Loire Valley: Day 1

While my parents were visiting, we took advantage of the three-day weekend (for Easter) and visited the Loire Valley. A mere 2.5 hours southeast of Paris, the Loire River snakes through lush, green, wooded gorgeousness. Such gorgeosity (and all the wild game it houses) has brought kings, queens, and nobles to the area for centuries. In fact, the valley is home to hundreds of castles. We, in our great ambition, visited them all.

Not really, but we did visit four and passed by two more. And my sweet almost-one-year-old was an all-star mascot for the two-day sprint.

Our first day began with a pleasant drive in our little hatchback with a "huge trunk" (which, admittedly, did fit two carry-on size suitcases and a small stroller, but really, "huge?!?!" these Frenchies don't know nothin'...). Our first stop: Tours - the big city of the Valley. It was so pleasant, truly. We began with a walk-by of the cathedral:

Around the corner from the cathedral was a really strange but exciting find... An actual "cedar of Lebanon." I had always pictured them looking more like Redwoods, but here it was, just like Solomon used on his temple:

After that, we had lunch in a lovely little pedestrian area near the cathedral:

Then early afternoon, we had the privilege of touring gothic cathedral #1 of our trip. The smallest of the cathedrals we saw, Tours was nonetheless in typical French gothic style. With two towers and the main portals at the west end:

A spectacular nave:

Ambulatories:

An organ:

And rib-vaulted ceilings and stained glass:

Our first chateau visit was Chenonceau, the "lady's chateau" - so dubbed because it was owned and decorated by queens and mistresses over the years. The woods surrounding the grounds were peaceful and beautiful:

And on either side of the entrance were beautifully manicured French gardens. One named for Diane de Poitiers, Henry II's mistress:

And the other for Catherine de Medici, Henry II's wife. Talk about awkward:

And the former carriage house, turned restaurant, was gorgeous in a trimmed-poodle kind of way:

The best part of the place is the river access:

This chateau redefines being ON the river:

After a very crowded tour of the interior, we thoroughly enjoyed the exterior where we could breathe a little more easily:

Can you make out the snaggletooth in the one above? He was such a trooper... And he even got to meet the burros on our way out (and don't ask, I have no idea what they were doing there):

That evening, we visited Amboise, home of one of the royal chateaux and (supposed) final resting place of Leonardo DaVinci. Although we didn't visit the chateau, we ate at a darling wine-bar/restaurant in its shadow:

And from there we could see the chapel where ol' Leonardo is buried:

On the way to our B&B that night, we passed by Chateau de Chaumont (where, coincidentally, the same Diane from Chenonceau was exiled after Henry died... I could handle exile in a place like this):

Soon to follow: Day 2.

Spoiled Rotten...

There's nothing like grandparents to spoil you rotten... And Oliver and I benefitted from that truth a few weeks ago. My parents came to visit over Easter, and we had a wonderful time. I have several more posts to come of our short trips (which were fabulous!), but in the meantime, I have quite a few fun pictures from our days in Paris.

Our first day out and about in the city of lights involved a return trip to the Marais area, where we visited the Carnavalet Museum, Place des Vosges, and historic Jewish quarter.

We finished our walk at the Place de la Bastille, where we sat for several hours at a sidewalk cafe... true Paris life.

From there, we walked to Notre Dame, which was graced by these incredible purple tulips:

And, in honor of Mother's Day, isn't my mom adorable?!?!

The next day, we took a walk through the Champs de Mars, stopping for a photo op in front of Ecole Militaire:

And the Tour itself:

A few days later, we visited St Germain des Pres, Paris's oldest church:

The inside was all painted, like most old churches were originally. It was especially neat to use the images to imagine what other great cathedrals and churches probably looked like.

And then we walked down the street to St Sulpice. I can't believe that I've lived here for more than a year and a half and had never visited either of these churches. This one reminded me of St Peter's in Rome, and it included a Pantheon-style dome (oculus and all):

And we enjoyed the beautiful fountain out front:

Of course, we also made a few stops for Pita Grec; John, this one's for you:

And while visiting the Latin Quarter for Pita Grec, we dropped in at Notre Dame, too. I'm in awe every time I go in... And I go in a lot! I'm going to save the Notre Dame pictures, though, for my post about all 5 gothic cathedrals we visited while my parents were here... Good times.

Oliver is now eating wheat (and, praise the Lord, has had no adverse reactions!). So, a chunk of bread was usually how we made it through the cathedrals without his needing to sing or talk to passersby (which, admittedly, is hard to pass up on since your voice echoes beautifully in cathedrals and everyone who passes him smiles and waves at him...). Anyway, we came out of Notre Dame with him looking like this:

I'm not sure where this scrunch face has come from recently, but it is HILARIOUS. More on that later, too.

As I mentioned above, much of our sightseeing was done outside of Paris, but we did our fair share of wandering around, enjoying the scenery and the beautiful weather, like here in front of Invalides (Napoleon's tomb):

And we definitely did our fair share of visiting boulangeries. :) Like this one, the famous Poilane bakery (which I have been wanting to visit for some time and was so thankful for the excuse!):

The best part of their visit was, though, OF COURSE, just getting to enjoy family. Oliver was especially in heaven. Playing with Grandpa in the park:

And in the apartment:

He did plenty of playing with Nana, too, but I'm saving those pictures for later. I just hope that my parents had as much fun being here as we did having them here. Our last night was particularly special. As per tradition, we returned to the Latin quarter for some Pita Grec, which we took to go so we could sit in the beautiful park in the shadow of Notre Dame.

To be surrounded by good food, beautiful weather, gorgeous scenery, great history, and the best company... Does it get any better than this?