Thank you, dear friends.

Today was castle day.  We first explored Chambord and, yes, we were the first to arrive and yes, again, we virtually had the place to ourselves. It was a very nice experience.






Afterwards we had the most glorious picnic arranged by our tour guide, Angélique with the help of Paolo, our bus driver.  We had baguettes and cheese, sandwich meats and real Dijon mustard and cornichons, chips, orange Pshitt, red wine and cake with a chocolate spread. We were so happy.

Next was the castle of Chenonceau, from the 1500's, built over the river Cher and still standing.  It was just gorgeous.

 

There is a maze that you can meander around in. You should be at least 5 feet tall though, so you can see over the bushes if you need to find your way out in a hurry!

We so loved all the furnishings in the castle  and the amazing equipment in the kitchen and the stone bread oven.

 We had dinner in Old Tours on the place Plumereau where houses have stood for 500 years.  Everyone enjoyed.











Funny thing was--a goat meandered by while we were eating! Rita grabbed Jan's camera to take the photo!  It is a true story.

Lastly, what a treat to see Jean-Paul and Jacqueline with their daughter Clotilde in Tours.  Jean-Paul and Jacqueline were guest speakers in our Alliance Française 2 years ago.  Sherrill C, Irene, Heather and Linda were so surprised to see them as they had heard these Frenchies speak in their classes.  They even treated us to kir and red wine to fortify the franco-american relationships!  Youpi!  Thank you, chers amis.