Ride Day 19: Amboise

 Our first day of rain. Wow. Well, OK, we had a misty/drizzly day in Belgium but since then we've been totally dry. Until today. But it was mid-20s all day and it wasn't uncomfortable. If this is the worst we have, I'll take it any day.

We had a fairly easy escape from Tours because we rode straight to the Loire, turned east, and had a gloriously paved and manicured bike path with nary another person on it. Our little hobbit hole in Tours was cramped but quiet, so we tried to be equally quiet as we left. But our efforts were thwarted as I bonked the bike to and fro across the narrow hallway and I'm pretty sure our close-by neighbors were not happy with us at 0745, since I equally heard them when they came home (quite loudly) at about 0200. Fair enough?

We rode along the north bank of the Loire and had only 10 km to the tiny but oh-so-famous village of Vouvray. It was still barely 0800 so even Lorie Loire had to be satisfied with just coffee.

Our usual faire in the morning

Our ride was rainy but short, and our next stop was at the Chenonceaux chateau, which is on the Cher river a few dozen km from its confluence with the Loire. Prior to getting there we saw several troglodyte type houses built into the walls of the canyon.

Above the flood line, at least

The Chenonceaux chateau is spectacular. No doubt about it. We had made reservations since it is really crowded and busy, and had a 1350 admission ticket. We had a bit of time ahead of that and stashed our belongings in some secure lockers. There is an absolute ton of history behind this place, a lot of it lurid and disquieting, but there is no doubt that lots of money in the 1400s did the same thing that it does today: buys folks with little appreciation for the plebes a lot of privilege. These chateaus were always connected with the very wealthy, usually with some kind of connection with royalty. Sometimes, maybe most often, the connection was sordid (as in concubines who needed a place of their own, escapes for ner-do-well kids, etc.), but their primary function was political and economic splendor. And they are splendorous. The locals who worked to build them had a tougher life -- they didn't get invites to the parties. Imagine that. But my summary is a very American take on thousands of years of French heritage, so don't put too much on it.

The chateau is said to have been built over a period of about 600 years by five separate women. Their roles varied a lot, but Katherine de Medici of Italian fame was my favorite, Anyway, look up the history if you are interested. I will leave it with a bunch of pictures. It truly is a beautiful place.

The entry into the chateau. We should have been on cheval.

Katherine de Medici added the part that spans the Cher river.

The original tower from the mid 14th century

One of the formal gardens.

This is the coolest view.

The "gallery" that was added by Ms. de Medici. Stunning.

Looking back toward the grand entry

We took our leave from the chateau and headed toward Amboise, and small, ish, city that has a ton of interesting history. As we were loading up the bike a young French couple asked us all about riding the tandem. We could have talked to them for an hour -- they were very interested -- but the rain was coming down and we needed to get moving.

It wasn't long before we rode into Amboise, on the main stem of the Loire. I'll comment a lot about Amboise tomorrow, but it has a close and intimate connection with Leonardo da Vinci. The city is stunning. We got checked into our AirBnB and hung all of our wet stuff all around to dry, then rode into town to check it out. We had previously had a beer from an Amboisian brewery called Art Is An Ale (a bit of a French play on English) and we stopped by for a beer or two. They make really good beer. We found a nice seat at a dry outdoor patio and enjoyed beer and a chart board.

Inside the brewery

Our first dinner

I will confess that Lorie kyped the two glasses (plastic) that you see in the photo above. Before we did so, however, we watched everyone else walking away with these portable souveniers.

We had to get back across the river, but before doing so we stopped by a bike shop and got a new part, which the bike shop guy gladly installed. Then we hit Carrefour for our second dinner and Lorie got some photos of the city near sunset.

Bike repair, on the fly

Streets of Amboise

The Royal Chateau de Amboise as evening approaches

 

Tomorrow we're off for Blois, where we have a rest day. Yeah!

Merci d'avoir lu. Nous espérons que vous et les vôtres allez tous bien. Tu nous manques à tous.