Dinan is a wonderful town of about 10,000 and it still retains that old city charm within its center. It’s a fantastic layout with ramparts, towers, and cobbled streets. This medieval city managed to escape the bombs of World War II and has a fabulous quaintness to it. We wandered through the narrow streets enjoying the views of the half-timbered buildings and marveled at the stained glass windows and towering arches within Eglises St. Malo and St. Sauveur. We had a wonderful couple of hours wandering around this town, picked up a kebab each for lunch and then it was time to get back on the road.
Once back on the road, it’s not long before we encounter rain that continues at a steady stream for the remainder of the drive. We drove along the main route east towards Paris and the traffic was heavy. Here the vehicles don’t have mud flaps like we do, so every vehicle threw back lots of water spray, making visibility difficult at times. Once we passed Le Mans and headed south toward Tours, the traffic became much lighter as did the rain. We passed through Tours on our way to the little village of Pouille about 80 km east. This week’s accommodation is part of a remodeled gite near fields of vines. We stop for the next couple of days of groceries at Blere (a few minutes from Pouille), then arrive at the gite.
T gets the standard rundown of things at the apartment and local sites to see, while Jand M unload the car. We have French TV here, but as M had previously found the “audio” button that sometimes changes the language back to the original version we tired this and found some shows that we could watch in English this evening. T made another great dinner and we chilled for the rest of the day.
Sunday, April 29, 2012 – Another down day today, just relaxing after the drive through the rain yesterday. We have all the groceries we need and it continues to rain off an on today, so we’re hanging out and reading. We did manage to get a walk in between rain showers – the area around this week’s gite is quite flat with fields full of grape vines. This area seems to have many fields of vines, with the rest planted in grain. We don’t see too much in terms of farming animals this way. However, we did see an interesting sign that we had never seen before. Along the side of the road we find a new sign, a warning to motorists of wild boars as well as what looks like to sizes of deer. There is a good mixture of wooded areas and fields in this vicinity.
Tonight we find a few shows on the satellite TV that we can change into English. We end the evening watching one of our movies on the TV / DVD player here in the gite.
Monday, April 30, 2012 – Today we have our typical morning; coffee, reading, leisurely breakfast, workout, and ready to start exploring by about 1 PM! This afternoon we ventured to check out the town of Amboise, about 25 km from here. Our gite’s Internet does not work! So, not only are we going to check out this town, we are on the lookout for an Internet café to do a couple of things. Our drive takes us through a number of little villages, some advertising local vinobles – wine makers. We traveled along the Cher River, flowing quite fast and high due to all the rain of late. We definitely noticed this as we passed through Montichaud and walking along the ramparts of Amboise. Thanks to our trusty Rick Steeves book, we found an Internet café and completed our business. While there, we met another family from Calgary who are traveling for three months. Small world it is, we noticed them because their son had a Calgary speed skating track jacket on.
It stopped raining for us when we were ready for our walk about the town. T stopped at the TI (tourist office) to purchase tickets for some of the chateaux that we want to tour around this week, that way we won’t have to wait in line to purchase tickets.
Amboise has a chateau, from the Roman times that overlooks the Cher River and the town below is quaint. The walls of the fortress tower over us as we stand below. We wandered around the pedestrian only streets. It was in Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci lived out his final years in Chateau Clos-Lucé set up by King Froancois I. We chose not to check it out as we had seen several da Vinci exhibits while in Italy. We stopped to have a coffee and J a snack, before we finished our tour. There were no art galleries around to check out – too bad.
After a late dinner, we went for a walk, noticing how much water was flowing along the ditches and lying amongst the vines in some of the fields. The sky has cleared, making it a pleasant evening for a walk.
We got a good shot of how they 'train' the vines to grow.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 – This morning all three of us went for a walk amongst the country roads bordering acres and acres of vines – some farther along in leaves coming out than others. It is a beautiful sunny day and we are enjoying the sunshine – the first in a number of days. We have started to have some races between power poles while walking with J, sometimes just J and T, or J and M. Today all 3 of us participate, it’s a great way to add to our workouts while just having fun.
After lunch we headed down to see Chateau de Chenonceau located about 18 km from here. The drive is pretty and we notice some troglodyte homes along the way. We drove through Montrichard once again, but this time in the sunshine, so we took a couple of more shots of the fortress overlooking the bridge that we crossed
and then heading along the shore of the river to reach the village of Chenonceau where the chateau is located. However, when we arrived at the parking lot we could see a huge throng of people, and decided that today was not the day to visit this famous chateau (the second most visited after in France, Versailles being first), we’ll go somewhere else. Today is a national holiday in France, so it is very busy with not only tourists but likely other French citizens.
We decided to head east to Chateau Cheverny about 25 km on the other side of where we are staying. When we arrive in the town, we find a spot in the parking lot and walk to the entrance of the chateau. This chateau was built as a get away in the country for the gentry, a place for a little hunting. It was built long ago as well, with very little of the original fortress that had been built here still surviving. This chateau has been in the same family for more than 6 centuries with the exception of 2 times they lost it, once when Diane de Poitiers bought it so she could stay there while here castle at Charmont was being renovated after she got the boot from Catherine de Medici from Chenonceau. The second time when one of the daughters of the founder decided she didn’t want it anymore…. This chateau has been open to the public since 1922.
While here we enjoy the grounds complete with orangery (building they grew oranges to be protected in the winter),and kitchen gardens. We check out the rooms open to the public styled with lavish tapestries that cover the walls, very impressive. We even stop to see about 100 hunting dogs at the kennel. They are a certain breed that we’ve seen pictures of before. It was interesting watching their keeper dealing with them in the kennel. They still use this place for hunts on the extensive forested grounds that are near the chateau. We decided this could be an acceptable summer place, but we’d need to hire out the yardwork!
They even had a stained glass window showing the hunt.
The dogs looked glad to see us.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 – Today we are actually out of the gite by 9:15 to head to Chateau de Chenonceau to beat the crowd. There’s lots of history for this fabulous chateau that spans the Cher River, making it a very unique building. Like many chateaux, it had been added onto over time and restored to its former glory several times since it was built in the 16th century. King Henri II actually gave this to his mistress Diane de Poitiers in 1547, to reside in and she had the bridge built over the River Cher. Once King Henri died, his wife Catherine de’ Medici gave the mistress the boot and added the rooms and floors above bridge so she could host parties.
Both ladies and subsequent ladies added their touches to the chateau, giving it the nickname “chateau of the ladies”. The garden areas are beautiful and some bare the names of the ladies who resided here in the past. There are splendid with spring flowers and tulips just near the end of their life for this spring. They must have planted thousands of bulbs around the gardens. We were too late to enjoy the tulip display in one area as we saw them digging up vast areas of finished tulips. There are fresh flowers abound in the public rooms supplied by their own gardens. There are a couple of full-time florists to keep these looking wonderful.
Within the chateau are amazing displays of furniture, tapestries and paintings in the rooms we were allowed to tour. It must have been brutal yesterday trying to see things within the rooms with the amount of people we saw. We had an opportunity to tour the kitchen areas down in the lower level of the chateaux, with access to the waterway to have deliveries made. The copper pots, butchery area, wall bread oven and other utensils were an impressive display. Many of the rooms have large fireplaces and a number of them were lit today. It was wonderful to see the magnificence of this place – no expense spared here!
It managed to survive the French Revolution, WW I, acting as a hospital in the galleries above the water and some damage during WW II. It is a fabulous place to visit and a busy place. We were glad we had arrived early as it was fairly busy within the chateau with school groups, bus tours and tourists like us in our own vehicles. Yesterday must have been very crowded with the chateau – glad we decided to forgo the visit until today.
We enjoyed walking amongst Diane’s garden and Catherine’s garden as well as spending time at the maze and timing J how long it took him to reach the middle at the raised pagoda and then take a different exit out. We spent time wandering the grounds and taking some shots before calling it a morning.
Louis XIV even dropped by for a visit and then gifted his portrait to the chateau.
Check out that rotisserie system.
How is this for a chest of drawers?
On our return to the gite for lunch, we stopped at the Carrefour to pick up some groceries for the reminder of the week. As we were finishing up our shopping an announcement came over the store, it was closing – at 12:30 (it’s 12:27)! Wow, we had never been anywhere in France where this happened on a Wed. It is a small village – mid day closure never occurred to us here. Good thing we were finished, so we high tailed it to the till and were the last ones to have our groceries checked through. We returned to the gite for lunch and J and T played some paddleball with the equipment they picked up the other week.
We had dinner early so as to make our 6:30 departure time to go on a hot air balloon ride. Last night as we were out for a walk we noticed the balloons and decided to check out availability this am. We were able to secure spots for the three of us, meeting back at Chateau Chenonceau. Pretty cool watching the set up and preparation for taking off. They checked out wind direction, with a simple balloon, the once that was conferred on, we drove in the Landrovers to a farmer’s field. It took about 45 minutes to unload the large basket, that could fit 12 people plus the operator. The balloon itself was massive and they used gas powered fans to generate to fill the balloon with cold air, then he started up the blower on the balloon to heat up the air (10 000 m3). It didn’t take long for the air to heat and we gently took off, up and over trees to see the beautiful farmland below. We did see some stately homes, had a great view of the surrounding area, and got a fairly decent aerial view of Chateaux Chenonceau and its gardens. Unfortunately the wind was not cooperating (the nerve of it!!) and we weren’t able to fly right over top.
We even got an ariel shot of what they do with their gardens here in France. We certainly have some ideas for Wycliffe now!
We also learned a bit about balloning. Our pilot / guide Charles said he got interested in balloning when he was 6 years old. It was a delightful hour or so floating as high as 350 metres admiring the colours of the landscape in different hews of green announcing spring’s arrival and growth. Our landing was very cool, Charles, after a conversation about how often farmers complain about ballooners landing in their fields, spotted the road highlighted in the photo below from further out than this photo was taken. Then with only his experience at judging the wind, landed RIGHT ON the access road into the field without damaging any of the crop. Very cool as he’s at the mercy of the wind – all the passengers were duly impressed. We enjoyed an after flight drink of champagne or juice – of course, M and T didn’t pass up the wine! By the time we returned to the gite it was 10pm. All in all, a great day!
Thursday, May 3, 2012 – Today we went for an hour walk along some of the roads bordering the vineyards. It’s a beautiful sunny morning and we’re taking advantage of it as it is supposed to cloud over and possibly rain later today. It’s about 20C – warm enough for shorts and t-shirts, the first time we have been out walking in shorts in months! This afternoon’s excursion took us to Chateau Chambord, about 45 km northeast of us. We enjoy the drive in the same direction and some of the same roads as to Cheverny and proceed further past.
We enter the Chambord Forest that comprises of the chateau grounds – 5500 hectacres surrounded by 32 km of stone wall apparently teeming with wild boar and deer (although we did not see any). This is probably the most elaborate exterior architecture of them all in the Loire Valley. The roof line is an impressive collections of towers, turrets, spires and chimneys. Unfortunately some is covered as they have had to do some restoration work to prevent total decay of part of the chateau. This place has over 400 rooms with nearly 300 fireplaces. Apparently this was considered a winter chateaux, hence all the fireplaces – because it would certainly be chilly amongst all this stone! The ceilings are really high, actually something like 40 + stairs required to be climbed between each floor. Actually, it seemed that way when we were climbing from floor to floor! Now this building is owned by the state actively preserving it for generations to come.
The chateau has about 80 rooms that are open for viewing as well as somewhat furnished, but the vast amount of it is unfurnished, lending itself for a great hide and seek venue! One could easily get lost within the many rooms and passageways that lead out to the terraces that surround the upper floors. There is a remarkable double helix staircase within the main hall that leads to the upper floors (said to have been inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci It was designed such that two people could climb the individual staircases, see each other through certain openings in the main column, but never meet each other along the way. We had great fun checking this out.
They even had ceilings with sculptures of these - M said they were the monster crocodiles that lived in the moat - J did not believe him and said they were the salamander that was in the King's motif.
Friday, May 4, 2012 – We drove to Blois (pronounced Blah) this afternoon to check out the city. It is much larger than other villages east of Tours that we have checked out. It has lots of history behind it in regard to many counts, kings and queens making their home here. They used the chateau that sits atop of a hill overlooking the river and now city below. The tall rock walls support the large four building complex that has architectural features of various chateaux we have visited over the two weeks in the Loire Valley.
Across from the chateau was a magic museum that we happened to come by “on the hour” and saw the monsters pop out of the windows – lots of people were hanging out to see the sight. The walled garden outside of the chateau was beautiful and allowed for a view of the townsite below. Again, we are surprised and pleased by what a pretty city this is, with lots of great architecture, gardens, and pedestrian only streets to enjoy. Looking around one can easily see the past aristrocratic importance of this town was to the Loire Valley, just by looking at the buildings around. Of course like all cities and towns we have visited, there are newer sections of development as well, however, they don’t hold the charm as the well maintained historic centers of the cities. It has been wonderful to see how well preserved European countries have preserved their historic village centers allowing people to enjoy a step back into the past.
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