Tuesday morning dawned cloudy, but not rainy! We made a quick trip to the bakery to procure breakfast and baguettes for lunch before heading out. We'd saved the most anticipated castle for this morning so we could have plenty of time exploring the castle and the grounds. Chenonceaux is built literally over the river and has wonderfully large grounds and gardens. The bridge gallery was used as a hospital during WWI and the soldiers used the windows to fish out of. It was a little disappointing to see the front covered in scaffolding and an odd fabric with the castle depicted on it (this is what you would be looking at if all the scaffolding and draping wasn't here: enjoy!) but even the construction didn't lessen the beauty and our enjoyment of the gardens. On our way way out of the village we even found a cheese shop to make our lunch complete. 
Amboise was the last castle of the day, picked because we saw postcards and were impressed with it. Unfortunately the postcards depict the town more than the actual castle. Oops! A cold, windy day led to a short visit. The people in front of Amboise were some fellow tourists who took our picture in front of the castle. Unfortunately, the picture wasn't taken with my camera and I have yet to get photos from everyone else. 
And now I have seen the grave of Leonardo DaVinci in the chapel at Amboise. Apparently he was quite the favorite of the French king Francis I. The end of the day saw us in a cafe eating a tart tatin with pear sorbet and drinking lovely hot chocolate. I have to say, we met very few French people on this trip but started lots of conversations with fellow tourists.
Amboise was the last castle of the day, picked because we saw postcards and were impressed with it. Unfortunately the postcards depict the town more than the actual castle. Oops! A cold, windy day led to a short visit. The people in front of Amboise were some fellow tourists who took our picture in front of the castle. Unfortunately, the picture wasn't taken with my camera and I have yet to get photos from everyone else. And now I have seen the grave of Leonardo DaVinci in the chapel at Amboise. Apparently he was quite the favorite of the French king Francis I. The end of the day saw us in a cafe eating a tart tatin with pear sorbet and drinking lovely hot chocolate. I have to say, we met very few French people on this trip but started lots of conversations with fellow tourists.
Dinner very nearly made up for the disaster of the first night. It was simply delicious. Luckily the waitress was very patient with us and our lack of French.
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