Chinon, France

Two western Loire Valley châteaux in one day!

Driving in Europe is not for me, so I take public transportation (buses and trains) everywhere. I even biked to Chenonceau in 2009! But I had read that biking from Chinon to the two châteaux I wanted to visit might be too intense, so I booked a half-day trip from Tours with Touraine Evasion for 24 euros ($27.50) to visit Azay-le-Rideau and Villandry.


I took the early (7:39 am) train from Chinon to Tours (9.90 euros, $11.40).		The beautifully restored Tours train station!

Before meeting my tour, I walked around the town and ended up at the river. They were closing down streets to get ready for the Bastille Day festivities the next day!		Our first stop on the excursion was Azay-le-Rideau, a fairytale castle from the outside!

The interiors of the château had recently been refurbished--as in days before my visit--and were lovely to see!

It was neat to see the interior, but it is the beautiful exterior that was the highlight of my visit to Azay-le-Rideau!

Our mini-van for the excursion!		Our second stop was Villandry. We were there for only a short time, so the driver/guide recommended I only tour the gardens. It was a good choice.

My guide directed me up to the viewpoint first to see the overview of the gardens. So beautiful!		There was water running through the garden!

One of the niftiest things at Villandry was its labyrinth. It had metal arches through the hedges so there was never a dead end!		Another view of the gardens and the château!

Another member of my tour took this picture of me. The Villandry gardens were so nice! They put all of the other gardens I saw in France to shame.		After a visit to the Tours city tourist information office, I set off to follow the self-guided "Discovery Tour of the City" in their tourist pamphlet. The first stop was to see a Cedar of Lebanon!

It reminded me very much of the Comfort Maple of the Niagara Peninsula.		Along the way, I saw this street sign honoring my favorite chemist, Antoine Lavoisier!

A pretty church exterior: Cathédrale Saint-Gatien		I got good at finding clearanced sandwiches at grocery stores during my trip. This one was poulet crudités oeuf (basically a chicken salad sub) for 1.50 euros ($1.75). A cheap lunch!

Next to see was Place Plumereau, a tiny timbered square in Vieux Tours (Old Tours). Very Frankenmuth :)		Because of my cheap sandwich lunch, I got a fancy afternoon treat: a chocolate, dried pear, and pistachio mousse cake which I ate on a pedestrian street near Place Plumereau. (I didn't get a receipt, so I can't remember the name of the shop!)

I saw this book in a shop in Tours. Who knew that Waldo is Charlie in French?!?		I took the train back to Chinon, rushed to my hotel, suited up for kayaking, and walked to the kayak rental across the river (CLAN Canoe Kayak et Velo). It was late in the day (after 4 pm), so they weren't renting kayaks anymore, but I was able to rent a bike for 6.50 euros for 2 hours ($7.50). (You can see I am in watersports gear!)

I followed the Loire à Velo route west out of Chinon, crossing the Vienne river (walking my bike over the bridge!).		There were fields of sunflowers on both sides of the route! It was so beautiful! (It was my Tour de France moment!)

I biked through the town of Savigny-en-Véron to the campground and then had to turn around. (Google Maps estimates it at 9.4 km each way.)		On the way back, I stopped at a roadside park--yes, they have those in France, too!--to see this flood gauge. Hard to imagine this area flooded that high!

One more gratuitous sunflower shot! (This part of the rout was the best road, recently resurfaced. Most of the route was not this nice.)		Here are examples of the easy-to-follow Loire à Velo route signs. Only 8 km back to Chinon!

I made it back before they closed! What a fun time!		After changing, I went to eat at Bistrot de la Place, the restaurant right beneath my hotel room!

When at a sit-down restaurant in France, I usually order the menu, which was 16.90 euros ($19.50) here (including tax and tip). These courses are easy to decipher, except I embarrassed myself when I asked what a "goustillant" was. (It reads croustillant!)		Here is my croustillant aux saveurs d'Italie (tomatoes and mozzarella in a crispy pastry) with side salad. Delicious!

Main course was filet de saumon, sauce à l'oseille (salmon fillet in sorrel sauce with rice). The salmon was good, the sauce didn't have much flavor, but the rice was overcooked and crunchy.		I enjoyed the fresh fruit the previous night, so I chose it again. It arrived artfully displayed and with a berry sorbet on top. Yum!

After dinner, I walked two blocks to shop at the long-hours Carrefour City to buy breakfast for the next morning. One of the mysteries of European grocery stores for me is that they often accept used batteries. Why don't American stores do this?!?		I ended up buying Fanta strawberry-kiwi (OK, quite sweet) and a mixed bag of Carrefour croissants and pains au chocolat. They were sooooo good! (I developed a love for pain au chocolat in Nice!)