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