Day 11 – Langeais, Villandry, & Azay-le-Rideau

Sorry for the delays in posting – but let us continue.

Yesterday had been a shorter day – we did Laundry and only visited Saumur (which was long in that since I can’t pronounce the name I had to say it 100 times) and then spent the night at Rochecotte which really is a wonderfully luxurious castle.  We couldn’t stray too far because I wanted us to be at Langeais first thing in the morning for the dropping of the drawbridge.  I had stumbled upon this a few years ago by mistake but every morning they actually drop the drawbridge.  You can see footage of it in the original trailer and so this year I wanted to get it from a different angle.

Of course while you wait you need a Viennese cocoa and an almond croissant.

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I watched the drawbridge fall right at me – its was pretty cool.  Very tense as I didn’t know when it was going to exactly happen.

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The Chateau has some great interiors. They really have a lot of the castle open and allow you to see what it looked like.

Very few ropes and wonderful floors!

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They have a nice exhibit of tapestries as well with some pretty good explanations.

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As we headed back on the road we saw an outdoor laundry! Outdoor! You just drive up (and then I guess wait).

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Next we headed to Villandry which is known for their gardens (as you will see) but first a quick lunch.

I am starting to understand the joys of Gazpacho – an ice cold soup on a hot day – nothing could be better!

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So while the meal was great I ordered a bottle of sparkling cider (which came in its own little ice bag) only to find out it was alcoholic!

I explained – “I didn’t want any alcohol”. ” Well why did you order the sparkling cider?”  “Because it was listed under soft drinks!” “So?”  “So what makes a soft drink ‘soft’ is that it doesn’t have alcohol!” The day before I drank a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling cider so I knew what I was talking about. They told me it didn’t have much alcohol just 15%!  They later apologized and took it off the bill.

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Back to Villandry.  The castle really goes back – you can see the original keep.

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Nice displays – some rooms (like the kitchen) were clear to view – a lot of it was an art gallery.

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I like this old turntable.

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But its the gardens that make this the place to visit.  They just go on and on!

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They even have a hedge maze! (Which Amanda tripped and twisted her ankle in – luckily she recovered pretty well).

I love the souvenir shops!  I mean who needs wooden napkin rings with their names on it?  And how many do I get? Do they all have my name on it?

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Our last stop for the day is Azay-le-Rideau.  It just emerges from the water.  Small but lovely! Well not that small really.   Just gorgeous!

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Many of the room inside are nice to view – but the billiard room was coolest.

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From there we headed to our hotel – which is a castle hotel called the Chateau de Pray.

While we were booked to spend the night there and a manager gave us a tour and let us film an interview.

They offered us a lovely dinner out on the patio – very very elegant.  Except for the bats.  The bats kept flying overhead and while that seems pretty ok – one of them left a present on the table.  Now imagine the paranoia I spent during the rest of this wonderful dinner – and it was a great dinner – they just kept bringing us food!

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First the appetizers we didn’t order!

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Then another appetizer we didn’t order – regretfully it was a sort of fish foam.

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The meat was well presented and also cooked perfectly.  They brought all the sauces on the side.

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Then the first dessert (which we didn’t order).

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The the dessert I ordered – which was WOW – looks wow – tastes wow.  See and now I have already forgotten about bat poop.

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Then more desserts we didn’t order!

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And then they brought us a bowl of candies! OMG I was going to explode!

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A great day in the Loire – 3 castles – some great food and the weather is still holding!

 

Trip tally: 1498KM traveled.  29 places visited (17 castles, 3 cathedrals, 4 prehistoric  sites + 5 places of cultural significance).

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