Adventures in BLOIS?

This past weekend, three friends and I hopped on a train and embarked on an epic adventure in a little town called Blois… We basically picked a small city in the countryside between Paris and Tours, hopped on a train, and off we went. We arrived in Blois Saturday afternoon and spent most of the day walking around the town, playing Frisbee in parks, and wandering around for a while looking for our hostel (joking about how “BLOIST” we were…) Dinner was AMAZING, one of my favorite meals so far in France. A simple salad with lots of tomatoes and mozzarella and basil, followed by a HUGE chocolate fondue crepe with a whole banana inside and vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top. Is your mouth watering yet? It should be… We spent the night in a hostel. We laughed a lot in Blois – sometimes until we cried. It was surely an adventure, of sorts.

Sunday morning, we each paid an extra 4 euros to hop on a train to a neighboring town, Amboise. This was all based on the recommendation of a woman on the train the day before. She told us that if we really wanted a taste of the Vallé de Loire, we needed to see the castle and town of Amboise. She was right.

There was fog and bit of rain in Amboise on Sunday morning. We walked from the train station to a market by the river where farmers were selling flowers and produce and butchers and bakers and artists were selling their goods… there was a whole Spanish area where a woman was preparing Piella in a pot that was at least four feet wide… so yummy. I love street markets, I think they might be my favorite thing.

And the afternoon was even better… the sun came out and we had a picnic of cheese and fresh baked bread and chocolate under the chateau d’Amboise (that’s the castle…) It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and we napped in the grass for a while before walking up to explore the castle a bit. We walked up the hill and discovered the place where Leonardo De Vinci spent the last three years of his life – a beautiful manor with great gardens that cost 7 euros to get into… we didn’t venture inside ☺. But it was great to see. More parks, more Frisbee, a couple hot air balloons took off, and it was time for dinner and another crepe for dessert before we caught the train back to paris.

A great weekend… I loved getting a taste of France, and it just made me want to go see MORE of this beautiful country! And more of the amazing city I live in…

p.s. please note my dear friend Kaitlin in the background of what would have been
a perfect "Hi mom and dad, I'm in europe wearing a backpack"-picture.
Thanks for ruining the Christmas card, buddy.