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!!!

Seaside Adventure Part II

After leaving Mont St. Michel we continued our adventure with a quick stop in Cancale before continuing on to St. Malo.

Cancale is a city that is famous for oysters. It is the oyster capital of this region of France and is said to harvest 25,000 ton of oysters a year. These oysters were even the oysters of choice for King Louis XIV as he had his delivered to him at Chateau Versailles.

Here is the view coming down the hill along the coast into the village.

 Right next to this pier is the small seaside market that sells nothing but oysters!

 Oysters are one of James' favorite foods so this was like Christmas morning for him!

 You have the option to buy them to go or to have them opened and eat them right on sight. James knew that he wanted to grab a dozen to go but also couldn't resist trying a "wild" oyster while we were there. Here is the "ostréiculteur" (oyster farmer) that we bought our oysters from and he is opening the oyster for James to try.

James said that the oyster was amazing and he was so excited to have a dozen to go. I am not an oyster fan (something about the texture) but if you are this is THE place to go.

From Cancale, we continued on to St. Malo. St. Malo is a walled port city along the English Channel.  It the past it was notorious as a pirate city. The city is very charming with lots of shops and cafes to enjoy. We decided to take an intermission from walking around to enjoy a drink and share a dessert.

 After dessert we walked along the wall of the sea. There is just something about water and waves crashing into shore that is magical to me. It didn't matter that it was raining or windy we loved every minute of our time spent here.

 Another view of the wall and the homes and buildings right behind it.

 We decided to have some fun and be playful with the canon.

 Some of the boats in the port and there was even a large cruise ship docked here too.

We ended our time in St. Malo with buying some wine and bread to make our meal complete once we arrived home with those dozen oysters. Oh, and one last look at the port and boats!

I would definitely return to St. Malo if given the opportunity. I have a long list of "to visit" cities here in France and this one definitely earned it's spot on the list.

Mont St. Michel, and adventures along the coast Part I

Last Friday was a national holiday in France and James and I didn't have to work. This seems logical but it is not uncommon for James to work on holidays. I had been mentioning for about a month that we should try and explore some area of France I have never seen. So Friday was the day we had our adventure.

We got up early and our first stop of the day was Mont St. Michel! It is about a 3 hour drive from our house but in my opinion, rode trips are what you make of them and ours was fun! The weather was rainy and gloomy our entire drive there but to our delight it stopped raining during our time at Mont St. Michel.

Mont St. Michel is a church with a very small village surrounding it and it is on an island that is now connected to the mainland with 1 road (but no cars are allowed on the island). The high tide is well documented near the island as at those times the island is completely surrounded by water.

Here is a picture of the island as we approached it.

 As there are no cars allowed on the island there are large parking lots available and then shuttles that take you closer to the island.

Here is a "close up" of our view as we walked onto the island. Mont St. Michel is named after the arch angel Michael. There is a legend that is told about how this angel influenced the church being built. You can read more about those details here. The church was built over a span of 500 years (1017-1521), the main church was completed in 1144 but other buildings were added in the 13th and 14th century to accommodate the monks and pilgrims who flocked to the abbey. It served as a prison for a period of time after the 100 year war and was handed back to the French government in 1874 when they began preserving it.

Once we were on the island we wandered through the small village making our way up the hill to enter the abbey. The city is charming but quite touristic as more than 3 million people visit each year.

 Stairs, stairs, and more stairs...

 Here is the main street on the island. It has lots of little shops and even a few hotels are available.

 Here is one of the views from the top of the church. It feels like there is nothing for miles and miles!

 A trip wouldn't be complete without some door shots (I've got a thing for doors)!

 We were able to witness part of a service going on in the chapel area of the church. It was quite magically to be part of something that has been going on for hundreds of years in this space.

 Here is the cloister (the garden space in the middle of the building).

 We loved all the detailed design of these arch-like poles that surrounded the perimeter of the garden.

 Here is one of many hooks in case you need to tie your horse up while you are in the church.

 There were many alters and areas with benches throughout the church.

 

 One of the other unique feature was the "human like hamster wheel." The picture below shows you the part that was considered the "sledge" in which the good (likely heavy) were pulled to the church by animals and then raised by the manpower provided on the "hamster wheel."

 Here is one of the many fireplaces located through. I can't imagine the amount of wood needed to provide even a small amount of heat to this massive building.

 Here is a statue of St. Michael and the following are a few pictures to show you the gilded statue of St. Michael on top of the spire of the abbey.

 

Cannons which I am sure served a very different purpose than a resting spot back in the day :)

One of the views of the outside of the abbey as we made our way down all of the stairs.

 A few more pictures of charming buildings in the village (which is said to have only a population of 44 people as of 2009).

It was fantastic to see this amazing landmark of France. I hope the pictures give you a small glimpse of this beautiful and magical place but I am sure that my pictures also do not do it justice and you should all visit it for yourself! The next stops of our day were Cancale and St. Malo. I will share pictures and details of the seaside towns soon! Happy Friday everyone!!!