The Loire Valley, France

Back in April, we took a week-long trip to the Loire Valley in France.  It was an awesome and amazing trip!!  We drove and it wasn't bad.  There was no traffic in France.  I absolutely loved the trip.  We spent one whole day seeing castles.  We also saw local sights (by the town we stayed in), and relaxed some.  One day, we took the train to Paris for the day.  I've already posted about that (our trip in 2017) so I won't share any new Paris pics.

The castle above is in Sully-sur-Loire, and it was only 10 minutes away from our Airbnb!  I loved this castle.  It wasn't crowded, was easy to find, and had lots of free parking.  We toured the inside of this one.  The pic of the red bed a few photos down is from inside this castle.

These two pics, above and below, are of the breakfast in our Airbnb. It wasn't included in the rate, but you could ask for it if you wanted and pay the owners when you checked out.  On most days we were out and about early, but we had one day right before we left where we slept in and got this breakfast.  It was SO good!

Below is the castle in Sully-sur-Loire again.  My favorite.

 Above is a fresh bread and baguette vending machine, in the middle of nowhere in a field by the side of the road.  Our whole family loved this.  We stopped a few times.  Lol.  We got baguettes and French butter (from the store, sadly, not a vending machine) to spread on them; so good.

Below, a random small castle in a town we visited.  Springtime meant all the blossoms were out.

Above, Château de Chambord.  We didn't go inside this one- we were content to look upon it from the outside.  We paid 6 Euros to park, walk around and take pics.  Very stunning in real life.  It's HUGE.  The pics don't do it justice.

 Above and below, Château de Chenonceau.  We did go inside this one- you can't see the outside or grounds at all unless you pay.  So we paid for that and for going inside.  A huge rainstorm struck as we were outside, walking the grounds to get to the castle (there are huge grounds).  All the tourists were soaking wet and vying for space in front of the fireplace when we got inside.  Lol.  My pics from inside are unremarkable, so I won't bother sharing them.  If you've watched the TV show Reign (lol), you'll recognize a lot of names from this castle, the one above, and others in the Loire Valley.

Small house on the grounds at Chenonceau, below.  There's also a maze that the kids enjoyed (on the grounds).

Another castle.... but I forgot which one.  Oops.  We saw so many.  Some were just from the road so I don't have good pics.  But it was a lot of fun going castle-hunting.  We also got some delicious pastries and went to a Michelin-starred restaurant.  Those pics were all taken on my phone and I can't find where I put them.  But later I'll share pics of my fave castle we visited, Château de Cheverny.  We spent so much time there it deserves its own post.

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