Shopping and castle-hopping

This morning, our tour director gave us a free morning to shop our way through Tours. So personally, I hit up the grocery store and pharmacy for those products that I can't find at home and most of the kids hit up clothing stores and whatnot in search of that one special thing to bring home.

So after that, we hopped on the bus to head to Amboise to meet a local guide, Aurélie, who took us on a tour of the castle at Amboise, which is only 1/5 the size of what it was at one point. It is also where Leonardo daVinci is buried.  (He was François I's friend and lived a mile down the road at a castle called Clos-Lucé.).

So after we saw the castle, we trekked back down the hill and through town to catch the bus again to Chenonceau, "the ladies' castle."  It stretches out over the Cher River so it's known for the one with the arches over the river. I love this castle and its gardens but it seemed like this heat wave of almost 100 degrees is affecting everyone's experience because we can hardly move without dripping sweat.

But we did find some respite from the heat when we had dinner in a troglodyte cave. I was proud of the kids for trying "rillettes" which is warm, fresh bread with yummy butter and pork spread. The idea of pork spread may turn some people off but I told the kids to at least try it and they did for the most part.

After dinner, back to the hotel for an early night because we are going to have an early start to head to Mont-Saint-Michel tomorrow. So time for bed and you'll hear more from me tomorrow hopefully...depending on the wi-fi situation.