Ho-hum....more chateaux - Market day in Montbazon - How come all French people don't weight 800 pounds?

The French royals seemed to need a lot of castles .....one for the ex-wife, one for the current wife, one for the all important mistress and of course, the illegitimate children had to have a roof over their numerous heads!  The Chateau de Chenonceau is a Loire favourite and, it is easy to see why.  Everything about the place is perfect from the architecture, to the gardens, to the interior displays, to the organization of the place. It provides a very informative look back upon the French aristocracy as it evolved over the centuries.  The place even served as a field hospital during both Great Wars.  The wounded are reported to have fished out the windows, from their beds in the Great Hall, which in fact is a three story bridge over the River Cher.  We were told that the tour would take an hour and a half.  We took double that!

The on site restaurants were also quite special.  Our lunch took a tad longer there too than might have been recommended!  Damn they know how to cook!  Bread and water for dinner.

"Our" chateau is located outside of the town of Montbazon which held its market day today.  It could not hold a candle to a typical market day in Provence however, there was still enough wonderful produce and food products to get the mouth watering........notice a theme here?  We of course had to help support the local economy.

Tomorrow, we are off to Cognac for an appointment with Mr. Martin................Remy Martin ;-)

The pics are:  the royal town of Loches; "les amuses" from lunch today.......too bad couldn't find a McDonald's; the gardens at the chateau are so extensive that throughout the interior are MAJOR fresh arrangements ( note Brenda's "jaunty" headphones for the tour); Brenda stocks up on figs and cheese;  Queen Brenda I surveys her domain at the chateau and contemplates having the gardener disciplined for allowing the riff raff into her private garden; arriving at the Chateau de Chenonceau; our little lunch spot.   This damn program still drives me nuts as I can never get the pics in the proper order!!!!!!!