France - Loire Day 02 - Chateau Amboise

At the base of the chateau, it's imposing structure is self evident. This chateau and Clos Luce and this chateau had a passage between the two.

It was taken by the French king in the 1400’s and was rebuilt. It became the capitol of the French government for some time. Chateau Clos Luce and this chateau had a passage between the two.

After the climb up the stone street through the lower gate, the chapel stands at the Southern side. It was connected to the castle structure but much of It was destroyed during the French revolution. 

 

 This is the inside of the chapel. There is a spot inside where Leonardo da Vinci is buried.

The massive and ornate fireplaces gave us good warmth but only if you were close enough.

 

 A model of the Chateau as it exists today.

 The black parts are also how it exists today and the red parts are what did exist here at one time.

The cathedral like ceilings made it seem like we were in a forest.

This guard’s walk has a nice view of the river.

One of the bedrooms.

A bedroom and lounge area.

The gardens and remains of the back wall were interesting.

The two main towers have extremely wide ramps. They were designed so that horses could ride up and down.

From 1848 to 1852 Abd Al-Quadir was “held” here, with his entourage and family, for resisting French colonization of his native Algeria. Some of his family and entourage died here and were buried in this part of the grounds.

One of the many pretenders to the French crown, the comte de Paris Henri d’Orleans, maintains the chateau which is still his personal property.

France - Loire Day 02 - Chateau of Close Luce

Clos Luce in within easy walking distance of downtown Amboise. Built in the middle of the 15th century, it was bought by King Charles the eighth for his wife Anne be Bretagne. Later it was used by Francis the first. More on that later.

 The courtyard and building are small but the space is well used.

 This is a painting of the death of Leonardo da Vinci. It is a copy of the one done in 1818. The painting is significant because...

 Here is where he died. He was invited here by Francis the first and lived here with many of his students from 1516 to 1519.

 A local cat found the bed very comfortable.

 This glass cup is exquisitely made and painted.

 Its many rooms are sparsely furnished. There are some models of Leonardo's inventions in the basement.

 This is Leonardo's last will.

 The chateau also has a few acres of grounds which has interactive Leonard inventions, which is great for kids and the young at heart.

 There is also an exhibition on Leonardo and the time he lived in. After being in the Louvre it paled as most paintings and sketches were copies but still somewhat interesting.

 Here is one of the interactive inventions, his turtle tank.

The chateau also has an attached eatery, and two other restaurants on the grounds. It also has a nice view of the Chateau of Amboise...

France - Loire Day 02 - Anne de Bretagne Restaurant

 After looking at the market it was time to eat. We chose Anne de Bretagne in the heart of Amboise. This is the upstairs area as lots of people were already digging in downstairs.

 We started with some cider. Bouche is dry, doux is sweet and bruit is sparkling. I like all the French cider because its low in alcohol content (2 to 4.5%) so the taste of the apples comes through more. There are also many producers of it in the North West of France than you could shake a stick at.

 My wife had a large tomato and lettuce salad.

 I had the rabbit terrine with cornichons (pickles).

 My wife then had a crepe with ham, mushrooms, cheese and poached eggs. Crepes for meals are made with buckwheat while dessert crepes are made with white flour.

I had meat of some sort with potatoes.

The portions are huge in this place so work up an appetite before coming.

France - Loire Day 02 - Market Day

The next day was market day in Amboise. They had a fantastic assortment of items.

One of the big reasons we liked shopping for food in France was this, they specialize. If you can unfocus through the glare on the glass, you can see cheese. Just cheese. Awesome local cheeses but since he just sells the one type of product he knows his stuff.

Cured meats done many ways with many meats.

Seafood either local or shipped in fresh.

Oysters. Just oysters but you can see how many different kinds and areas they are from with the little signs.

Chicken anyone?

Olives...all kinds.

A soap seller with dozens of different smells and a gentle smell not one that slaps you across the head.

There were also clothes and miscellanea sellers too. I almost bought a CD of someone with my last name who had an album of dancified reggae hits, played on his accordion. Almost.

A nice view of the old bridge going to the North bank.

Live chickens anyone?

France - Loire Day 01 - Auberge de Launay Restaurant

The place we were staying at near Amboise, Auberge de Launay, had a restaurant attached and boy was it good. The wood fireplace gave it a great ambiance.

 My wife started with chesnut soup with a terrine of fois gras in the middle and a glass of Chemin Blanc.

 I had a plate of fois gras with a sweet sauce.

 My wife then had lamb medallions with minced mushroom in a red wine sauce. She also had a glass of Cabernet Franc.

 I then had the river trout on braised greens and sweet potato chips.

 Then came the cheese plate. No this wasn't all for us! We did get to choose an assortment of three each so we diversified between local and domestic.

Then we each had the tarte tatin with clementine oranges. Highly recommended to eat here.

France - Loire Day 01 - Auberge de Launay

 We took the train down to just East of Tours and rented a car with GPS (Peugot 3008) and drove to where we would sleep for four nights...Auberge de Launay.

 Its rates are extremely reasonable and their restaurant was one of the top places we ate at in France (posts to follow). So we ate there another night!

 Rooms are well furnished and comfy.

We didn't venture out before dinner that night so we relaxed with a local wine, a Chinon (Rose de Saignie) from Domaine Charles Pain.