Chateau Chenonceau and Leonardo de Vinci's home.

 

We met in the lobby at 8:30 am to head to the Chateau Chenonceau. It was 15 euros entry fee.

We got there right before they opened the gates.

It was less crowded at first.  It was fun seeing some of the things that we had seen from the air yesterday.

Yellow trees from the air.

Seen from the air

From the air

Balloon Cotton Bush

We went through the gardens.  They use the flowers in the chateau and they use the vegetables in the restaurant. 

Garden from the air

From the air

The chapel

Lots of rooms.  More lived in feel. 

The black room: Louise of Lorraine's bedroom

Catherine of Medici's bedroom.

A dove found a nesting spot.

Garden from the air

Cyclamen or sowbread

We walked over to the maze.

The maze, not a labyrinth.

From the air

We got back from the chateau around noon.  We headed out to find lunch.

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Cafe des Arts Bar Hotel for lunch

Croque Monsieur

Hugo Spritz

The tourist train. We saw one of these in every town.

It was getting hot out.  

At 2 pm we met the group to go to Le Clos Luce, Leonardo de Vinci's home.  It is where he died.  It was about a 20 minute walk through town and up a hill. It was a 15 euro entry fee.

All along the street there are metal photographs on the walls.

Lending library

This shows how some homes were just dug into the side of the limestone cliff.

Sundial

Some copies of his paintings.

The most interesting was a bunch of his inventions or ideas of inventions.  They had videos beside some of the inventions to show how they work. Fun.

Bicycle 

First car

Armored vehicle like a tank.

Flying contraption 

We were all pretty hot by then so we headed back to the hotel.  

Jeanne and I were sidetracked by limoncello spritzes and chairs in the shade.  Kris & Sharon went back to their rooms.

Steve was offering a happy hour on the island close to the hotel.  Not very many people went because of the heat, no shade and no place to sit.  It was at 6 pm.  

Jeanne and Sharon had a chance to rest.  I liked getting my feet up and started working on my blog.

Sharon, Jeanne, and I headed out at 6:30 pm for a gelato treat at Amarino. 

We did a little dinking.

I guess the hot air balloons are pretty common.

We had a 7::30 pm reservation at Chez Bruno.  Kris came there directly from the happy hour.

We had ordered a bottle of Sancerre.

I had the sea bream fish dish.  Everyone else had the pork.  Everyone else had sea bream a few days ago and had something else.  So I had decided to try it.  I had never heard of sea bream fish before. The fish was ok but I don't think that I would order it again. 

After dinner we walked to the bridge to look back at the castle that we had been seeing only a part of.

(This one)

It is hard to believe that it is the same one.

After that we headed back to the hotel.

We had to get organized since tomorrow we are leaving again.