destination: loire valley.

Happy Tuesday! I'm finally wading through the 1300+ photos from our European adventure and wanted to share the first two days of our getaway with you today! As a warning, these posts will be very picture-heavy, so if you'd rather turn through them on facebook, you can do that too. {I opted to show the full photos, rather than make normal collages because some of the fun details would get lost!}

After landing in Paris, {cv} and I hopped the train to Tours, a city in central France which is home to roughly 150,000 people. I also called it home during a study aboard program in the summer of 2006. Tours is special to us because we began our long distance days while I was studying here. It was also a stop on our French honeymoon, so we were thrilled to get back. We stayed in the charming Hotel Ronsard, just a few steps away from this magnificent corner of Tours called Place Plumereau. Before a yummy dinner at Les Papilles, we people watched while strolling my favorite little streets.

On our first full day in France, we powered up with croissants and headed out for a day of chateau tours via Loire Valley Tours. Though it wasn't the cheapest of adventures, it was absolutely worthwhile because we didn't have to worry about anything--food, entry fees, transportation, or wine. The van was small {it only seated 8!} and two of the other passengers were fellow Hoosiers, which made my day!

The beautiful chateau of Blois was our first stop--I loved the pattern in the windows below!

From there, it was on to Cheverny. {I should have allowed {cv} to keep his sunglasses on in this one!} This chateau is famous for its furniture. Take a peek at the beautiful pink+gold room...

The last stop on our tour was Chambord--a massive masterpiece complete with a double helix staircase. {cv} and I tested it out :)

To cap off our crazy day, we adventured out to visit my host mother from my study abroad days. {cv} had only heard stories of my time with her, so I was excited for him to actually meet her in the flesh. {Read an early post about her here!} My language skills could never compete with her 100+ mph French, so let's just say things hadn't changed. Multiple miscommunications later, we took a ride with an incredibly kind employee of the tourism bureau out to the little bistro she now runs...

Clearly, she wasn't scarred by my picky-eating habits during the summer I lived with her. She sent these interesting fried friends out to our table. {The picture isn't super clear because I had to be as inconspicuous as possible!} Suffice it to say, we will never forget our dinner at her Bistro du Lac. 

Chris caught me getting a few bisous from Maman Pat--just before she arranged a ride for us with two strangers back into Tours {!!!} It was an absolutely surreal experience to be back with her six years after my summer on Rue de la Grosse Tour. Even though she thinks I'm a pharmacist {wrong} and that we live on Long Island {wrong again}, it was so wonderful to see her :) {I also felt better because our angel from the tourism office affirmed the rapid speed of her French! VICTORY!}

Here are just a few street scenes from Tours before I say "au revoir" for today...

This last photo doesn't look like much, but it makes me so happy. I took it on the street where I lived in 2006 and where we had our favorite dinner of our honeymoon in 2010. I'd taken that walk countless times, but having {cv} there to share it with me means more than words could explain...

Sigh. Can we just go back? Our photos from Paris will be in the next installment! Yay!