Two tours, two days, too much

It’s 10:30 on Tuesday evening and I’m enjoying a glass of wine I bought from a winery and some biscuits from a highly recommended bakery. That’s a great end to two long days touring the countryside.

Yesterday was tiring as I had a 12+ hour long tour of the Loire valley. The French countryside is beautiful and the castles are enormous. We went to three in total. Ambiose, Chenoceaux and Chambord. All very nice.

The best part of the tour was our visit to Plou & Fils, a winery that has been handed down father to son for 500 years. The current owner is 25 and has total passion for his vineyard. He gave us a quick tour of the wine cave (not a cellar, a cave that was dug out by his ancestors) and showed us how they make certain wines. It smelled good in there. Afterwards, we lined up for a wine tasting and he gave us a sample of the wines. This was before lunch, so I got quite a buzz going and ended up buying three bottles. They were only six euros each and you cannot buy this wine outside Europe.

Now, on to today. I have no energy to blog about the castles. I’ve seen too many of them and I don’t want to see anymore. Oh wait, I had to see Versailles today. Uh oh.

This morning I had my other tour in Paris. This one took me to Giverny in the morning and Versailles in the afternoon. As I didn’t really care for Versailles, I will just talk about Giverny. Wow, Claude Monet’s garden there is so pretty. The lily pond is to die for. The tree leaves that gently fall into the pond, the lily’s that are still present, and the reflection all add up to a spectacular view.

I can see why Monet loved this place. You gasp when you see the way the morning light hits everything.

I found a great place to have lunch called “Hotel Baudy.” It was quiet and only locals were eating there. I ordered the onion soup and goat cheese stuffed with fresh peppers and mushrooms. Oh, and wine since it’s cheaper than anything else! It was a tasty lunch for sure.

When I got back this evening I did a little shopping and found a cute pair of italian leather boots from a department store called “Le Bon Marche.” Ah, new shoes!

I then hightailed it to a river cruise company. I was hoping to get on the boat that gives you the view of the Eiffel tower when it is being lit and sparkling. I got there just in time and took an amazing hour long ride. If ever in Paris, definitely do the night cruise, everything looks great lit up.

On the cruise we passed by all the big monuments and when you went under the bridges, the people on the bridge would wave or try to start conversations with you. We even passed by a small park on the river where a dozen couples were waltzing to some man playing an accordion. Doesn’t that sound like what Paris should be?

When our boat floated by the Eiffel tower, my camera died. Whoops. Oh well. I still got to witness the light show. It’s very impressive. So much better than actually going to the tower and dealing with the crowds.

I’m off to drink my wine. Au revoir