Joyeux Noël

Frohe Weihnachten and Merry Christmas!

The Perfect Croissant?

What makes the perfect croissant? And more importantly, who makes it? With so many boulangeries / pâtisseries within easy walking distance, we decided to treat ourselves to a Christmas Eve morning croissant taste test. We ventured out in the darkness to purchase croissants from four different boulangeries. We had tried several of these before, but […]

Touring Tours

With the sun not rising until 8:43 am, you need a little extra incentive to get out of bed at a reasonable hour. The pastries from the pâtisserie Nuances definitely do the trick. Of course, with pastries like these just minutes away, lots and lots of walking is the order of the day. So we’re […]

Chambord

The château de Chambord is in the middle of a walled park. The wall encloses 5440 hectares (over 13,000 acres or 21 square miles). That’s some wall! Not only is the park huge, the château is the largest in the Loire valley. And not only is it big, it’s incredibly elaborate. Inside, the Christmas theme […]

Master Craftsmen

Tours has a museum devoted to compagnonnage (literally, companionship), which is a system for training and supporting craftsmen. Long before the bicycle was invented, these craftsmen-in-training did a Tour de France to develop their skills. (When I read this, a lightbulb suddenly lit up over my head – that’s why the step between apprentice and […]

Château d’Azay-le-Rideau

We visited Azay-le-Rideau right after seeing the Christmas extravaganza at Villandry (they’re only 15 minutes apart). Bad idea. It’s a perfectly nice château, but really, there’s no comparison. We (even M, the photo maniac) took only a fraction of the pictures we’ve taken at the other châteaus. So, this post is a short one. The […]

Château de Villandry

The château de Villandry is known for its gardens, which are impressive even in winter. What we didn’t expect was over-the-top Christmas decorations. This château is privately owned (!). Who decides how much to decorate? (And what was the budget!?!) The owner? The property manager? The owner’s Christmas-crazed, animal-loving children? You don’t realize the full […]

Chaumont-sur-Loire

Looking for beautiful old buildings? Contemporary art? Water views? Specimen trees? Find them all at the château de Chaumont-sur-Loire. First, there’s the château itself, straight out of a fairy tale: Inside, you find both rooms with historical furnishings (and Christmas decor at this time of year) and spaces devoted to contemporary art. Some of the […]

Bonjour, Tours

We’re excited to be in Tours! Our rental is in the heart of the old city but incredibly quiet despite that – it’s a modern structure built in an interior courtyard that blocks almost all of the noise. Les Halles, a large indoor food market, is just a block away. The beautiful Basilica of St. […]

Farewell, Montpellier

On one of our last days in the south of France, we headed to a church we’d seen from afar several times but never gone in. Surprise! It’s now a place to worship art, not God. A tree with hand cutouts as leaves filled the space, while fans blew gently to make continually changing shadows […]