Olympic Escape - Amboise, France

We decided to take a short break, escape London and Olympic-fever, and go to France. It seems so ridiculously wonderful to be able to do that - just hop off to France. Living through the shit weather in Blighty is a small price to pay, I suppose.

So anyway, we took the Eurostar train from London's San Pancras Station in the morning, and were in Paris for lunch about $100 and 2 short hours later.

After lunch at Bofinger, which is a classic seafood-based brasserie near the Bastille, we rented a car for the approximately 2-hour drive to the Loire Valley and Amboise. Let's just say I am not sure I would do this again. Paris traffic lived up to its reputation (totally awful) and you all know how well Dave and I navigate together.....meaning we just yell at each other and some one ends up crying or whatever. Good times. But the train was more expensive than renting a car and would have been a hassle because there was no direct train, so the car was really our best option.

In any case, we made it out of the shit-show traffic in the city (as shown in that photo) safely and without crying. Awesome! Off to Amboise and the Loire Valley. What is there to do in the Loire Valley you might ask: eat, drink, and visit chateaux of course.

Historic chateaux dot the Loire Valley like gorgeous little gems. I have been to the area before so I put a little make-shift chateau tour together for us, including visits to Chenonceau, Cheverny, and Chambord.





We stayed in Amboise, which I LOVE. It is a perfectly sized little French city, and made an ideal base for exploring the larger Loire Valley. We stayed at Le Clos d'Amboise; very nice but a bit pricey for my taste at €150 a night. Anyway, Amboise itself is touristy, but not over-the-top annoying. In addition to being a nice central location to base yourself, Amboise has its own formidable chateau, in fact - Leonardo Da Vinci is buried in the chapel adjacent to the chateau, sweet!

We woke up early and started our day-long tour at Chenonceau, which is about 10 miles south of Amboise. The Chenonceau chateau, originally built in 1513, spans the River Cher and is just spectacular. The chateau has had a lot of owners, additions, and changes over the years - but the original detail and structure remains. My favorite fact: during World War II, the River Cher marked the boundary between free and occupied France, so the chateau and its drawbridge became an important escape route for French fleeing the Nazis during the war. 

Through that door you could flee the Nazi side of the river to the free "Vichy" side.

Not too crowded in the morning, but just wait.

 

Cheverny was the second stop. More historic ridiculousness and gorgeous gardens.

I did a whirlwind tour of the chateau and went directly to see the 100 or so HUNTING DOGS they have on the chateau grounds. OMG they are like giant Beagles, and they were all in a big pen together doing cute doggie things, like scratching and sniffing about. 

I have issues. Don't remind me.......

I am not normal, but LOOK HOW CUTE they are. STOP.

Then it was off to the pinnacle of chateau-ness, Chambord. It is immense and fairytale-like. It is rumored that Da Vinci himself worked on parts of this chateau. You can definitely imagine that with all the turrets and crazy architectural staircases.

 I didn't go into Chambord this time, I have been there before, so I walked the grounds and checked stuff out. While walking along some of the bike trails around the chateau, I found a marker noting the location where a WWII plane was shot down and crashed. All 12 of the soldiers and pilots on board the plane survived and were hidden from the Nazis by the local townspeople. At that same time, priceless works of art from the Louvre were being hidden in the chateau so they wouldn't be looted by the Nazis during the occupation. Freaking cool.

Sexy time!

After Chambord, it was back to Amboise to visit the chateau enjoy the town. I could have stayed in Amboise for days. The food is spectacular and the wine is CHEAP - as in, the most expensive bottle of wine on a typical restaurant menu is no more than €20.

View from the Amboise chateau.

In the chateau chapel, that is Da Vinci's tomb in the background.

Along the river in Amboise, just stupidly beautiful AND NO RAIN.

After dinner goofing off in town.

So what else is there to say. The Loire Valley is peaceful, historic. It is an IDEAL place for cycling, there are bike trails and directional signage for cyclists everywhere. The valley is flat and easy to navigate. I am definitely planning a return to cycle this valley for a few days.

Well, we have just a few Olympic events remaining. I'll post some more of those photos for you all later. xo