (known as the 'Sleeping Beauty castle'). We pulled up on the river bank beside Usse and profited from beautiful, still water that leant itself to nice reflections of the weeping willows and mill pond buildings in the area. The Chateau itself looked reasonably good too despite the light not being right. We all took lots of photos and had a nice time soaking up the pretty views.
Next stop was the pleasant town of Langeais for lunch and then we spotted a promising Patisserie/ Chocolatier for Alicia to return to on our way into the Chateau.
Langeais had interiors just about 2* quality as Nick's research had indicated (3* is best). It further benefited from some well made full size wax models dressed in period costume and some of the room spruced up with nice Christmas cheer too.
Some other interesting things awaited. Once through the chateau we found a few braziers burning log fires in the courtyard; a nice little touch. We walked within the walled grounds up to a
hill where presumably an old motte & bailey had been; it really gave it an old-time-practical castle feel to it. Further to our delight higher on the hill was a lookout with fines views of the local charming bridge over the Loire and of all things a giant professionally made tree-house (!) with multiple stories leading about 20m high up a vast tree. The kids loved the tree-house and insisted both Alicia and I go in there with them.
Finally leaving Langeais Chateau Alicia scored some decent patisseries from the promising shop and we got home after and epic day of site seeing to make Dan a cake and indulge in tasty snacks and dinner.
On our next day site seeing Chateaus we arrived at Chateau Chenonceau then rugged up with every scrap of clothing on arrival (we hadn't brought enough warm clothes or layers this day having been fooled by the warm weather yesterday) and shivered our way along a very long walk from the car park to the Chateau. The security guards wouldn't let Roman bring in his foam sword which seemed a little bit idiotic but Roman took it in his
stride. The small moats and canal ditches on the lead up to the Chateau had beautiful still water with reflections and we got some pretty photos.
Inside the Chateau was much more impressive than Nick recalled from last time with some beautiful, high quality Christmas decorations in many rooms and a roaring fire in the palatial fire places in a few rooms too which we loved (and appreciated the warmth from). We were a bit worried Roman would fall into the giant fires and kept a tight hold of him most of the time. The no-flash photography rule was in force seemingly arbitrarily and unnecessarily but it didn't hamper us too much.
The four poster beds in each room were historical and lavish looking and we loved the tremendous long, narrow ballroom that dominated the majority of the castle floor plan; more so with it's beautiful Christmas theme and vast tree.
The kids were fatigued and hungry by the time we were wrapping up inside, so we raced them out to one of the side gardens to get proper views and photos of the Chateaus best aspect which were charming as
ever. We then cajoled the kids back to the car without tears and stalled them with some salt & vinegar crisps and water until we could get under way. A quick trip to a Boulangerie scored us some baguettes and we stopped in a small park across the river from the town of Amboise for lunch.
Dan's Satnav takes us driving on some absurd back roads and slower routes which keeps our travel interesting and challenging. On occasion we've been down single-lane roads dodging through vineyards in the fog and narrowly avoiding head on collisions, or taking every side street and back alley through a city centre when one or two main streets logically would have done it!
On another day on a visit to Blois it remained absurdly cold and we made our way upon arrival mid-morning directly for an indoor cafe whereupon we ordered some tasty patiserries, Tea, and Chocolat Chaud (hot chocolate). Here Alicia had a spectacular raspberry tart topped with a stunning white chocolate and raspberry flower that was astonishing and the kids enjoyed some lolly pops and hot chocolate.The highlight of Chateau de Blois was the throne which all
of us could sit on. We got good photos of everyone on the throne and Nick enjoyed the feeling and felt it was good to be the king.
In keeping with our goal to try some Michelin Star fine dining Nick, Alicia, and Dan set out to the
Domaine Des Hauts De Loire in Onzain a 2* Michelin star restaurant for dinner one night. Lorraine bravely stayed at home to put the kids to bed.
Our 2* restaurant was literally in the middle of nowhere; in the dark with nothing at all in sight. The restaurant/ hotel was in grounds within a gated area with lots of trees and a small forest.
Our arrival was greeted by a few well dressed male staff in the lobby, a sign of things to come. They ushered in and an army of staff moved efficiently and attentively to take care of us.
Without taking our order they served us a platter of “amusements” which consisted of a shot glass of beetroot foam with, an avocado cream with scallop, a small
piece of confit duck on micro toast, a chicken liver pate and reasonably nice bread rolls too. All of them were interesting enough; Alicia found the tiny duck toast remarkable.
After making our orders (where we'd determined we wouldn't go for the full degustation which was 179 Euros per person but had a lot of things we didn't care for) we were treated to another 'Amusement' a Leek, black mushroom puree, and a little crab. We are still pretty green on what French wine we liked so we had an inexpensive bottle of Red to share.
Nick's
entréewas tasty: Quail & fois gras in a fine pastry and caramelised mushroom sauce plus some small julienned apple strips with a quail egg on top, a bit of nougat type stuff that was reminiscent of a dessert and nice enough, and some little beans. Nick felt that he had to go searching for true deliciousness in the dish which was elusive but definitely there. I would have preferred a dish that was less work to find the brilliance- which in this case was fleeting....
Alicia's & Dan's entree was
a butternut squash salad with sweet & sour vegetable layers and textures including a chestnut icecream. Alicia loved it, Dan was happy enough. Alicia found a complete mouthful from the plate gave an amazing array of clever textures and flavours, mixing sweet, sour, hot, cold, crunchy and she loved it and will cherish the memory.
Nick & Alicia's main was a Pork dish whilst Dan got the Venison. The pork consisted of a standing roulade of pork with a shard of crackling mesh atop. A small strip of belly type pork with a light strip of crunch atop and an unusual hagis type stack plus a small potato mousse. We both found the pork good but not fantastic and memorable which was a shame. Dan found his Venison good but a bit too 'gamey' for his liking.
Nick's dessert was a stunningly explosive citrus dish of candied mandarin & pink grapefruit segments in a lychee soup, with lemon sorbet and curls of crunchy sugar atop. It literally exploded with citrus and blew Nick's socks off, it was so punchy and quite tasty it was really memorable and impressive. It was
let down a little by the pink grapefruit and there not being quite enough Lemon sorbet but overall a stunning dessert and definitely second only to the wonderful dessert we had for Alicia's 30
th birthday in Sydney and Nick will remember it forever.
Dan had a cheese plate consisting of five cheeses ( he could have grabbed more) from the cheese trolley that had about 30+ good cheeses. He was happy enough with all, especially the blue goat, but nothing to really set him raving.
Alicia had an Apple & Chestnut dessert with Apple Jelly, Apple sorbet, sponge cake pieces, chestnut mousse wrapped in fine chocolate shaped as a chestnut. She found it delicious.
We finished the meal with tea & coffee by the charming log fire in the quiet sitting room. It was a fine way to relax and end a very nice night out, with great service throughout and a couple of real stunning dishes. The bill came in at approx 410 Euros for the three of us which was within our expectations.... but still.... ouch.
Our final day of site seeing in the Loire was to the city of Tours and specifically to the Christmas market. We ended up walking the kids too far and by the time we found a bench in the park for lunch Lucy promptly dropped her open lunch box face down in the dirt and had to share with Roman. The kids then got obsessed with a small spinning chairs swing ride (on chains) that wasn't running and cried endlessly about it not being on. We moved them along back to the xmas market carousel that had two stories and then to a large xmas tree Orbitron-type ride. Nick then insisted we ride the tram back through town to our parked car as the kids couldn't possibly walk back that far without going hysterical.
Upon arrival back near our car Alicia insisted we look at the ice rink then take the kids skating. Nick was very dubious as the kids little legs were already tired but Alicia was completely vindicated as the kids loved their first experience on the ice. The adoption of ice skating was aided by a large number of little stand things
with handles that go on the ice and the kids could lean/ sit on them to keep their balance. We finished the skating with minimal falls, no injuries, and a lot of satisfaction the kids had made good steps toward learning to skate. Nick & Alicia were hot and tired with sore backs but proud of the kids achievements.
We jumped in the car and got home quite painlessly whereafter Alicia & Lorraine ducked out to try to find Tea and Patiserries in the local town and Dan, Nick and the kids retired to eat snacks. We are enjoying our salamis and cheeses. Nick & Dan finished the remained of the French 'Bier de Garde' style of local French craft beers and we found overall it was pretty easy drinking and forgettable. Nick was drinking 3-4 exceptional Belgian beers every night and by the end of the week was fairly palate fatigued by the endless sweetness of Belgian Blondes & Tripels despite the fact they're excellent beers.
We'd been saving up visiting Nick's Tank museum (armoured fighting vehicles) for a terrible weather day and one duly arrived in the back half of our weeks
stay with freezing temps and near impenetrable fog. We duly drove the hour to Saumur and Nick & Dan went into the 'Musee des Blindes' Tank musuem; probably the best Tank museum in the world.
On the way we spotted five deer racing through a field; not something you see every day!
Arriving at des Blindes Nick & Dan got stuck into tank viewing whilst the women and kids went for a nice patisserie in town. We all met up a couple of hours later to eat lunch in the museum lunch area and call it a day. Lucy & Roman got a chance to have a quick whip around the museum with Nick; we got some photos in front of Nick's favourite tanks and then the kids got to climb on and in a few vehicles in the kids area which they were pretty happy with.
Nicks highlights for the museum; (which he revisited from 2010) were the German line of WWII vehicles as always plus the French Batchat 25t and AMX 50 and the T-54 and M26 Pershing all of which he'd overlooked the first time around but now
appreciates better (WOT anyone?!)
On our final day in the Loire Alicia and Nick opted for an R&R day and commenced a lazy morning. Alicia was walking down the wooden steps in the house mid-morning in her warm bed socks and had a massive slip and fall. Nick was summoned to crying and screaming my name.
Alicia's first report was she'd smashed her mid back and elbow on the steps and was weeping basically lying on the floor at the foot of the stairs. After some ice packs and recovery times it appeared no ambulance or emergency room visit would be required thankfully. Nick mused over whether the French would look upon a report of a wife 'falling down the steps' with the kind of dubiousness you'd expect to get in Australia but we never found out.....
For the rest of that day to prompt Alicia's recovery we stayed warm inside and got washing clothes & diary done a bit. After lunch with Roman going stir-crazy we took the kids out for a run around. We found chickens behind a shed and looked at them for a
bit then patted the cat who was a weird animal and took a swipe and bite at Nick almost in dog-like playfulness. Nick doesn't know if the cat was playful or angry but he certainly was scaring the kids. We got our packing done to awake at dawn and travel back to Paris the next day and Nick put in a heroic session of drinking to dry to diminish our stock of Belgian beers.
Leaving the next day we rode the TGV in the dark with minimal fuss back to Paris. The kids chatted and drew and were generally fine to snack – finally the sun rose a little before we hit Paris..
Our previous transfer driver met us at the end of the train platform in Paris and gave us a good airport transfer painlessly to CDG. I was surprised we had to drive up the Champs Elysees and around the famous roundabout to get from Gare Nord to the Airport as it seems that would be traffic you'd always want to avoid but we got to the airport fine with plenty of time.
Once through CDG with a painless
& no-cost checking in of Nick & Alicia's car seats that we'd stuffed into a giant bag (made for carrying christmas trees) we headed for some lunch in a cafe near our gate and after an hour we finally met Auntie Steph. The family is just about all together now!
Next was the flight to Munich and Kriskindlemarkt. Read about it in the next blog entry - you need to scroll down to see the additional photos for this entry.
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