Our plane left LAX at 3:30 p.m. on Friday and we arrived at our hotel in Amboise, our first destination, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.  Admittedly  that includes an 8-hour time change, but nevertheless that 28 hours was a VERY long day.  And some of that day went about as smoothly as sandpaper.  But that’s a story for another day.  We flew non-stop to Paris and after a 4-hour layover (the train station is right in the airport – how cool is that!), we caught the fast train to Amboise.  With only 2 stops along the way, the 140-mile trip took just over an hour and most of the time we felt like we were flying.  But the farmland we flew by was gorgeous!  I felt like Sting could step out at any minute with a sweeping rendition of Fields of Gold!  We first noticed those beautiful yellow fields when we were about to land in Paris.

From the train, those fields of gold flew by at about 150 miles per hour! The guy at the rental car place told us the fields are not mustard as we thought, but they use it to make cooking oil and for feeding cattle.  I’ll have to check into that a little more.

When we finally got to Amboise, first we picked up our red Fiat 500 rental car – it’s the cutest little thing, and I do mean little!. Then we checked into our hotel, which is actually a B&B and has only 4 rooms.  Our room is really charming and has all of its original character from the 18th Century. From our 2nd floor window we get a peak of the edge of the Chateau de Amboise, one of the chateaux on our list.

After we checked in, we went out to scout out the main part of the village and find something to eat. We quickly ran across this statue right in the middle of our first little garden on our garden tour trip.

We’re only about 4 blocks from the downtown area – the whole village area is so walkable.

After dinner, we walked over to see if the Chateau is lighted and unfortunately it’s not. But there were lights on the bridge over the Loire River which runs through town right next to the Chateau.

On the way back to our hotel, we ran across this little pedestrian street. I just love these old streets with the glow of their old-fashioned street lights.

Tomorrow is the weekly street market in Amboise, the biggest and one of the oldest in the area. So we’ll Check that out after breakfast. Then we want to spend at least part of the day in the Chateau de Amboise. And then we’ll see what else comes up. Of course they’ve promised a little rain for us tomorrow – afterall it IS spring.  Oh yes, and Chuck wants to spend a bit more time tomorrow brushing up on his stick shift skills!