France-tastic

Taking full advantage of the last of my unemployment freedom and Alex's plentiful holiday time, last weekend we took a 5-day tour of the Loire Valley, about 200 km south-west of Paris, famous for lots of castles and tasty wine.

We stayed in the pretty town of Blois, ate and drank lots of good stuff, relaxed, visited lots of gorgeous châteaux... oh, and risked life and limb when I got behind the wheel of a rental car for my first experience in driving on the wrong right side of the road! Obviously the rental agency weren't as worried as I was, because they didn't even accept my offer to show them my drivers' licence or my passport: Mr Visa was the only card they cared about.

Contrary to what I imagined, it wasn't so hard! Changing gears was okay, round-abouts were okay, parking was okay, figuring out the speed limit was hard (lots of signs with a speed limit crossed out, ie. when leaving a town, 50 with a cross through it, but not many signs telling you what the 50 turned into!), and remembering which side of the car to get in was hardest of all! We hired the car down there though, after catching a train there, so I didn't have the joy of driving in Paris traffic, instead mostly small country roads taking us to an array of amazing fairytale castles.


Alex admires the view from Blois Château.


Me and my baby.


Château Langeais, a medieval fortress complete with drawbridges!


Château Azay-le-Rideau.


Château Ussé: apparently the inspiration to Sleeping Beauty and therefore equipped with a bit of a cheesy staging of the sleepy lady.


An interesting carving on the chapel attached to Château Ussé...


A new friend and I flex together.


Chateau Chenonceau, one of the favourites. It spans the river and during the Second World War, one side of the river was occupied by the Nazis and one wasn't, so the Frenchies could escape over it to safety.


Alex on a drawbridge.


So cold...


Château Cheverny, the real life castle from Tintin!

We even managed to get home a couple of these on the train...



Castles and wine and no car accidents, what more could you ask for? Cheers!