Visitors from Australia: part 2

Mum, Dad, and Célestine

On the Wednesday that my parents were with us we visited Loches and Montresor. In Loches we took them to see the not too long ago rediscovered Caravaggio paintings, and in Montresor we visited the chateau.

One of the drawing rooms at Montresor.
The chateau is a real 19th century time capsule

As Susan wrote before, on Thursday we visited the garden at la Chatonniere, stopping along the way at a restaurant "Croc & Broc" in le Hay. This is a funny little place, being a second hand store and restaurant combined. The food is good, but the brocante I am not so sure about.

My mother and father at la Chatonniere.

Friday was Tour de France day, full of noise and bustle, and added to by visiting the back of Chenonceau. It was a long and tiring day, so I think the parents were rather glad that on Saturday Susan and I had to work, leaving them to their own devices all day. We did manage to get out together, eating at le Twenty on Saturday evening

Mum and Dad in full Tour de France frenzy

Sunday was the end of Mum and Dad's holiday. We had a slow start to the day, visiting the potager in the morning. That afternoon the three of us drove to Tours to catch the train to Charles de Gaulle airport where they were catching the plane back to Sydney (from there they caught the bus to Canberra, making it 38 hours door to door).

It was good to have them here again - they were last here in June 2007, and it was great showing them the improvements we have made in the past 4 years, and giving them a better idea of what life in France is like for us. We do our best with the blog, but it isn't the same as being here.

Simon