Paris!

In an effort to catch up on the blog... I am going to stick to pictures with short headings:) Here is a re-cap of our trip to Paris in August! 

Eating a crepe in the park!

Arc de Triomphe

There were quite a few steps to the top... but totally worth it!

                    

Being in silly in our Air BnB flat!

Viewing the city from the open air bus!

                

                       

putting our lock on the bridge and throwing away the key!

              

Touring Notre Dome!

Enjoying some french classics... escargot, french onion soup, and some famous macaroons!

Dinner before Moulin Rouge!

What a great way to top off a wonderful day!

We did a walking tour in the neighborhood we stayed in.. Montmarte. 

The is the famous Amlia cafe from the movie... 

It was good luck to rub her breast...

This used to be one of the famous windmills that still remains in the neighborhood

A famous french book, with the key character being able to walk through walls.... very interesting!

This Montmartre Vineyards - it is used to generate money for the community, one of the last vineyards in the city... but apparently the wine is no good according to our guide

The tour ended at the Sacre-Coeur Basilica

Despite the drizzly rain, we wondered over to the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris' second largest public park after our walking tour

I got to experiment with the different settings on the camera and didn't have to worry about people in the way because of the rain... it was quite nice!

After a few days wondering around the city... we did an excursion outside of Paris of castle hopping and wine tasting!

First stop on the list was Chateau Chamboard  - Beauty and the beast Castle

It was built in the middle of forest as it was meant to be a hunting lodge... but the place ended up to expensive to get food and supplies to the castle, it was never used. It was also really really hard to keep it warm... so it has sat empty for most of its time. 

We went to the top of the castle and wandered around.. fun fact we learned was that the Mona Lisa was stored here during WWI and WWII. There was a plane that was suppose to crash into the castle, but at the last minute diverted and crashed out into the front year (in the picture above.)

On the way to the next stop we say some good sight seeing opportunities.... 

 Saw the place where de Vinci was buried....

it was all blue sky and sunflowers from here on out... no more rain!

The next full stop was a working vineyard and castle. The family that owns it and works the vineyards, still lives in the castle. We got to do wine tasting before a family style lunch (which was delicious!)

We learned about the pigeon holes... each hole used to represent an acre of land. Sales of land and farms were based on the number of pigeon holes in the pigeon coup. The saying 'I was really pigeon holed' comes from here. Basically when they sold land they were suppose to fill in the holes, but they didn't always do this. So when they sold the land and didn't fill in the holes, the new owner got screwed because they paid for more than what they actually got. 

The last place was the beautiful Chateau Chenonceau!

It is known as the castle for the ladies, with several queens and mistresses having lived here. 

It was one of the first places that had a garden with both vegetables and flower... it was a sight to see!

We did a mini wine tasting in a cellar..

It is by far the prettiest sight in the whole of France!

It was built over the river Cher

Here is a view from the balcony looking back at the land. You can see the 2 floor gardens on the right and left. The queen had one and the previous mistress had one. 

We gave equal treatment to both and got a picture with each :) They were both gorgeous 

    

Being silly before heading back to the bus!

Overall - Great Trip!