Lunch in St. Germain

Discoveries on foot

Les Berges, a mile-and-a-half-long greenway pedestrian park next to the Seine, is an incredible collection of activities for kids and adults. It's kind of like a Parisian High Line, but designed for running and biking as well as walking.

The park starts next to the Musee d'Orsay pedestrian bridge.

There's a climbing globe.

Teepees you can rent for birthday parties.

Free pilates classes (courtesy of Sandie).

I'd been looking forward to running in Les Berges, so we walked over on Sunday morning. Keith and I wanted to run and Sandie was walking, so we agreed to meet in an hour.

These photos are a poor representation of all the wonderful facilities there, and it's all beautiful, inviting and creatively executed.

We ended up in the Tuilleries!

A wonderful display of powder puffs

Fountain and foxgloves

Paris, arrivals and first looks

 Thinking that a rental car might be a great way to get around Paris? Don't do it -- ever, ever, ever. Even if you've driven through lots of busy, crazy cities, don't be tempted. Find another way to get around Paris.

Once we got there, we found plenty to be happy about. We had lunch at a wonderful bookstore in our neighborhood.

Many of the neighbors were drinking wine (and smoking) on their balconies, so we joined in.

We went to Charles de Gualle airport to fetch Sandie, and Keith took this great video.

 We took Sandie to all of the sights and the weather was perfect. We walked for miles.

 

 Our first order of business was a tour of wine bars through the Paris by Mouth website.

 Aaron is an American who lives in Paris and writes a wine blog called Not Drinking Poison in Paris. Aaron took us to three wine bars in the 10th arrondisment and we tried five different wines, with snacks! It was fantastic -- I could have done one of those tours every day.

Aaron sent us an email summarizing what we drank, saying things like "After a few swirls in the glass this bottle began to show a true Morgon nose, pitched somewhere between kirsch and cough syrup. A fine example of the minerality, structure, and piercing cherry fruit of great cru Beaujolais. (Worlds apart from the industrial beaujolais nouveau swill that ruined the region's reputation.)"

Château de Villandry

Villandry, famous for their incredible gardens and grounds, was our final Loire Valley castle visit on Monday May 18. It's difficult to describe such a huge, spectacular place--I keep typing and deleting because my puny little words just aren't grand enough.

The ornamental gardens

Keith

The gardens are designed to be viewed from above, and they direct you to start the tour from the Belvedere terrace, the perfect place for photos.

 We spent a couple of blissful hours exploring the gorgeous gardens, which continued over a couple of football fields.

We all vowed to go home and work harder on our own gardens.

My favorite, the sun garden.

The potager garden

Finials

Chapel getting roof repairs

Fountain closeup

The perfect place for a kiss

Ode to purple

Oh yeah, there's a castle here!

Amboise castle and a birthday

One of our party had a birthday on May 16 and we devoted the day to her wishes, which involved everyone enjoying themselves.

 We toured the Amboise château, built by none other than Francois I in 1515 -- the 500th anniversary festivities begin in a few weeks!

The castle was built high on a hill, so the views of Amboise and the Loire were incredible.

Inside the castle, we were drawn the views below.

We, however, were celebrating a mere 50-something anniversaire. The birthday girl had chosen a lovely local restaurant which served us amazing food, and the service was perfect. 

Château de Chenonceau

Chenonceau is built over the river Cher

Arguably the most spectacular château in the Loire Valley, Chenonceau was built in 1513 soon became King Francois I's gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Diane had a bridge built across the river Cher. Later, Francois I's wife, Catherine di Medici, reclaimed the château and built galleries on the bridge.

Stealing a kiss by the window

In 1733, the château was acquired by Claude Dupin and his beautiful wife Louise, who held a literary salon there with writers, artists and philosophers like Voltaire and Jean-Jaques Rousseau.

Louise Dupin

The château's exhibits tell great stories about Louise, such as her determination to write an encyclopedia proving that women were equal to men in all ways. Louise saved the château from destruction during the revolution because so many locals respected her.

View from the gallery

We were very moved when we learned that the château was a hospital in the Second World War, with beds in the galleries -- can you imagine waking up in such a beautiful place? The men often fished from the gallery windows.

Incredibly, the Cher river provided a border between the Nazi-occupied North of France and the "free" South, so many people passed secretly between the zones through the castle!

Fireplace with extra ornamentation

Hedges were just the right height!

The gardens of Chenonceau were fabulous too, with a fantastic but not too challenging maze.




All of this history made us thirsty so we stopped at Les Caves du Père Augustin.

Another great sign

Salut!

Keith's balloon adventure (aka the montgolfier)

Balloon rides are very popular in the Loire Valley, so Keith decided to give it a shot. Sadly, no one else in the party was interested in joining him. Takeoff happened at 6:15 am next to the river.

The sunrise over the Loire

Before inflating the balloon

The crew assembled the balloon and inflated it in about 30 minutes. Eight passengers waited to board the basket.

Almost ready

Three other balloons launched nearby

This video shows the takeoff.

 The remaining shots were taken by Keith from the balloon.

Over the bridge and the Amboise castle

The mist in the sun

Over a field

Someone's modest chateau

After landing, it deflates

Here's a group shot taken by the pilot with a selfie stick:

Keith had a great time on the flight and would love to do it again!