Europe 2013: Loire Valley

We took a few days to do a bike trip through the Loire Valley in France. The boys happily stayed with Grammie and Pop and probably didn't miss us at all. Seth planned each detail (as usual) and I happily went along with everything and honestly don't think I complained once! I know it's sad that I am proud of that, but usually my ideal vacations are less "active" and more lazy. Seven years later and I'm realizing Seth's idea of vacations are a lot more fun. (Although I am most definitely not opposed to a relaxing, tropical vacation in my future.) 

Let me start off by saying that Seth was on Cloud Nine each day. He had a smile on his face non-stop and kept saying how awesome it was. Like, he was literally high on life. I'm really glad we got to go and most importantly that my morning sickness had eased up a bit and allowed be to have energy AND be in good spirits. It would have been really sad (and mean of me) to rain on Seth's parade.

We took the metro downtown to catch the train to Paris. By the way, I had to jump off a few stops early and run to a trash can because of you-know-what. Rough way to start the trip. We made it to Paris and had a short layover before our train left for Tours. It was just long enough to get a sandwich, no time to see any of Paris. We arrived in Tours mid-day, picked up our bikes, and headed to Amboise. We arrived late afternoon and were able to check into a small B&B. The lady who ran the B&B also ran an Italian restaurant so we ate there for dinner and it was the delicious, real Italian pizza kind of pizza. She also made the BEST hot chocolate for us in the next morning.

 We headed to the Chenonceau chateau that morning and took the audio tour, which of course I now remember hardly any of because I took too long to blog it. I do remember it being very interesting and soap opera-like (mistresses, disgruntled wives, etc.) The chateau was completely furnished and gave a fantastic picture of how the house was run in it's prime. We spent the night back at Amboise, this time in a fancier hotel, but went back for the same pizza for dinner. 

The second full day we rode to Blois, got lost along the way, but happily lost. We didn't go inside the chateau in Blois. The last day we rode to Chambord chateau (the biggest one we saw) and then back to Blois to catch our train. 

We rode about 90 miles over the three days which was totally do-able. It was nice to take our time, enjoying the quaint towns we rode through, taking long breaks for lunch, etc. I think one of my favorite things about the trip was having endless, uninterrupted conversations with each other. 

Beginning of bike trip, outside the rental shop

Right after Seth snuck some grapes because I wanted to try some. I was nervous there might be some kind of severe jail time for stealing grapes though. (I only ate like 3)

Chenonceau Chateau

Side view of Chenonceau. Excuse the clothing attire. 

Our hotel the second night offered robes so I of course had to put one on immediately. Friends was also on TV in ENGLISH. And I was eating those delicious chocolate Petit Beurre cookies. I was loving life.

Stopping for lunch. Each morning before heading out we grabbed a baquette, some salami, apples, and of course Petit Beurre cookies. 

Second night hotel in Amboise. Seth did a FANTASTIC job at picking hotels this trip.

After going up steep hills and I didn't even complain. The reddish building behind me is where Leonardo da Vinci lived his last years and passed away.

Leaving Amboise in the morning headed to Blois, with our baquettes strapped down for the ride.

Coming into Blois

Last chateau of the trip: Chambord. This was huuuuuuge and amazing but I wished it was furnished more. The other chateaus were furnished for the time periods they were lived in.  This one was so big though it would have been extremely expensive to do.