Au Revoir

We reluctantly left Tours, with plans to return as soon as possible, and headed to Paris for the last hurrah of our European adventure. We haven’t visited Paris since we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary here, oh so long ago. Why not do the same on our 25th? We visited some old friends, and made […]

On the Tapestry Trail

We visited the château at Châteaudun to see its tapestries. The château is on the Loir river (le Loir in French), which is not the Loire river (la Loire) in Tours. How confusing is that? Anyway… An exhibit on tapestry making mentioned that Angers has both a huge antique tapestry, the Apocalypse (or Revelation) tapestry, […]

Christmas Delirium at Cheverny

Okay, let’s get it out there right away: I wasn’t a fan of the Christmas decor at Cheverny. A lot of it looked so … tacky. For example, why are these random heaps scattered about on the lawn? The château itself is a beauty: The interior has an incredible amount of detailed painting on the […]

Christmas at Chenonceau

On Tuesday the château de Chenonceau stayed open after dark for their Noël celebration. The incredible decorations, beautifully-lit gardens and special performers (including a harpist and LED-adorned performers dancing to music outside) made it a magical evening. We arrived early enough to see how it looked in the daylight, then headed inside as the sun […]

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 […]