More France

Since last writing, I've been through 2 cities in France. The first was Tours, in the Loire Valley. Tours was nice enough. But if I had to do it again, I'd go stay in one of the smaller cities - maybe Blois or Amboise. And, it would be more fun if I'd had a car... next time.

While in the Loire, I visited the final home of Leonardo da Vinci & an amazing Chateaux - Chenonceau.

Da Vinci's home was very interesting. He was brought there by a French King (I forget which one), because the king loved Da Vinci's work & wanted him to have a place to just create. When he moved there, da Vinci brought 3 of his paintings with him. One of them was the Mona Lisa. The king fell in love with the painting, and it's been famous ever since.

They also have several models of da Vinci's inventions, which are really cool to see in person. It's amazing to see all the things that da Vinci thought of, that are very similar to things that are in use today.

Next was Chateaux Chenonceau, which was really cool! I was getting kind of tired of museums & chateau, but this was definitely worth it. The grounds were amazing - the gardens were cool, and the Chateau extends across the river. I also found the kitchen & other areas used by the servants to be really cool.

My next stop was the city of Carcassonne, which is in Southern France - a little north of the Spanish Border. I went there to see the Midevil city - which is the largest midevil restoration that has been done in Europe. It was enormous - with 2 walls wrapping around the city, a Cathedral, and a fortefied castle within the walled city.

There were a number of restaurants & shops inside the midevil city - a little touristy. But, it was still cool to see a well-preserved midevil fortress.

Oh - and I learned an important lesson in Carcassonne: know where your hotel is. When I reached the train station, I had a general idea of where it was. I asked the information area, and they pointed me in sort-of the right direction. I say sort-of because it was a little bit off, which resulted in me hiking around residential neighborhoods for an hour with all of my stuff on my back (it was hot, and there were hills). I was looking for someone to ask, but all the shops were closed. Finally, I stumbled upon a hair salon - when I asked the lady where the hotel was, she pointed next door! :-)

Turns out, if you go the right way, it's only a 15 minute walk to the train station. Lesson learned.

After Carcassonne - I took the overnight train to Lyon. It was much more comfortable sleeping on a train than I expected. The bunks were actually long enough for me to stretch out, and there was plenty of space in there. I didn't get the best night's sleep, but I'll be able to make it through the day. :-)

Now I'm on another train - heading to Chamonix, a city in the Alps that is on the Italian border. I'm really excited to see the Alps.