My Next House

Two chicks headed out of Paris early. We cabbed it over to the Air France bus in front of Invalides which took us to Orly Airport where we picked up our car.

Our first adventure was finding the car itself. The girl at the counter indicated the car was in S parking lot and all we had to do was walk 100 meters and we would find it. Wrong! We walked to the garage and there were a lot of cars but no attendant. So I walked all the way back to the terminal to find that I had not walked quite far enough. So I walked back. The taxi drivers are asking me if I want a ride. I get back to the garage and tell Lori. She waited with all the bags (we are up to 5 now) while I went to get the car.

The car attendant claimed he spoke English (but he really lied) and told me I could take the car back to pick up Lori. He lied. I drove against the arrow in the car rental garage and you would have thought I robbed a bank. It started with the Avis guy yelling (in English) I was going the wrong way. I knew that (it never stopped me before). He shook his finger at me. Then a bunch of guys who looked like they were rugby players had to go around me and they started telling me in their British accent I was going the wrong way. I became very irritated and told them in my American accent I could read and I could drive any way I wanted because the Brits drove the wrong way anyway. Then a second car of guys (I think they must have communicated by cell phone) told me I was going the wrong way. Thanks, buds. I just did the gallic shrug and kept going. I met Lori with the bags and they all fit. She drove because I was tired to getting yelled at. We heade down the highway looking for Amboise in the Loire Valley.

We got to Amboise about noon. Our next adventure was finding our little B&B in Chisseaux (which wasn't even on our map). The mappy directions gave us the turns but did not give us the street names (they were so small they were not named). Down the road we headed. It was a great country road. Our little car had very little pick up but it would work for a few days.

We got to our B&B and noticed check-in was after 4:30 pm so we decided to go and see Chennonceaux.

Talk about amazing - this chateau is unbelievable! You walk down a long avenue lined with trees which opens up onto a moat. You cross the moat and the chateau is in front with the gardens on both sides. The chateau is small in comparison to other chateaus we had seen but it was cozy. It spanned the Cher River. The gardens on the left side were created by Diane d'Poitiers and the gardens on the right were created by Catherine d'Medici. I like the left just because I like Diane. We did the tape tour of the chateau. It was crowded but not too bad.

At about 5:00, we went back to the B&B and checked in. It was run by a very gracious French woman and her husband. The room was very cool - a spacious atelier with a bathroom and dressing area. It was bigger than our whole apartment.

We asked our hostess at the B&B for a recommendation for a good local restaurant. She offered to make a reservation for us and told us the restaurant would not even open until 6:00. So we decided to take a drive thru the valley and then come back and get ready for dinner.

We only had time for a short drive thru the Loire and it was great fun. We drove over the next town, Montrichard. to try and find some Roman/Gallo ruins (never found them). We passed by houses built into the hillside and some wineries. We passed some very cool chateaus that looked either private or like they were hotels. We decided we were definitely coming back. Then we saw some balloons floating over the valley.

We went to dinner and had the best meal of our entire trip. It was a small restaurant in a very old building and very elegant. We were little under dressed but what an amazing meal and amazing (a word I am using a lot to describe this trip!) service. I had lamb and mushrooms and french onion soup (could not do the foie gras or pate), creme brulee and some great wine. What a wonderful way to end our day.

Tomorrow we head north to Fontainbleau and Senlis.