Hello from LONDON, ENGLAND everyone! I have always wanted to be a Brit and now I can be! Our last day in France was very long and involved a 3-hr trip outside Paris! The places we went to were really cool though! You can read all about it below!
Friday, August 2nd, 2019
We started today off by waking up EXTREMELY early (like 6:15 am!) because we needed to be at the bus stop for our out-of-city adventure by 7:15 am. We took the subway to the stop, which was not too far from the Louvre and hopped on the bus, which was one in a row of 8, at the stop. We were going to the area of the Loire Valley, where the two Chateaus we were visiting, Chateau de Chenonceau and Chateau de Chambord are.
The bus ride to the areas was about 3 hrs long and since it was very early in the morning, consisted of sleeping. We stop at a gas station about an hour in where we got a croissant and juice for our breakfast, before getting back on the road for another two hours. (I slept almost the entire time)
The first Chateau, Chateau de Chenonceau, was a castle perfectly fit for a tiny princess like me. The French were not very tall people back then, so the beds are incredibly small and about as long as I am tall. The castle had around 4 or 5 bedrooms, a kitchen, two extragavant garden areas (for different wives), and an area that included a military hospital. This Chateau was lived in by many different people, including Catherine de Medici after her husband, King Henry II’s death. It was also built on the river which makes the castle seem like it has a moat. We ate lunch at this chateau before leaving. I had vegetable soup and fruit salad as I needed a change of pace from the daily meals with french fries I was having. (I love fries but sometimes you can have too much until you feel sick)
The last chateau we saw that day, Chateau de Chambord, was another hour drive away. It inspired the castle from Beauty and the Beast (both animated and live action versions) and is 500 years old, this year! This chateau truly did earn its name of a “castle” it was much more grandiose than the other one and had a double helix spiral staircase that takes you all the way up and down to its four floors. It is decorated with geometric shapes and served as King Francois I’s hunting lodge and was inspired with Leonardo’s DaVinci’s spirit. The garden and grounds are so big that you could rent a golf cart to drive around the whole thing and there were shops by the entrance. Since it was a hunting lodge, there was a trophy room with the skulls and antlers of bucks and taxidermied animals such as rabbits and guinea fowl in one room. The terrace areas allowed you to see the extensive decorations on all the towers and views of the entire landscape.
At the end of our tour, we had a wine tasting in the trophy room where we sampled two white wines and one red wine. I found out on this trip that I am not really an alcohol person and found the wines to be just okay. After we visited Chambord, we walked back to the entrance where the pop-up shops were and purchased a handmade mini rabbit candle (we all have a thing for rabbits). We also stopped for ice cream (I had mint chip for the first time in a while. It was extremely minty) and my dad got a lemon granite, of course.
We then went back to the bus and got ready for a 3 hour drive back to Paris, which consisted of more sleeping, playing games on my phone, and connecting to the wifi so I could check my social media. We arrived back at the tourist agency at around 8 pm and made our way to dinner.
For dinner, I wanted to go back to Le Relais de l’Entrecote because it was the best meal I ever had and I wanted to have it one last time. It was just as good, if not, BETTER, than when we first arrived! For dessert, we ended up getting a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake was so soft and ooey and warm; it was basically perfect. I highly reccommend this restaurant! Everything they have is amazing!
After dinner, I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower up close one last time, as we were leaving the next day and I had not seen at night up close. So, we took the subway station to Trocadero and made a 10-15 minute pit stop as we all admired the beauty of Paris and the Eiffel Tower at night. We then made our way back to our hotel and got ready for bed. I already miss that beautiful city and monument. Thank you Paris, I hope to be back one day!
Thank you all for reading our last Paris blog post. I am still so sad to have left that magnificient city and to be going home VERY soon but am forever grateful for the memories I am creating and adventures I get to have with my family. The world outside of my house is absolutely spectacular ❤
Ashley's Travel Diaries 