Tours, Cannes, Annecy and back to Paris

When we were in Tours we decided that instead of renting a car and fighting with maps to figure out where the chateaux were... we bought a tour that was taken care of for us. :) We were able to see 4 chatueax during that Thursday (the 17th). Really interesting... and pretty! The first one we went to is called Azay-Rideau and is considered to be a relatively smaller chateau, called - very quaint. It wasn't small, but in comparison to most of the other ones, it is not AS big :)

(Pear tart for breakfast at the train station... I'm in love with the pastries)

(Front view)

(view of the chateau from the pathway behind it)
Its surrounded by a little moat, a "forest" in the back, walking paths and a little chapel.



The next chateau was Villandry, which is famous for its extravagant gardens. They are truly beautiful and are constantly being worked on by their many gardeners.

(View of the gardens from the chateau)





The chauteau itself was really nice, and is actually owned by a wealthy Spanish family.

After Villandry we headed back to Tours to grab lunch and then go out to the other side of the city to see the other places on our agenda for the day. Our tour group was actually really small - only 7 people and our 1 guide, so we drove around in a van all day and had the opprotunity to have the guide talk about the countryside that we were passing. :) The next chateau was Amboise, which as some of you may know is where Leonardo di Vinci spent much of his time and he is actually buried there in this chapel.



(His tomb)


It reminded me more of a fortress than anything else, very large and it's built up on a hill so it was easily defended.

(Gargoyles!!!)

(The castle itself, but the entire place is built up on a wall high above the city)
After Amboise we went to Leonardo di Vinci's home, which was amazing!!! Before entering, we were made to put our cameras in our bag, so sadly we have no pictures from the inside. :( But all I can say it is was beautiful and quite awe-inspiring. In the study of the house there is a glass cased on a desk, in which they have an actual manuscript written by Leonardo - that was amazing to see!

(This is his house)
Finally we went to see Chaneceaux, which is Charlie's favorite chateau and it was easy to see why. They had gardens that grow along one side of the walkway up to the chateau - which Charlie and I went in and looked around all the flowers and veggies. :)

The chateau itself was filled with people so it took a while to go around the place and see the rooms. Sadly, we weren't able to see the entire place, but we saw most of it. It was built over the river, so the castle itself acts as a bridge - its really cool.

(view of from the 2nd floor of the courtyard/entrance)


(The "Long Room," which acted as a banquet hall and is what is actually over the river)


After that we headed back to Tours and Charlie and I made our way to a grocery store to get dinner and got back to the hotel. :)
We discovered the wonderful capability of renting movies on iTunes - so that night we downloaded and watched the movie Kinky Boots, which is absolutely hilarious!!! :)
The next day we spent our time walking around the town and relaxing... its full of little shops and bakeries, we picked up a tart for dessert that night after another bread, cheese and fruit dinner. :)

Saturday the 19th we got back on the train and went up to Paris, got on the metro and went across the city to another train station and got on the next train to head down to Cannes :) The 5 hour long journey was okay, we had a crabby couple of ladies sitting across from us, who had NO concept of personal bubble space... :\ I had one of them put her feet up on my lap - so she could be more comfortable?? no good. :( But Charlie and I had a deck of cards and we played games most of the time, we brought snacks...and then snoozed.

(the most brilliant idea ever!)

(View of Provence from the train - about 30 minutes from Cannes)
We got there around 9 pm, waiting a while for a taxi and then got to our hotel a few miles out of Cannes on the beach around 10. I've never been so happy to get to a nice hotel... that has glass glasses, lots of room to put our luggage and a comfy bed. :) Loved it!!!

(view from our room the first night there - the moon was red)





(Views from our room)
We spent the next few days down on the beach, Charlie went swimming a lot and I read my book :) Granted, we got a little burnt... ok, quite burnt, but it was good for the soul.

(us lounging on the beach)

(Salad at the lounge in the hotel - quite delicious)
Tuesday the 22nd was our 1 Year Wedding Anniversary! So we splurged and got hour long massages there in the hotel by the sweetest French lady. After that we grabbed lunch, went out for a short swim to cool down, got ready and headed out to the town of Cannes to celebrate.

We found a little bistro for dinner, quite delicious - we of course had to have creme brule. :)

We walked along the shops, window shopping at Burberry and Dior... then we walked down the beach side of the main boulevard as the sun started to go down.

We saw the plaza area where they hold the Cannes Film Festival, they had cardboard cutouts of famous movies and actors,

(Yes, thats Charlie :) )
and their version of the stars on the ground.

That night back at the hotel, we decided to go down to the casino for the fun of it... I gave in and played the 1 euro slot machines for a while and then Charlie had some fun at the blackjack tables. It was a lot of fun! We didn't win anything but who cares...

(Our last day there :( )
Wednesday the 23rd, we got back to the train station and headed up to Annecy. The journey wasn't too bad, although I had to go backwards (no bueno for my tummy) so I tried to go to sleep for the majority of the time. We had to switch trains in Lyon and thankfully we had a little bit of a break to grab some food (pizza...) and then we got on the little train to go up to Annecy. This part of the trip was much more enjoyable - the train was not full of people and we had an entire car to ourselves. We practiced our blackjack skills (we might as well get better, haha) and played about an hour's worth of Rummie.
When we got to Annecy, we could see our hotel from the train station, which is because it was built OVER the train tracks. haha.

(one of those rooms above the tracks was ours)
We got checked in and fell right to sleep. If I didn't know any better I would think that we have mono or something, we're so exhausted that we're sleeping all the time. So we slept in Thursday, ate a late breakfast and then went out to explore the little town.
Annecy is adorable! I absolutely loved the small town feel! They have a pedestrian street that is lined with shops and cafes - Looking down the streets you can see the mountains and then walk down to the lake...

(view from a cafe where we had lunch)

(Charlie and the lake :) )
So peaceful. Charlie and I decided to save money and just enjoy the town rather than paying lots of money to do some of the water sports or going over into Switzerland. Therefore we spent our days there just wandering around the town enjoying it as much as possible. :)





(yay?! we avoided it)

(Charlie, waiting for our vegetable pizza... :))

(The streets and restaurants along the canal)

Sunday the 27th we left Annecy and came back up to Paris, which is where we are know. Sadly I have some kind of bug?? so yesterday while doing laundry I got really really sick - hopefully its just the stomach flu, but I haven't been up to going out and doing anything. :( I wanted to go out to Versailles today, but I'm so weak - I've had to come to terms that its not happening. sigh.
At least we have a good view from our hotel room for me to look at

We leave tomorrow (the 30th) in the afternoon Paris time for Thailand! Hopefully we'll have some internet access!! We're excited to go back to where we started our relationship 4 years ago! It'll be a great way to end our trip. We'll be leaving midnight the 13th/14th of August from Bangkok and we'll get home to LA midmorning the 14th.

We love you all and miss you tons!!! I hope to get to post again while we're in Thailand!

before I leave, here is our most recent picture of the puppy litter:

We're so excited to come home and get him!

I'm a slacker... :(

Part 2
Friday the 11th, we actually decided to spend the day doing laundry at the little laundry mat by the hotel. Charlie went down there with the big loads of laundry while I stayed in and washed stuff in the sink and got lunch... stuff like that. After 2 1/2 weeks of traveling we needed a day to regroup and feel more clean and organized. That night we went back to this little Italian Bistro that we had discovered, its really good food! Although a vegetarian salad for them includes big slabs of dead fish... their pasta is really really good. :)
(Also this is the day that our new little puppy back home in California was born, he's one of 2 boys in a litter of 6 and he should be coming to live with us early-mid September



we got the email just a few days later and are soooo excited!!!! So I had to include you all in on the new addition (a dog) to our family! I'll let you know more when we know.)


Saturday the 12th we decided to enjoy a light breakfast and then walk over the the Jardin des Plantes - which is great, they have botanical gardens, a menagerie (zoo) and tons of trails all over the place.

(I'm a fan...)









(Reptile house... but its still pretty - haha)

(My little friend who was quite animated for supposedly being nocturnal)



We spent most of the day there, just walking around/exploring. It is really beautiful and peaceful.

Sunday the 13th we went and walked the Champs de Elysees, we took the metro to the station that lets out right at the Arc de Triomphe.







(we didn't go in, no worries)

Monday the 14th was Bastille Day, which is France's Independence day! Its a huge deal here, with festivals in every village, a parade down the Champs de Elysees, music concert on the Champs de Mars (the grassy area by the Eiffel Tower) finished off with a firework show off of the tower. So Charlie and I decided to join in the celebrating since we missed 4th of July back home. We got up relatively early, got breakfast in the hotel (overpriced) and headed out to the Champs de Mars to spend the day there. It was a gorgeous day - but HOT!!!!!







(our future home - these apartments/condos look right at the eiffel tower!)
We went through several water bottles by mid-afternoon and had to move to an area with more trees because we could feel ourselves burning... and we burnt pretty bad. :( We walked out of the park area down a street to get food for lunch and then dinner - sandwiches and pastries are always a safe thing for me to get so we're enjoying them as much as possible. :)

(again, I can't help but love them and give into them when they're looking at me behind the class counter...)

(We bought little journals, which Charlie spent most of the afternoon writing in)

(sunset)

So after being there for 12 hours, hearing James Blunt sing 3 songs during the concert and watching the sun go down behind the tower, it began to sparkle... from what Charlie said they did it for a special occasion a while back (I'll have to ask him which one) and everyone liked it so much that they've kept it going... so as the sun goes down it sparkles! Pretty awesome if you ask me! We endured the drunk AMERICAN teenagers who thought smoking pot while drunk would be an awesome idea... :\ idiots... really, one girl got so sick she stubbled INTO my back on her way to barf up her socks, while all the French people looked at them with disgust. I've decided that smoke of any kind (unless its a fire in a fireplace...or fire pit to roast marshmallows), I can't stand! My eyes were no bueno by the end of the night... but anyways... after the music ended the attention turned to the tower, the flares went off to warn planes not to come around because of the show - then boom! The show began, and wouldn't you know that we were on the wrong side of the tower to actually see the fireworks??? :( We ran, along with the other 20,000 people to try to get around to the front over the bridge to get a good view... ya, it didn't work - so we went back out to the grassy area and tried to get as good of a view as we could. Granted any view of the tower is good, but it was quite disappointing. The show was amazing, and they played the entire last piece of an opera, I forgot the name, but it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!


(beautiful huh?)

(our view of the fireworks - before running back and trying to see from another angle)

Tuesday the 15th, we decided that staying still and letting our sunburn heal would probably be the best policy - thankfully I remembered my aloe vera because that is our new best friend!!! We watched odd movies on the television - Italian tv to me is a mystery? lol We slept on and off and I finally braved a hot shower on my back and got ready to go out to dinner at our Italian place for our last night - but it was closed (things here are closed all the time... must be nice for the workers... but it sucks for those of us you want to eat the yummy food. sigh) So we wondered around for a bit, on the hunt for a good meal and voila! we found Mediterranean food!!!!! I've never been so happy to see a falafel!

So I got a little "sandwich" and was in Heaven! Funny how much food can affect one's mood and outlook on life. haha then we headed down and actually went into some of the shops around, I bought a little dress for Cannes and we then decided that the gelato place would be a good treat for the evening (after a day spent in pain from the sun..) To our happy surprise they had tons of yummy flavors, and now we wish we had discovered it sooner.


I love how they make it look all pretty too! :) I got banana and nutella (yes, nutella people, I'm an addict!) and Charlie got yogurt (like pinkberry) and kiwi. Wonderful!!! We walked down to a little park we had discovered and enjoyed our treats while soaking up our last night in Paris.


Wednesday the 16th was our last day there in the Latin Quarter, we were heading to Tours for a few days.


(view from our hotel room)
We packed most of our stuff the night before so we just woke up, got ready, ate breakfast and checked out. Thankfully we were able to leave our luggage there, since we had to check out at 10:30 and we didn't have to be at the train station until 3:00. We wondered around the area again, enjoying our time as much as possible. After a little bit we found a little bakery "boulangerie" and got some food for lunch - then walked over to the Pantheon and sat down on the steps to eat our lunch :) We had an excellent view of the Eiffel Tower. :)


(tarte with tons of veggies and french cheese - it was really good)

(our spot for lunch - Pantheon steps)
We decided to then walk to the Luxembourg Gardens and enjoy our eclaire



and then walk through the grounds and see the place. Its actually really really cool there! They have this big "pond"/fountain where kids can rent boats and have them sail around and its filled with families of ducks - which of course made Charlie happy. :)


As you walk around on the paths, it was interesting because they have a lot of more "modern" art on display and its right next to some very old statues and fountains all surrounded by established greenery and buildings.







I've decided that in these gardens and parks, one could seriously spend all day long walking around, eating a picnic, playing games or sports... its just so relaxing! This is what the lifestyle is like for many who live here, and I'm pretty sure its amazing!... and I'm going to miss it very very much when we get home. Anywho - we walked back to our hotel and picked up our luggage, said goodbye to our hotel





walked down our little street to the metro station and made our way to the train station to leave for Tours!



the train ride was only an hour long - which I slept through after reading only a page of my vogue (uk version of course). We got a taxi to the hotel, checked in and relaxed for an hour or so... traveling is quite stressful. haha We had to wait for the restaurant to open to eat dinner there at the hotel, we were a few miles out of the town - otherwise we would've walked to a market or something. The dinner was amazing though - they had NOTHING on the menu except for a selection of French cheeses (which is a meal-ender) for me to eat... so I told the waiter that I'm a veggie and asked if there was anything that they could make for me? He said no problem, and a little bit later he returned with this amazing bread-like dish that was almost like a rizotto... mushroom creme wrapped in roasted red bell peppers and a potato cake of some kind... it was sooooo good. I'm always impressed by chefs who can do that - especially here where they obviously don't know what a vegetarian is. :\ We had excellent desserts, headed upstairs and fell promptly asleep. Its nice to get to sleep. haha

More on Tours later...