Day 72...'Ever After' - 6th September

Woke up, showered downstairs and had some breakky of croissants and bread. Man, it sits like rock in your stomach. Then you add coffee onto it and it gurgles in the most alarming manner…

There was an American gossip magazine and I fell on it, eager for some ‘news’ of the world. Och, its been too long!

Then we hopped in our little car and headed back north to the town of Ambiose, which we had bypassed yesterday. We tried to find on the way,a stupid tube for the painting we bought in Berlin. We’ve been carting this massive thing around since then. Tours is actually a bigger town than I though yesterday, with a larger modern town tacked onto old town. But no luck on the tube action. Ambiose was a picturesque little town, sitting on the Loir River with a massive castle squatting above it all. We weren’t there to see the castle though.

After being helped by a French lady who explained parking was free for two hours (yay) we began our steady walk up a hot steep hill in the sunshine. We aimed for the street of Le Clos Luce, which we went via Rue Victor Hugo. On Rue Victor Hugo, there are troglodytic dwellings (troglodytes are the cheese-like holes of caves peppering the area) where people still live! In the limestone cliff behind some houses, you suddenly see a door in the cliff! And then above that, a small hole in the cliff with a satellite dish poking out! It was so amazing.

On Le Clos Luce is a large, regal brick manor which almost looks tuscan style. It is the house where Leonardo lived and worked during the last 3 years of his life. He was commissioned by the King of France when Italian stuff became like, ‘so hot right now’ and it is rumored that the tunnel under his manor joined the castle of Ambiose. And he and the king used to yuck it up and visit each other. The manor had a real Meditteranean feel to it, with open spaced gardens and magnificent rooms. It was sooo weird to stand in the bedroom, knowing where someone so gifted and famous took his last breaths and died in that very room. The kitchen was cool too, it inspired images of stew and suckling pig in my head. One sitting room was where he most probably painted St John the Baptist, and I tried hard to imagine him there!

Downstairs they have created scale models of Leonardo’s plans and inventions. It was amazing how ahead of his time he was. He created submachine guns, armoured tanks, hydraulic turbines. Pretty cool. A lot of stuff he invented got used in later centuries.

We had a disgusting coffee and tasty omlette by a sourfaced girl, then meandered back past the cool houses to the car. It was a bright, clear day and quite hot. The sky in France looks like the Renaissance paintings. It is made up of all different blues, with various layers of clouds tinged with the sun. So pretty.

The Tours region used to be the ‘holiday house’ region of all the French nobility. They built massive castles and gardens and came and romanced each other and yukked it up. Everywhere we drove, there were signs to this castle and that. I expected it to be like the Rhine River section we did, with castles on every hilltop. However they are all set apart and quite hidden, on water sites and lake.s So you have to pick particular ones to see. (Especially as you have to pay to see them!).

We went to Chateau de Chenonceau which looked spectacular in pictures, built out over a river. It was obviously the most popular as the carpark was huge and the tickets equated to $30 Oz dollars so we decided to skip it. We went to the town of Langeais instead, meandering along the Loire river and surrounding farmland. Langeais was a really cute little town, with a big church steeple jutting out proudly. Unfortunately the proud steeple was completely overshadowed by the most massive castle sitting in the middle of town, looming over everything! It seemed less modern than the other French castles, with ramparts and drawbridge. We walked over the drawbridge and inside….

The caste was built in the late 1460’s and appears a 15th century fortified castle with nearly windowless ramparts from which hot oil and missiles could be dropped on attackers. But it made up for that by looking fairy tale pretty with rounded towers and a big garden interior (I’m sure I’ve seen that garden in the film “Ever After”. I must check that when I get back). Inside was really interesting, with real period furnishings and tapestries, which really gave you a feel for the era. With transportation so difficult back then, there were rooms with beds everywhere. Also, the separation of beds and sitting rooms didn’t come until a later era. The hosts often received their close visitors in their bed!

After some fantasizing about being a princess, we went to the TIC and booked accommodation. We found the cheapest option to be a B&B in Langeais (we checked the surrounding towns too). It was located right behind the church. The place was cute, behind old buildings with a big room and our own shower. Luxury! The lady spoke no English, but with the use of picking up objects to symbolize breakfast, and using ‘click’ sounds in regards to the door, we got the gist of things. She had a really old dog that kept falling over.

We left our bags and walked into the centre of town, which was only 100m away. (It was a reaaaallly small town). We had drinks outside in a square enjoying the afternoon sun. I had a nice half bottle of wine from Azay-le-Rideu which we will visit tomorrow. It was lovely. After an hour or so, we went to a cute restaurant we had spotted underneath the castle. We sat outside, the castle looming above us and filling our view. It was so great, I was so happy.

We had another 3 course menu. The French love doing that. Its soooo cheap, you get to taste a variety of stuff and better value than just ordering one main which is nearly the same price anyway. We had the potted meat again, cream caramel and some floating island which was custard and cream. It was all sooo tasty! We drank another bottle of wine and enjoyed the nice warm evening. Then got a little tipsy and took am million photos of the castle, much to the amusement of the waitress, and the consternation of Nathan. We watched the sky go dark, and the spotlights light up the castle exterior. It was so beautiful!

Then we wandered back, taking various ‘old small town’ shots on the way. I could see the castle lit up over the town from our little B&B on the hill. But the night shots were too difficult to take!

Then to bed! As I slept, I kept waking up hearing the dog staggering around and falling over.