In the Loire Valley—Ancient Grandeur

Robson Report. Tuesday morning started out with an easy trip to Gare Montparnasse. Figuring out the train situation on Monday meant we were relaxed and arrived with an hour to spare. When a train is posted on the giant schedule, you can go to that track to board your train.

Unfortunately the car numbers were not posted, so it was hard to locate our reserved seats. Since we had ample time to board, it worked out.

The high speed train took us 123 miles in one hour to Saint Pierre des Corps, the station where we had rented our Avis car.

Car Rental Follies

Now the fun began, they had no record of our reservation and no cars. Then the agent looked at the record and told us our car was cancelled. No one spoke English at the counter so you can imagine how difficult this conversation was. Jim’s Orbitz confirmation was lost in cyber space so we didn’t have proof of our reservation.

Since they had no cars to rent, we tried other car rental desks there. We went to all six without any luck—no cars anywhere.

Hmmm, what to do? Jim found a screen shot of his reservation so back in he went to “discuss” with Avis. I sat outside and considered options. How could we get to Amboise for our Airbnb and see the castles, chateaus, and everything else we had planned using public transportation?

Although not easy, it could be possible.

Suddenly, Jim emerged from Avis semi-victorious. The different agent found our reservation which was located at a different Avis location 20 minutes away. Okay!

We called Uber which took us to another center which looked more like a cleaning place than a renting place.

Alleluia, lo and behold, they had a car for us! Miguel there was terrific and soon we were in our tiny Toyota to Amboise.

And then the driving fun began.

Driving in Rural France

France has only two kinds of towns: those that have lots of traffic and too many streets that don’t have names; and, those that were small villages built in the Dark Ages with most roads only wide enough for one and one-half vehicles.

In our lovely, ancient town of Amboise, several roads narrowed to at most a one lane. After encountering several of the “chicken” situations, we looked for a street sign showing who had the right-of-way. We finally recognized such a sign with an up arrow and a down arrow indicating whether you had priority or had to yield. We felt better.

The final problem was parking, and thank goodness we had a small car. As the above picture attests, we had at most 8 inches of room between the car in front of us and the very solid metal post behind our car. After four tries and one or two “discussions” between us, the car finally got all of itself in the parking spot and off of the road. The rear-view mirror had to be tucked in or it would have been hit by a passing car.

In Amboise

Amboise is absolutely charming as was our apartment. Chantal, the owner who lives downstairs, is darling person and a wonderful hostess.

She showed us about the place and gave us many recommendations for food, museums, chateaux etc. The stairs up the the apartment were tiny and twisting. Fortunately we had only a backpack to carry up, which Chantal thought very odd. She said “Where is your luggage. Americans always had big baggage.”

The apartment is on the Loire River quay and directly faces the Chateau Amboise which is something out of a fairy tale book.

After catching our breath, we decided to visit the Amboise Museum located in Leonardo da Vinci’s home where he lived the last three years of his life. We drove due to a light rain, but construction detours messed us up. We drove around for an hour before we found it. Now 5:30 and it closed at 6, so we opted to come back another day. (Actually we never made it back. Chantal described its contents as full of children’s “charming” drawings of da Vinci’s inventions. Not that exciting after all.)

We headed to a huge grocery store for dinner and morning supplies. Our cozy apartment welcomed us back. We watched the Loire castle across the river in the golden hour.

Wow! Now it really looked like Cinderella’s castle.

Chenonceau

Wednesday. After a great night’s sleep and a quick breakfast of croissants, we took off on an early cold and blustery morning.

We were warned to get to the Chateau de Chenonceau by nine. The castle is small, and the crowds usually get large as the tourist buses arrive. The rain let up while we were taking an easy 20–minute drive from town. This was fortunate because the entrance is a 15-minute walk.

Chenonceau is a Renaissance palace that arches gracefully over the Cher River. Building took place from 1513-1521 by Thomas Bohier.

In 1547 King Henry I gave the castle to his mistress Diane de Poitiers who added the arched bridge across the River.

This Chateau became a battle of wills and wits between Diane and the King’s wife Catherine de’ Medici. Even the Royal Insignia in one room, made with the initials of Henry and Catherine intertwined, are intertwined in a way that makes

D and a P for Diane Portiers.

When Henry died in a joust, Catherine repossessed the castle and gave Diane a castle elsewhere which ironically turned out to be a wealthier estate due to its rich farmland.

Chenonceau is beautifully maintained filled with huge fresh flower arrangements in every room and magnificent furnishings.

The audio guide was informative and entertaining; we spent over 2 1/2 hours exploring the castle. Two gardens, one designed by Diane Portiers and the other by Catherine d’Medici are maintained and lovely but the weather kept us from exploring them.

Chambord

Cheverny, a very sweet village, was our next destination. We hoped to get lunch and visit the castle, but most places close between 1 and 3 each afternoon. We parked to buy tickets when we realized that we did not have enough time to visit this castle and drive to Chateau Chambord.

Decisions are tough—so many things you want to do. We opted to leave Cheverny and drive 45 minutes to Chambord, the granddaddy of the Loire chateaux.

Francis I designed Chambord in an egalitarian way. Each of the four apartments were on the same level and completed with the same luxury. The staircase in an impressive and intricate double helix. Some believe that Leonard designed it. Leonard did live in the area and was known to do work for Francis. So sounds reasonable but who knows?

.

This chateau began as a simple hunting lodge and is surrounded by Europe’s largest enclosed forest park defined by a 20-mile-long wall. Started in 1518 by Francis I and modeled after an Italian church, making it a rival to St. Peter’s Basilica being built at the same time.

Over 1,800 workmen spent 15 years on the project. As a “hunting lodge,” it was rarely used over the centuries. During the French Revolution, all the furnishings were removed and sold leaving the vast castle empty.

An unexpected pleasure there was a display of modern stained glass by Father Kim En Jong, one of the world’s foremost masters of this art. We were mesmerized by the vibrant colors of huge glass pieces mounted in stark contrast to the plain stone walls.

We spent 3 1/2 hours in this chateau and left just as it was closing.

The drive home was easy now that we understood all the road rules, and we had a lovely Algerian dinner at Bistro L’Amboisie.

Driving Home, Dining, and Wining

Thursday. We left our Amboise lodgings mid-morning and took a long drive past many fields of grapes.

We saw a cliff where houses were dug into the side. Whole houses! We could only see the fronts.

Saumur is one of the three major towns in the Anjou region of the Loire which is famous for wines. We strolled through this pleasant town and discovered a charming restaurant, Alfredo Saumur.

Vincent, the owner and chef, prepared an authentic French lunch for us accompanied by glasses of local wines. We drove back to our train station along the River through tiny village after village.

It was a perfect ending to our time in Loire!

The train back to Paris was uneventful, but getting back to the apartment was a pain. Something had closed the quick Metro home. We found an alternate with two Metro links and long wait times for both..

Finally we got to 28 an hour later than we anticipated where we devoured the plate of cheese, crackers, grapes, and fridge leftovers that Becky and Steve had prepared for us.