Well that 13 weeks has gone very quickly. Tomorrow we endure the trip back home to Aus, however we have the last week to let you know what we have been doing.

We left Clermont Ferrand to travel to the French Family in Perigueux for a few nights. It was great to catch up with nearly all of the family again. The day we arrived we saw Delphine . Clothilde and Sylvain and all their girls.

Jean and Francoise took us on an afternoon little trip to Terrasson to see the “Jardin de Imaginaire” or the Imaginary Garden designed in 1996 and is classified as a “Notable Garden” in France.

That night we went to La Peniche for dinner, a boat that sits on the river. Greg had steak tartare which he said was yum and Rhonda had cabillaud, a French fish which was quite good too. Of course when there is a creme brulee on the menu it MUST be ordered, AND it was actually very good! It was a lovely evening with lots of laughs.

We still had to catch up with Noel and Natascha and so off to Bordeaux we went. We had a lovely lunch with the family and Cassandra , 5 years old, is learning English at school, so she was very happy to try to talk in English and was very inquisitive to learn words she did not know. It was a lovely afternoon.

We left Jean and Francoise and headed to Amboise in the Loire Valley for our final stay. On the way we dropped in to Rochechouart to begin our “Chateau hunting”. The Chateau is a 13th Century French castle and is now an Art Gallery. It was worth the stop.

We arrived at our little Air BnB in Amboise. We were a little worried about the parking situation as reviews had said it was very tight. Luckily Pippo JUST fitted in.

We unpacked and went into the main drag and it was “wall to wall” people. Well, it was a Sunday afternoon and everyone is still on holidays here. We decided that we hadn’t eaten a crepe since we had been in France so a crepe it was for dinner with a bottle of cidre , or cider, as is the custom in France when eating crepes.

We were up rather early the next morning to return to the “main drag” to get some photos without the crowds. It is a very pleasant village although for us a little touristy!

Amboise is most famous for it’s Chateau , The Royal Chateau of Amboise which was a Royal residence for many years of the Kings of France. Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last 3 years of his life at the Chateau and is buried in the Chapel of the Chateau.

Our little house has a very cute little terrace with a bbq so we took advantage one night. Greg cooked some Toulouse Snags , and we enjoyed a lovely meal with a bottle of Beaujolais sitting on the terrace watching the sun set, the flight paths and the odd hot air balloon!

We decided we needed to do some more Chateau chasing and Greg had wanted to return to his favourite chateau, BUT we didn’t want to enter , we only wanted to view….and of course take photos. So after driving around a bit , and a short walk , we finally came across Greg’s favourite, Chateau Chenonceau , a privately owned chateau by the same family since 1913. It was a former Royal residence built in 1513. In WW1 the Gallery, across the river, was used as a hospital ward and in WW11 it was bombed by the Germans as it was an “escape route” from the Nazi occupied side on one side of the river , to the “free zone on the other side. It was restored in 1951 and bought back to it’s former glory…..thank goodness.

Next stop was Chateau d’Usse. It was the inspiration behind the story of Sleeping Beauty. It has been owned by the same family for 2 centuries.

Last stop was Chateau Azay-le-Rideau. We sneaked in the back door as we didn’t want to pay the 21 euros just to take a couple of photos! The Chateau was built between 1518 and 1527 and is set on an island.

Today has been a day of trying to fit everything into the suitcases…think it has been achieved , but only because we bought an extra bag!!!!

It has been wonderful to come back to Europe and escape the cold in Melbourne. Flights for next year are in process of being booked!!!!!

So for the last time in 2022 , it’s that time again, time for dinner , and not trying to think of the long flight home. We hope you have enjoyed our trip and we look forward to catching up with everyone when we return

Love Greg and Rhonda.

xxxxx