A Three Day Detour in the Loire: Part II

"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return" - Leonardo da Vinci

Chateau de Chenonceau

As we had made the decision that we would visit inside only one Chateau in our two days in the Loire Valley I suggested Chenonceau without hesitation. I thought Emma in particular would enjoy this fairy tale chateau and I was aware that there was maze and playgrounds which are always sure signs that we would have a good day out. 

We were very happy to discover that the keep of the lawn signs were much less visible here and making our way straight to the maze we were able to play on the lawn and let the kids run wild. The kids, both big and small practiced there handstands, much to the amusement of the other visitors, and I know for a fact that there are people taking home holiday snaps of Rob and the kids.

From my internet searches I had believed that this maze would be more of a challenge than Villandry, but alas no luck it was easy peasy and I think that we have been spoiled with wonderful mazes in England. Still we had fun going and out all the different entrance, all leading into the middle and out again.

Today instead of making new friends I bumped into an old friend from my work days who I haven't seen in ten years. The odd thing was instead of this reunion taking place at the local shops back home we bumped into each other as we both ate at the same restaurant at the same chateau nearly nine thousand miles from home. It was a little surreal though a very nice surprise.

The Chateau itself was lovely and we were able to talk about how the need for fortified castles had given way to beautiful chateau and we talked of the renaissance for the first time, a theme we plan to explore more once we reach Italy in August. We enjoyed taking a look at the kitchen and talking about how different life would have been for the people who worked there and the people who lived upstairs.

The weather was still more cool than you would expect in July but it did not rain today and we were more than grateful. After we explored the Chateau and wandered down to the playground so that the kids could work off some excess energy we had a planning meeting. We still had the afternoon free, we didn't much fancy another chateau, we wanted something different.

Clos Luce

We had been tossing around the idea of Clos Luce for some time. Clos Luce is the former home of Leonardo da Vinci and is now used to house recreations of the wonderful inventions that the Master had thought up years before their time. The idea of a visit here struck a chord with Rob so with a few hours up our sleeve we head off on the direction of Amboise.

 We walked through the house quickly, seeing the room in which Davinci died, but other than gaining an impression of a home that would be more comfortable to live in than a stuffy chateau, the lasting impression left by Clos Luce are the inventions.

We saw a bicycle, car, tank, helicopter, hang glider, movable bridges, paddle boats and much much more. We enjoyed the displays in the gardens much more as they were hands on and the kids were in their element.

We paid an additional charge to see an exhibition on the garden, though we need not have as apart from a wonderful flying machine hanging from the ceiling mostly there were reproductions of da Vinci's paintings. On the other hand we really enjoyed see his paintings outside in the garden.

One of the great lessons I have learnt, I may have mentioned it before, is that rush is the enemy of adventure. I feel that we rush rush rush and this has limited many of our days out. I can easily imagine a full day here, with the kids trying everything, but with limited time unfortunately we had to disappoint them  ("sorry no paddle boats today but we have time for a quick play on the playground").

Luckily the playground has the best swing ever so they were not too disappointed. And there ends our days in the Loire Valley. Well not quite but I'm sure you don't want to hear about late nights packing luggage that miraculously spreads itself to the far corners of our accommodation. In the morning, after a quick visit to  a supermarket in Chinon for provisions for the road and for our two night stay, we were off to Puy du Fou for a much deserved break from our usual travel routine. And what fun we had too!