We've come along way!
We got to Amboise and Ben fell in love with the sleepy little town. Once again we were the first to arrive at the Chateau, which is so great because the town isn't all hustle-bustle yet. The Chateau d' Amboise is perched on the hill overlooking the Loire Valley and the Loire River. The Train station is on one side, so we took a stoll over the river.
We also went to Clos de Luce where da Vinci lived and died. The inventions that he came up with are incredible and surely before his time!
After several days of baguettes etc. we decide to get a real meal and feasted on onion soup, croque monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich) spaghetti and a chocolate crepe. YUMMMMM! It hit the spot. Our shoes are surely broken in now and so are our shoulders. Backpacking is the way to go for sure but we are appreciative of the lockers in the rail stations so we can cut loose of them and move a bit faster.
We headed for Bordeaux after a gelato (we've earned it after all that walking, and walking and walking.) but on the way realized that it was not going to be like the Napa Valley that we anticipated so we changed plans and headed to the amazingly wonderful CARCASSONNE! what a place--it is a medival castle surrounded by ramparts. We stayed at a youth hostel in a single bed together, because we wanted to not cause we had to, for the night and then arose early to walk the ramparts and enjoy the view. All the shops and people live within the walls of the fortress with drawbridges and the whole bit, tourits etc. From Carcassonne we took the morning train through Provence (that looked like the Napa valley that I expected Bordeaux to be--red shingled roofs, white stone buildings, rolling hills, vineyards, all huttled together. We stopped in Avignon spent the afternoon in a hot, but beautiful ville in Provencial France. All the books are right about this one, breathtaking views of river, Palais des Papes, Fort St. Andre. Bought a nice watercolor by a local painter. It was the 1st of May a european holiday so it was a very busy weekend with fairs and busy town squares.
We arrived late in Nice. NICE is nice, says Ben! It is a nice town the Old town especially, we had a local favorite, a socca. Finding a hostel was tough so we ended up at a hotel for $30, not bad. The real jewel is in Monaco, this is the town where Grace Kelly was princess, was a beautiful place.
So much so fast, we forget where we slept the night before! Several times we've wondered---??? where did we awake this morning.
A funny thing to tell is that the trains as they pass our train scare the death out of us. Ben swears he is going to have heartattack every time!!!
We leave France tonight for Rome (AU REVOIR France :( We stayed longer than expected but loved all the stops, Rick Steves has got this place covered!
Till then..
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