Amboise France

We begrudgingly woke up at 7 the next morning. Packed up our things, showered and ate some of our groceries. We walked over to Europcar and picked up our rental car.

It was relatively easy. We had pre-paid and it all went smoothly. We booked through autoeurope and got the CAA discount. It was $251 for 3 days for all the insurance and 0 deductable. We wanted to be able to return it in any state, just in case.

Driving back to the flat was a little nerve racking. Our street was one way, and our flat was locked behind an ominous door. Shay drove past it the first time. We went around the block again and this time got to it. I had to jump out to open the gate. Shay could pull in to get off the road while I ran up the 4 flights of stairs to get our belongings.

We headed on our way driving. Shay was a champ in the city and made it through the roundabouts like a pro! Traffic getting to and on the A10 was very heavy and turned our quickish, less than two our trip, into a 3 hour plus -long slow drive. We stopped at a "Flunch" on the roadside where they have espresso and cappuccino machines, as well as flull fledge dining.

Compared to our roadside stops which generally consist of a Tims and Wendy’s, this was pretty neat to see. The picnic areas are large and families are spread out relaxing in the shade and eating on the grass or at tables. There is usually a large bouncy cow castle for kids to jump in. We stopped at one that even had a rock climbing wall and bocce. 

The food is cafeteria style, but the good kind. You can have shaved ham, or lasagna or chicken and rice, an assortment of fruit, and pastries, and soups. They don’t do burgers and fries here, or anything that can be purchased to go. Even drinks are "to drink there." If you get your coffee, you stand and drink it at the tall table beside the machine. The cups are small, and there are no lids. We even noticed that our car didn’t even have cup holders in it. Drinking is a stationary event in France. We are so used to multi tasking, we needed to start accounting for our drinking and eating times.

We drove into Amboise, a town nestled into the Loire around Chateau Amboise. We walked around the town, but decided against a castle tour for 15 euros pp. 

We walked around town and took in all it's Frenchness, right down to the accordion playing street busker. 

We wanted to go to Clos Lucé, the DaVinci museum, and what a good choice that was!

Clos Lucé is down a quiet street, and is where Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last 5 years of his life chilling with his good friend King François I. In the house you get to walk through Leonardo's room, the bedroom of Marguerite de Navarre, sitting rooms, the kitchen and into the basement where all of his inventions are laid out with 3d animations to show how they worked. 

Did you know that Leonardo Da Vinci invented the bicycle, screw wrench, life buoy, paddle boat, swivel bridge, multi direction rifle, tank, Archimedes screw, ball bearing,  machine gun, water wheel, catapult, the first automobile, and steam hammer? I had not known much about Da Vinci the inventor. I think he was also a painter?

After you tour the restored house you exit through the gift shop and into the gardens, the very best spot! Here, spread out amongst landscaped acres, Leonardo's inventions are assembled in real size for you to play with! Shay went right for the canons and multi directional rifels. He had fun spinning the tank riffle as well. 

Remembering happy times with Becky and Jarvis in Ponta Delgada last year. We are big fans of "hands on" museums. I loved the hanging art in the forest “lights on faces” and the paddle boat that you could drive for 2 euros. 

We took so long to get the steering right because our seat was broken, making it very difficult to move the back paddle from left to right.

I'm on a boat!

We eventually managed, and splashed our way through the ravine. It was not a dry ride, but hilarious.

Many of the exhibits also had a piece to read and you could even listen to a re-enactment or explanation in your language of choice. Very fun.

From here we drove to our B &B, La Grill Dorée. It was a nice little country home where we were situated on the top floor. The owner was sweet and spoke only French, but slow enough that I could understand everything she said and respond appropriately. 

We got our keys and our wifi password and settled in before getting ready for dinner. We were worried we would not have luck finding a place to eat based on how busy the town was when we walked through. We headed down the strip in front of the castle and found several restaurants with the odd free table on the patio. These were all on the street in front of the castle, a pretty spectacular dining view.  We ended up eating at Chez Bruno. We both had beef, Shay the Rib eye in Foie Gras sauce, and I the Steak skirt in pepper sauce. Escargot and tomate mozerella to start. (I had originally ordered the Beouf Foie gras and Shay traded with me after I didn’t like the texture of steak. (I don’t want to have to chew too much when I eat steak). Shay finished up with a crème brûlée, and we walked around the town a little more.

This time we crossed over the bridge to view the castle from the other side just as the sun was setting. Beautiful.

Early to bed!