Paris 2014 - Part VI

Saturday we had signed up for a bus tour of the Loire Valley.  Which meant we had to be at the pickup site at 7:30am.  Waaay too early!

After meeting the tour guide, we jumped on the bus and headed out of Paris.

The Loire Valley is famous for its French chateau's.  We we're going to visit three today.  First up was Chateau Chambord.

As we toured the grounds our guide covered the amazing history of this place.  Which, I won't go into here.  My poor fingers ache from too much typing already:)

This particular chateau served as a hunting lodge back in the day.  The decorations were themed with scenes of dogs and stags.

This chateau had a staircase in the center supposedly designed by DiVinci.  It was a double helix, so one could go up or down and never run into the other person on the other staircase.

We headed outside on the balcony.

Great views.

Our time was short, and we had to board the bus for our next stop Chateau de Nitray.  A much smaller chateau, used as winery now, but still built back in the 1600's.  The owner have us a wine tasting.

We were served lunch prior to the tour.  Baked chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, salad, wine, and apple pie for dessert!

Then came the tour.  The owner was quite the character!

He showed us a pigeon coop.  Back in the day the pigeons, and eggs, we're eaten as food.  And the poop was gathered for fertilizer.

Next up was a tour of the winery before we had to board the bus again and move on.

Next us was Chateau de Chenonceau.  This is the second most visited chateau in France.  The first being Versailles.  Chenonceau has an amazing history.  Check it out if you get a chance.

Our tour guide gave us a quick history of the place before turning us loose to explore on our own.

We heard there was a garden maze, so we headed that way.

After a great day we had to head back to Paris.

That evening we enjoyed a nice meal before heading off to bed.  Sorry for the quick ending.  We're about to board the plane back to the states.  I'm hoping to have the last day completed when we land in Dallas.  Stay tuned!