Day Six: Tuesday, Sept. 23rd, 2008
We were on the bus and ready to leave Paris by 8:30am today. It was another great weather day and by noon we stopped in the cute little town of Amboise. We had a couple hours here to poke around and have lunch. There is a chateau in the town, but we did not go into it. Instead we headed up the main pedestrian street in search of a place for lunch.
Since I didn’t know this would be the town we were stopping in and I didn’t bring the huge Pudlo book with me, we were left to our own devices when choosing a restaurant. We decided to walk the whole length of the street to figure out what our options were. We found an adorable little tea room on the main street and it was L’Ancree des Artistes. The menu was all in French and I tried out my limited language skills and managed to order 2 mouth-watering crepes, but I believe they called them galletes.
Mom had the Provencal version and I had the pays (or country) version which had ham, mushrooms, and cheese (I definitely had a pattern when it came to lunch crepes!). I can’t recall the ingredients in Mom’s crepe but they were presented beautifully on the plate. They were square shaped with the corners folded inward and a mixed green salad was served on the side, with the delicious vinaigrette dressing. With bottled water and coffee the total was €24.50.
The interior of L’Ancree des Artistes had maybe 10 tables and a couple tables outside. The exposed brick walls and sisal carpet with light wood tables and chairs and a variety of paintings on the walls made for a very inviting atmosphere. The street address is 35, rue Nationale, Amboise.
After lunch we were on our way to the Chateau de Chenonceau. The Chateau and surrounding grounds are very gorgeous. The interior of the chateau has beautiful furnishings and the gardens are well maintained. For us, the most interesting part of the chateau were the kitchens where the tools used back in the 16th century were displayed as they would have been used…think, knives, pots, pans, ovens, fireplace, bread oven.
We spent a couple hours at Chateau de Chenonceau and in late afternoon we made our way to our hotel in Chinon where we would spend the next 2 nights. After a quick walk around the lower part of the town we decided to go have a glass of wine at one of the cafes in the square next to our hotel. We each had one glass of white wine for the wine and a pleasant evening setting we paid a total of €5. I had to double check the bill…what a pleasant surprise!
Tonight was our second group meal and it was in the hotel’s dining room. I wasn’t quite sure how the meal would measure up, but it was pretty good. We started with a salad with ham and poached egg on mixed greens, actually the salad was the highlight of the whole meal, it was delicious. The main was guinea hen with vegetables, and potatoes, it was ok, but some people mentioned their guinea hen was a bit dry, I lucked out and mine was fine, but that’s what happens when cooking for a group of 25. The dessert was a charlotte caramel that was light and not too sweet. We didn’t have far to go after dinner, upstairs and to our room to get a good night’s sleep for exploring more chateaus the next day.
We were on the bus and ready to leave Paris by 8:30am today. It was another great weather day and by noon we stopped in the cute little town of Amboise. We had a couple hours here to poke around and have lunch. There is a chateau in the town, but we did not go into it. Instead we headed up the main pedestrian street in search of a place for lunch.
Since I didn’t know this would be the town we were stopping in and I didn’t bring the huge Pudlo book with me, we were left to our own devices when choosing a restaurant. We decided to walk the whole length of the street to figure out what our options were. We found an adorable little tea room on the main street and it was L’Ancree des Artistes. The menu was all in French and I tried out my limited language skills and managed to order 2 mouth-watering crepes, but I believe they called them galletes.
Mom had the Provencal version and I had the pays (or country) version which had ham, mushrooms, and cheese (I definitely had a pattern when it came to lunch crepes!). I can’t recall the ingredients in Mom’s crepe but they were presented beautifully on the plate. They were square shaped with the corners folded inward and a mixed green salad was served on the side, with the delicious vinaigrette dressing. With bottled water and coffee the total was €24.50.
The interior of L’Ancree des Artistes had maybe 10 tables and a couple tables outside. The exposed brick walls and sisal carpet with light wood tables and chairs and a variety of paintings on the walls made for a very inviting atmosphere. The street address is 35, rue Nationale, Amboise.
After lunch we were on our way to the Chateau de Chenonceau. The Chateau and surrounding grounds are very gorgeous. The interior of the chateau has beautiful furnishings and the gardens are well maintained. For us, the most interesting part of the chateau were the kitchens where the tools used back in the 16th century were displayed as they would have been used…think, knives, pots, pans, ovens, fireplace, bread oven.
We spent a couple hours at Chateau de Chenonceau and in late afternoon we made our way to our hotel in Chinon where we would spend the next 2 nights. After a quick walk around the lower part of the town we decided to go have a glass of wine at one of the cafes in the square next to our hotel. We each had one glass of white wine for the wine and a pleasant evening setting we paid a total of €5. I had to double check the bill…what a pleasant surprise!
Tonight was our second group meal and it was in the hotel’s dining room. I wasn’t quite sure how the meal would measure up, but it was pretty good. We started with a salad with ham and poached egg on mixed greens, actually the salad was the highlight of the whole meal, it was delicious. The main was guinea hen with vegetables, and potatoes, it was ok, but some people mentioned their guinea hen was a bit dry, I lucked out and mine was fine, but that’s what happens when cooking for a group of 25. The dessert was a charlotte caramel that was light and not too sweet. We didn’t have far to go after dinner, upstairs and to our room to get a good night’s sleep for exploring more chateaus the next day.
Day Seven: Wednesday, Sept. 24th, 2008
This morning started out cloudy and rainy but as the day progressed the weather got better. The first chateau of the day would be Villandry and we did not go into the chateau, but we did spend about an hour and half in the remarkable gardens there. I could have spent much more time there taking pictures. I took well over 100 pictures here alone and it was a drizzly cloudy day, I can only imagine how long I would have stayed if the weather was better. Honestly I think the pictures I did take during our time there were some of the best of the whole trip!
This morning started out cloudy and rainy but as the day progressed the weather got better. The first chateau of the day would be Villandry and we did not go into the chateau, but we did spend about an hour and half in the remarkable gardens there. I could have spent much more time there taking pictures. I took well over 100 pictures here alone and it was a drizzly cloudy day, I can only imagine how long I would have stayed if the weather was better. Honestly I think the pictures I did take during our time there were some of the best of the whole trip!
As we left Villandry the rain was stopping and we made our way to the next chateau which was Azay le Rideau. This was a fairytale looking chateau in a beautiful setting. The rooms have been restored to look as they did in the 16th century. We did the audio guide of the chateau and grounds and it was put together very nicely. 
By the time we finished touring the inside of the chateau the sun had come out and it was a great opportunity to walk around the grounds and the little pond. The audio tour lasted about 1 hour. When we were finished we walked up the street to the small town square that was full of pretty flowers.
We found a little café where we had a quick bite to eat. I had my first croquet monsieur and mom had a crepe. With a coffee and carafe of water the total came to €18.90. Unfortunately I didn’t take down the name of this café. And, since we had walked around the town a bit before eating we were pressed for time and it was probably the fastest lunch we ever ate. We were in and out of the place in 30 minutes.
We were back in Chinon by mid-afternoon and I decided to climb up to the Chateau of Chinon to check out of the views of the Loire River. It was €3 entrance fee and there was some renovation going on of the royal apartments so they weren’t accessible, but the views from the towers on the grounds were as spectacular as I thought they would be.
I met mom back at the hotel and took a short rest before we meet with the group for a historic tour of the medieval part of town. Patrick pointed out some interesting points about Joan of Arc and that the town of Chinon is a UNESCO heritage site.
After the tour we all walked to the Hotel Diderot at 4, rue Buffon et 7, rue Diderot (www.hoteldiderot.com) for a wine tasting. The hotel is owned by 2 brothers and a sister and one of the brothers, Laurent, welcomed us into this adorable hotel and led us in a terrific wine tasting. We had 5 wines to taste, 3 white and 2 red all from Chinon. We learned a bit about how French wines are classified (by region rather than by grape type…I know nothing about wines so this was new for me). 
Laurent has quite funny and entertaining as well as being very knowledgeable about wines, well; with my limited wine familiarity I thought he was very knowledgeable! I regret that I did not write down any of the names of the wines, but I liked the first white which was a sparkling wine and the third white which was a sweet wine but was not overly sweet.
After the wine tasting ended mom and I decided to go to dinner at L’Oceanic at 12, rue Rabelais in Chinon. This restaurant was listed in Pudlo and we had checked out the menu earlier in the day and liked what we saw. When we arrived we were greeted immediately but did not have a reservation. This was not a problem and we were seated in the small dining room with the bar. There was a second dinning room that looked to fit more people then the one we were in.
We both decided to have the €24 menu which was 4 courses, and yes, this was THE MOST MEMORABLE MEAL of the trip.
We started with a raspberry Kir aperitif that was the best Kir I had during the whole trip. I really liked the raspberry flavour. We were served an amuse bouche trio of lobster mousse with paprika, onion tarte and tiny crepe topped with salmon and cheese spread. All were excellent. I chose the melon starter which was another trio, a melon sorbet, frothy melon drink, and melon cubes wrapped in proscuitto. Mom had the sardine mousse starter. Both were delicious and a lovely presentation.
For our main dishes we both had the salmon. Not only was this salmon delicious, the presentation was phenomenal. The salmon was on a bed of pureed potatoes colored green (strange until I tell you what’s next). The salmon itself was shaped like a rose! I have absolutely no idea how this was done, was it shaped into a rose before cooking or after? I don’t know, but never in my life have I ever seen such a beautiful presentation. There were also tiny cubes of eggplant and sautéed cabbage on the plate. I am now kicking myself for not taking a picture of this dish, but the tables around us were full and I didn’t want to make a big deal and whip out my camera. I will never make that mistake again! And the meal wasn’t even done yet, there were still 2 courses left!
The next course was the cheese course and we both had the herb cheese served in a bowl, like a thick cold cheese soup with a toasted round of bread. The only way I can describe the taste of these cheese is fresh.
The finale (or so we thought) for me was an apple in pastry, think a square apple turnover in puff pastry with caramel ice-cream that tasted just like my favourite Starbucks coffee drink a caramel macchiato. Mom’s dessert was a pistachio ice-cream and chocolate mousse. Both desserts were terrific.
We wanted to finish (like all that food already wasn’t enough!) with espresso. We thought we simply would request two cafes, but the server asked what type of coffee we wanted and after describing the 3 choices to us we chose the Jamaican coffee. Oh My God…this coffee was served like another dessert. Each cup was served on a plate that resembled an artist’s pallet with about 10 different miniature sweets! My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers because the couple at the table next to us just smiled and laughed when they saw my reaction!
Now for the cost of this memorable meal…€74. We waddled back to the hotel after this meal and fell into bed with full stomachs.
Laurent has quite funny and entertaining as well as being very knowledgeable about wines, well; with my limited wine familiarity I thought he was very knowledgeable! I regret that I did not write down any of the names of the wines, but I liked the first white which was a sparkling wine and the third white which was a sweet wine but was not overly sweet.
After the wine tasting ended mom and I decided to go to dinner at L’Oceanic at 12, rue Rabelais in Chinon. This restaurant was listed in Pudlo and we had checked out the menu earlier in the day and liked what we saw. When we arrived we were greeted immediately but did not have a reservation. This was not a problem and we were seated in the small dining room with the bar. There was a second dinning room that looked to fit more people then the one we were in.
We both decided to have the €24 menu which was 4 courses, and yes, this was THE MOST MEMORABLE MEAL of the trip.
We started with a raspberry Kir aperitif that was the best Kir I had during the whole trip. I really liked the raspberry flavour. We were served an amuse bouche trio of lobster mousse with paprika, onion tarte and tiny crepe topped with salmon and cheese spread. All were excellent. I chose the melon starter which was another trio, a melon sorbet, frothy melon drink, and melon cubes wrapped in proscuitto. Mom had the sardine mousse starter. Both were delicious and a lovely presentation.
For our main dishes we both had the salmon. Not only was this salmon delicious, the presentation was phenomenal. The salmon was on a bed of pureed potatoes colored green (strange until I tell you what’s next). The salmon itself was shaped like a rose! I have absolutely no idea how this was done, was it shaped into a rose before cooking or after? I don’t know, but never in my life have I ever seen such a beautiful presentation. There were also tiny cubes of eggplant and sautéed cabbage on the plate. I am now kicking myself for not taking a picture of this dish, but the tables around us were full and I didn’t want to make a big deal and whip out my camera. I will never make that mistake again! And the meal wasn’t even done yet, there were still 2 courses left!
The next course was the cheese course and we both had the herb cheese served in a bowl, like a thick cold cheese soup with a toasted round of bread. The only way I can describe the taste of these cheese is fresh.
The finale (or so we thought) for me was an apple in pastry, think a square apple turnover in puff pastry with caramel ice-cream that tasted just like my favourite Starbucks coffee drink a caramel macchiato. Mom’s dessert was a pistachio ice-cream and chocolate mousse. Both desserts were terrific.
We wanted to finish (like all that food already wasn’t enough!) with espresso. We thought we simply would request two cafes, but the server asked what type of coffee we wanted and after describing the 3 choices to us we chose the Jamaican coffee. Oh My God…this coffee was served like another dessert. Each cup was served on a plate that resembled an artist’s pallet with about 10 different miniature sweets! My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers because the couple at the table next to us just smiled and laughed when they saw my reaction!
Now for the cost of this memorable meal…€74. We waddled back to the hotel after this meal and fell into bed with full stomachs.
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