Chateau de Chenonceau

Another day of exploration=perfection in my book!

About a month ago we ventured out to another area of France and our first stop was Chateau de Chenonceau (point A on the map). Other than the Chateau de Versailles, it is said to be the most visited castle in France. It was built between 1515-1521 over a bridge of the Cher River and was nicknamed "Chateau des Dames" (Castle of the Ladies) due to the strong history of the women who lived there. 

 I really enjoyed that this castle allows you to see areas of daily life, like the kitchen, the fireplace where bread was baked, and the butcher room. They even had fires going in some of the fireplaces which was fabulous since it was a cold, rainy day!!!

The castle wasn't as "grand" as the Palace of Versailles but I really enjoyed seeing all of the tapestries and architecture! The grand gallery was one of my favorite parts of the castle.

A couple of interesting facts-during the First World War the owner turned over the chateau for use as a hospital for the injured; and during the second World War, one end of the castle's gallery was in the Occupied Zone and the other in French Free Territory- and this corridor between the two zones was used to move people between them. 

After visiting the castle we went for lunch in a restaurant that was built into rock, which is typical of places in the area. As we were driving you could see homes built into the side of the cliffs. It was quite impressive.

Lunch consisted of a starter, main plate and desserts. I chose the salmon for a starter, one of my favs!

The desserts all looked great and between all of us there was quite a variety.

After lunch we continued on to the city of Tours (point B on the map). This is the city that one of our nieces lives and attends school. We spent some time walking around the city and my favorite part was the "old" area with some really great style of buildings.

We were also able to see the cathedral before ending our walking tour.

We finished the evening making sushi with the family and hanging out at our niece's apartment. It was another great, adventurous day!!!