Travel Day - Amboise to Paris - May 31, 2015

As I write this, I'm sitting in our hotel room at the Marriott near Charles de Gaulle Airport after a long day of travel. I had gotten our tickets for this final train journey out last night  and noticed that we only had ten minutes to transfer between our Amboise-Tours train and the Tours-Paris train. We all agreed this was a little too close for comfort so this morning we walked to the train station to see if there would be any problem catching an earlier train. The lady at the ticket counter said it would be just fine, so we caught the 12:19 pm train to Tours and then the 2:01 pm train to CDG Airport. Caught a hotel shuttle at the airport and voila, here we are.

We did find time this morning to wander through the riverside market again which was at least twice as big as Friday's market. Becky, Marianne and I each bought a tablecloth. (I know, Rich, I really don't need another tablecloth, but it was so cheap, I couldn't resist. Plus, I need to use up my remaining euros.)

It's raining here in Paris so we've decided to try the hotel restaurant for dinner followed by a movie in our room. Looks like they're playing "Unbroken" which none of us have seen. Then, up early tomorrow morning to catch a 10:20 am flight to Dublin, then on to San Francisco and finally (for me) home to Portland/Vancouver. Hard to believe this trip is just about over. This is my last blog for this adventure. Au revoir, friends and family. See you at home.

Finally, before I end this post, I want to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful son-in-law Brent, who is an awesome father to Jake and husband to Ashley. Love you so much. Have a wonderful day and enjoy your birthday barbecue!

Amboise Chateau of Francois I

Amboise Town Center

Getting ready to say AU REVOIR to France

Chateau de Chaumont sur Loire - May 30, 2015

The Chateau de Chaumont sur Loire was recommended to us by Veronica, our landlady in Amboise. It's unique among Loire Valley chateaux in that it has 30 exhibition gardens that change each year. This year's entries included a garden on carnivorous plants (think Venus Flytrap), a garden dedicated to hundreds of different types of geraniums, a "dyers" garden (plants/roots used in natural dyes), and a black garden, to name a few. As we were wandering through the various gardens, we felt like we were viewing the display gardens at a Home & Garden Show. It was enjoyable, but a little incongruous given the setting of the medieval chateau, since some of the garden designs were very modern.

Parts of the interior of the chateau were even stranger. There were approximately 12 rooms furnished in period style, which were quite nice, but after viewing these rooms we were then directed to a modern art exhibit housed in the unrestored section of the castle. There were cobwebs everywhere and we felt like we were the first people to have come through there in a long time. Most of the wallpaper in these rooms had peeled off, although there was a bit left in each room. The modern art exhibit contained renderings of what this wallpaper might have looked like, water-stained and all. They had also added a modern art exhibit within the chateau's chapel and in the basement there was some sort of wooden structure that none of us could figure out the signiicance of. All in all, somewhat bizarre. It was an interesting visit, but this wasn't one of my favorite Loire Valley chateaux.

For our last night in Amboise, we had a wonderful three-course dinner at a small restaurant recommended by both Veronica and Rick Steves. It was a lovely way to end our stay in Amboise. Tomorrow we head back to Paris and then home on Monday. This vacation is ending much too soon.

An exterior view of the chateau from the inner courtyard

My  favorite display garden, framed as a picture

A peaceful view of the Loire River from one of the gardens

Remember Diane de Poitiers, Henri II's mistress to whom

he gave Chenonceau? I think Catherine was jealous of her beauty.

Formal dining room

Our Chaumont sur Loire remembrance photo

Amboise Market Day / Chateau de Villandry - May 29, 2015

Friday is market day in Amboise and we joined the locals this morning to shop at the outdoor riverside market. We're going to have dinner in again tonight and we were able to find everything we needed for a gourmet dinner: a fully-cooked rotisserie chicken, white asparagus, red-leaved lettuce, tiny cherry tomatoes, fresh strawberries, cherries (I swear each batch we buy gets sweeter and sweeter) and a wonderful local cheese. We'll be like the French and buy our baguette later this afternoon so it's fresh for dinner.

After depositing everything back at the house, the girls headed out for some shopping and to visit Leonardo da Vinci's house Clos Luce, while I stayed home to work on the blog and rest. We had lunch at home and then headed to the Chateau de Villandry, known for its beautiful gardens. It was a little further than we had anticipated, but we got there without any problems. Wandered through the chateau first and then walked out to the gardens. We spent about 2 hours at Villandry and, on the way home, got a little lost. We weren't exactly sure which exit to take off the autoroute and, of course, guessed wrong. France's roads aren't like our freeways at home, with an exit every few miles. Instead, we had to drive an additional 28 km (@ 17 miles) before we could turn around. All in all, it was still a lovely drive and we didn't have anywhere pressing we needed to be. After all, we're en vacance, as the French would say!

View of Chateau de Villandry and the gardens

Another view of the chateau and gardens, with the

moat this time

We've all decided the kitchens of these old chateaux

are our favorite rooms 

Partial view of the vegetable gardens

We'll add this picture to our memories of Villandry

Chateau de Chenonceau - May 28, 2015

Rented a small Renault this morning and got it for three days for the price of two (not quite sure why this happened, but none of us are complaining). Bottom line, we don't have to return the car until Saturday at 6:00 pm. Visited the Chateau de Chenonceau this morning/early afternoon. Amazingly, we seemed to have beat the crowds today (Chenonceau is usually VERY busy). We even found ourselves several times in a room all by ourselves.

The history of the chateau makes for fine melodrama. It was built in the mid-1500's by Thomas Bohier, who was the tax collector for the region under Francois I. When Thomas died, the lands were seized by the crown to pay off Thomas' debts. A few years later, Henri II became king and shortly afterwards installed his favorite mistress, Diane de Poitiers (20 years his senior), as lady of the manor. After Henri died in a jousting accident, his queen, Catherine de Medici (yes, of THAT famous Italian Medici family) booted Diane out and installed herself as mistress of the chateau. Diane was banished to the Chateau de Chaumont sur Loire. (We'll be visiting this chateau either Friday or Saturday, so I'll let you know what I think of Diane's consolation prize.) Over the years, it was home to many of the French kings, including Louis XIV. It's now owned by the Menier family, famous in France for their chocolates.

After our tour of the chateau, I came home to rest a bit (still not feeling 100%) and the girls visited a nearby wine cave. They also bought bread, cheese, fruit and salad for dinner at home tonight.

On the drive into Chenonceau

A visitor's first impression of the Chateau de Chenonceau

Diane de Poitiers' bedroom

Portrait of Catherine de Medici - 

She doesn't look like very nice, does she?

View of the Chateau from the gardens

Enjoying a nice, quiet evening at home

Travel Day - Arles to Amboise - May 27, 2015

We had an 8:23 am train from Arles to Paris where we changed trains (and train stations) for the Paris to Amboise leg of the journey. Amboise will be our home base for the next few days as we visit the chateaux in the Loire Valley. Everything went smoothly today, even the train station transfer as we walked from the Paris Gare de Lyon station to the Paris Gare D'Austerlitz station. We had 45 minutes between trains and by the time we got to Gare d'Austerlitz our train to Amboise was waiting on the track. Had a picnic lunch on the train with supplies we had bought the night before: baguette, prosciutto-type ham, goat cheese and olives. Tres French!!

The house we're staying at in Amboise is a charming 3-story affair. I'm in the bedroom on the third floor, while the other girls are in rooms on the second floor. It's the first time we've each had our own bedroom. All the VRBO homes we've rented for this trip have been great, but I think this one is the best of all. It has a nice patio area in the back where we sat this afternoon planning our time in the Loire Valley. Tomorrow we're renting a car and driving to the Chateau de Chenonceau.

In front of our home in Arles as we leave for the train station.

 

Arles Train Station

Les Baux - May 26, 2015r

Today we headed to Les Baux, a charming medieval hill town, just a few kilometers from Arles. I'm embarrassed to admit that even though Les Baux is a fairly straight shot from Arles, we still got lost trying to get out of town. To our credit however (actually, to Becky's credit), we quickly realized we were going south rather than north and got ourselves turned around with no more wrong turns from that point forward.

While visiting Les Baux, we got a taste of the famous Provencal mistral winds (and I mean that literally, as dust blew up all around us, into our eyes, nose and mouth). The chateau and town ruins are on an exposed hilltop with not much shelter from the elements. At times, we had wind gusts of 35 - 40 mph! To put it mildly, conditions were not the best for climbing to the top of tower ruins on eroded stone steps with very little to hold on to. To our credit, we only climbed one tower under these conditions until we decided it wouldn't be very smart to push our luck. Joyce, being a few years older and wiser than the rest of us, took a look at the stairs and the howling wind and knew it wasn't a good idea to try climbing to the top. Some of us only learn by doing, I guess.

After visiting the ruins and having lunch, we did a little shopping in the lower town. Becky, Marianne and I each bought a pottery utensil holder that is already proving to be a challenge to lug around. Had to switch arms numerous times just walking the few blocks from the rental car agency to our apartment. Wonder how we're going to manage on the train tomorrow.

View of Les Baux chateau ruins. 

We climbed the tower on the right. 

Can you see our hair flying around?

View of the valley below

This bluff was REALLY windy!

View from the tower of the lower town of Les Baux

Pont du Gard - May 25, 2015

Today was certainly an adventure! We got up early (again, it takes four women quite a while to get showered and out the door) and got to the car rental agency by 9:00 am. In our car and on our way by 9:30 am. Had to reacquaint myself with driving a stick shift, but only stalled the car a couple of times.

I had gone up on Google Maps last night and printed directions to Pont du Gard, which worked great for the first few miles. Then we came to a T-intersection that wasn't in our directions and we had to wing it from there. Of course, the only map we had with us was Google Maps. Didn't bring the large France map we found at the house, nor did we bring a phone that could access Google Maps on the fly. To make a long story short, we drove all the way north to Avignon and then west to Pont du Gard. We had to stop for directions a couple of times and everyone was so helpful, even though they maintained they spoke very little English (their English was definitely better than my French). One of the perks of getting lost as we did is that we happened upon a roadside farm stand and bought fresh strawberries and cherries. (Eat your heart out Rich and Jerry) Thanks to the helpful French people we met, we made it to Pont du Gard by 11:30 am, more than an hour longer than it should have taken us.

Toured the museum, had a quick bite to eat, and then hiked around the actual aqueduct. Pont du Gard is part of a 50 km long aqueduct that brought water to the ancient city of Nimes. This section of the aqueduct spans the River Gardon. It's hard to imagine this structure was built more than 2000 years ago and is still in such remarkable condition. Even though I've been here twice before, the sight of it today still left me awestruck.

Our drive home was uneventful. The biggest excitement was finding a parking space less than a block from our house! Tomorrow's excursion to Les Baux will include the map of France and my cell phone, in case we get really lost.

 Pont du Gard as seen from the viewpoint on the 

rive droite (right) side of the river

View of the aqueduct from the rive gauche (left) viewpoint.

But wait, who are those lovely ladies in front?

View from the rive gauche side of the river at ground level

Actual aqueduct channel at the top of Pont du Gard

Arles - May 24, 2015

We spent the entire day in Arles, visiting ancient Roman sites and walking in Van Gogh's footsteps. We got to know the center area of Arles very well, walking down the same streets several times. Our travels took us to the Place du Forum, the Roman Arena (20th largest arena in the Roman world) and the Classical Theater, plus St. Trophime Church and the Place de la Republique. As we walked in Van Gogh's footsteps, we stopped at the actual sites where he painted some of his more famous paintings: Starry Night over the Rhone and Cafe at Night, among others. All told, we logged more than 5.5 miles and climbed 26 flights of stairs.

Dinner was a quiet affair at the house (fresh bread, cheese and fruit) followed by a game of Nines. Tomorrow we rent a car for a day trip to Pont du Gard. Looks like I'm the designated driver with Becky as my co-pilot. Wish us luck!

Typical Arles Street

Roman Arena

Hanging out at the Roman Classical Theater

Small neighborhood church on our Van Gogh walk

Courtyard of the hospital where Van Gogh convalesced

 after cutting off his ear

Travel Day - Paris to Arles - May 23, 2015

We were up and moving early this morning to catch a 9:15 am train to Arles, in the south of France. (It takes a while for four women to get ready and I was paranoid we might miss our train). The Gare de Lyon is a huge, very busy train station and it's is a little overwhelming when you first walk in . We got our tickets validated, found our track and then stood people and dog-watching as we patiently waited for our train (I ended up being a little too paranoid...we had about an hour to kill...although none of the others complained about getting there so early). We hadn't realized until we were at the train station that today is the beginning of a three-day weekend, Pentecost or Whit Sunday/Monday. Obviously, Provence and the south of France is a popular holiday destination for Parisians.

Had to change trains once in Nimes and then we were on to Arles. The home we're renting here is lovely, but has to be at least 200 hundred years old if it's a day. LOTS of narrow, winding stairs to climb to get to the main floor and then more stairs to get to our bedrooms. According to my FitBit, we climbed 51 flights of stairs today!

Spent the afternoon wandering the town, buying groceries, and renting a car for Monday and Tuesday when we're planning to visit more of the Provencal countryside, specifically the Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard, the hill town of Les Baux, and possibly St. Remy or some of the smaller Luberon towns.

Place de la Republique and the Hotel de Ville

Roman Arena

Paris - Day 3 - May 22, 2015

I was under the weather again today so stayed in the apartment and pretty much slept all day. The girls, on the other hand, took the train to Versailles and had a wonderful tour of Louis XIV's sumptuous, over-the-top summer palace along with Marie Antoinette's "cottage", Le Petit Trianon. Below are some of the pictures they took.

Versailles - a favorite tourist destination

Entrance to Versailles

Interior

Paris - Day 2 - May 21, 2015

I've been fighting something the last week and a half and decided to stay in this morning to see if "fluids and bed rest" would do any good. The girls did a hop on/hop off tour which they thought would give them a good overview of the city. They got back to the apartment at 1:30 pm and we left shortly thereafter for Montmartre/Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge.

We had to travel on three train/metro lines to get to the base of Montmartre, but did so without a hitch. In fact, there was a train waiting for us every time we had to transfer. Had lunch at the base of Montmartre and then worked off lunch on the 300 step climb to Sacre Coeur.

View of Sacre Coeur AFTER our 300 step climb

Toured the interior of the church and then decided we hadn't climbed enough stairs so we bought dome tickets and climbed to the top of the center dome, meaning ANOTHER 300 steps! But the view was worth it.

Can you see the Eiffel Tower in the distance?

After climbing back down, round and round and round (funny how you don't notice how circular it is on the way up), we did a little shopping on the Rue Norvins and then wound our way down the hill toward the Moulin Rouge.

The famous (infamous?) Moulin Rouge

Got back to the apartment around 8:00 pm or so. Had dinner in again (pizza and salad) and now doing a load of laundry, which won't finish up until after 11:00 pm. Think we'll play another game of cards.

Paris - Day 1 - May 20, 2015

Whew! This day was exhausting! Weather forecast was a little iffy (rain and possible thunderstorms headed our way) so we decided to try to reschedule our afternoon Eiffel Tower tour. I won't go into the gory details, but 2 hours after leaving our apartment headed toward Fat Tire Tours we finally sat down for our first meal of the day (lunch) without accomplishing our mission. Everything worked out fine with the tour though. We beat the rain (for the most part) and the thunder and lightning failed to materialize (French weather forecasters seem to be as accurate with their forecasts as their American counterparts).

We toured Notre Dame and tried to visit Sainte-Chapelle (another church), but it was closed for a private function. Almost our entire day was a series of missteps. From walking for an hour plus looking for the Fat Tire office to discover at the end of the day another location less than 2 blocks from our apartment (Of course, none of us thought to bring a city map with us). To taking the train back to the Eiffel Tower for our tour only to have the train rendered "out of service" two stops away from where we wanted to get off. To having to "hoof" it as fast as we could to the Fat Tire office (a different one from where we were in the morning) since by now we were running late. To getting lost and not being able to find that office. Marianne had to call Fat Tire and they gave us step by step directions until we arrived at their office (By this time, they probably thought we were so ditzy, it was better to stay on the line with us to make sure we got to where we needed to be).

Dinner was wine, cheese and bread (and macaroons) in the apartment. As I write this, the girls are playing cards in the living room. I'm going to end the day's saga and go join them.

View of the River Seine

Notre Dame

Another view of Notre Dame

The four intrepid travelers (Notre Dame in the background)

View of the Eiffel Tower from the Champs du Mars

Travel Days - May 18/19, 2015

Our travel day was fairly uneventful. Both flights (SFO to Dublin and Dublin to Paris) were smooth and on time. Getting through customs was a breeze and we found the RER station at the airport without any problems. Had to transfer trains once, but everything went smoothly. I have my fellow travelers convinced that I'm a navigational wizard! We didn't get lost once and walked straight to our apartment building from the train stop. (Family, don't snicker too loudly even though you know how directionally challenged I am.)

After getting settled in, we walked to a neighborhood restaurant and had an absolutely wonderful 2.5 hour, 3-course dinner. Didn't get back home until 10:30 pm. Living the continental lifestyle!

View of the Eiffel Tower 

from outside our apartment building