Today we visited the most famous château in the Loire valley. Château de Chenonceau was acquired by King François I from a nobleman who couldn't pay his bills. After the king died, his son, King Henri II, gave it to his mistress, Diane de Portiers, who was responsible for building the arch across the river as well as the gardens. After King Henri II died, his widow, Catherine de' Medici, had Diane expelled and claimed the château as her own.

After Catherine died, the château went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, wife of King Henri III. After Henri III's assasination, Louise lived out the remainder of her days in mourning. She even had her room at the chateau painted black.

Another mistress, this time the mistress of King Henri IV, Gabrielle d'Estrées. The chateau passed to several owners through the years until it was owned by the Menier family, who owns it to this day. During WWI, the chateau was used as a hospital, and during WWII, it was used as a means of escaping from the German zone on one side of the river to the Vichy zone on the other.

It is very beautiful, and the furnishings are outstanding. You have to see this place to really appreciate it.

Until next time remember, you're wine glass should never be empty…

Thursday afternoon in Vendôme, and there's absolutely no traffic at all. Found a parking place right in front of the laverie. We did our laundry and ate lunch while they washed. Afterwards, we went to the village of Trôo, one of the oldest and largest troglodyte villages in the Loire valley.

After the troglodytes, we went back to our room, had an early dinner, and are hitting the sack early. Tomorrow, we're doing the château thing again.

Until next time remember, you're wine glass should never be empty…

Château de Chambord and Châtteau Cheverny...

Read more...

On our way to the Loire Valley, we stopped at Chartres to see the cathedral, Le Cathédral Notre-Dame de Chartres. Yesterday was Whit Monday, or the second day of Pentecost. Thousands of the faithful go on a pilgrimage, mostly from Paris, to the cathedral on Whit Monday. It was quite a sight. And the cathedral is magnificent. It's also home to one of the most famous labyrinths, but we could not see it because they were performing mass.

By the time we got to our B&B, I was just too tired to blog. But, we slept in until 10:00AM today and decided to just hang out at our B&B all day. Here's the first set of pictures of Chartres and a couple of our B&B. More to come later.

Carolyn sort of went nuts with the camera today, so here's a set of pictures taken out the various windows of our room at the B&B. This is truly the most beautiful bed and breakfast we've stayed at in France.

Here's some pictures of the inside of our room and bathroom.

Carolyn then disappeared outside with the camera and came back with these pictures of the grounds of our B&B.

We had dinner with our hosts. Mado (short for Madeleine) made a lamb roast that had to cook for seven hours in a sealed pot. She used this old cast iron pot and sealed the seam between the top and the pot with dough made from flour and water. She also made potatoes au gratin, but with several spices common to the Loire valley. For desert, we had fresh strawberries covered with eau de fleur d'oranger, which is orange blossom water. They were really good! Here's some pictures of our dinner and our hosts.

Tomorrow we're going château hopping. The pictures should be fantastic.

Until then remember, you're wine glass should never be empty…

We started the day with high expectations. We would get an early start and spen the day at the famous Paris flea market, the Marché du Puce, which is north of the city. There are about 2500 to 3000 stalls/shops, selling everything from priceless antiques to junk. We found out about shipping stuff back from France. We made a really good contact with a shipping company and found out that you pay for shipping strictly by volume, not weight. It averages about 250€ to 280€ (that's $375 to $420 at today's excange rate) per square meter, which is about 35 square feet. Not too bad when you consider that includes packing, insurance and shipping.

We bought a couple of little knick knacks and called it a day at the market. We hopped on a bus and went to the world famous Palais Garnier, also know as the Opéra de Paris, Opéra Garnier, or the Grand Opera House, but more commonly known as the Paris Opéra.

When we got there, it was closed! So, I could only get a couple of pictures through the doors.

We've walked about 5-6 miles today and ridden at least three bus routes that we've never been on before. All in all, a very good day so far. We're back in our hotel room resting up for Saturday night in Paris.

Until next time remember, you're wine class should never be empty…