We started the day sitting out on the patio with pastries from the
local patisserie." Just a relaxing morning with good people-watching.
Pam is starting to get the shakes from loss of girl-friend talk.
Wonderful as he is, Norm's a poor substitute in that category. However,
pastries always perk her up.
Once on the road....our first stop was Chateau de Chambord. Per Rick Steve's, it is six times the size of the average Loire castle and we walked every inch. Norm feels the exterior is an eclectically odd mishmash of styles - he also wanted to be an architect.
Pam is welcoming Norm into her house:
Norm doesn't want Pam to continue writing about our less than perfect escapades but Pam never listens....As we started walking up this huge staircase, Pam told Norm to wait there for a photo op and she ran back down the stairs. Here is the photo op that started it all.
Pam took the photo then ran back up the stairs but Norm wasn't there. She thought he must have continued walking up so she continued walking up - no Norm. Pam went to the top then all the way back down again (stairs must be worth double on the Jawbone exercise rating). Meanwhile, Norm was waiting for Pam's return and when she didn't he figured she got engrossed in photos...so he continued walking around the chateau. Time passed and Pam walked up and down the staircase three times looking for Norm, but also managed to take photos throughout all of the rooms. It was starting to feel like an episode of "The Twilight Zone".
Turns out that after she took the photo Pam took the entry to the staircase on the other side of the spiral - say, what? There are two entries to the same staircases! To worsen matters, Pam inadvertently went directly to the third floor, skipping the second. Now, Chambord is a REALLY big place, a maze of rooms seemingly without end, a Winchester Mystery House on super steroids. Finally, seeming eons later, Pam exited the spiral staircase on the fourth floor and out onto an outside patio for a third time just as Norm rounded the corner of a turret on the opposite side of the patio. Imagine them dashing toward each other with joyful arms outstretched, just like in one of those old ads. Believe it.
We celebrated our kismet over a glass of cold beer at the chateau cafe.
Here are some more shots we took around the chateau:
They had cut-outs for photo ops...kids probably loved them...we passed.
Our friends Bob and Jean Schaffer had just passed through this area
visiting chateaus less than two weeks before us. In one of the chateaus
Norm imagined he saw the initials "B.S." carved into an antique wooden
sideboard. Geez, way to go, Bob, having the gall to desecrate priceless
furniture in Gaul! Then Pam pointed out that Bob's initials are
actually "R.S.", not "B.S", so that what Norm was harping on about was a
bunch of BS. Well, okay, never mind. Still, a close shave for Bob and
his wayward penknife.
Weather here has been beautiful. It was 93 degrees today yet when we walked into Chambord it was like walking into a cool wine cellar.
Tonight we are having another wine and fixings dinner on the terrace of our hotel. Oui, Oui.
Tomorrow we're off to visit more chateaus. Wine tasting is iffy because of zero tolerance if you're stopped. That's all we need.
Weather here has been beautiful. It was 93 degrees today yet when we walked into Chambord it was like walking into a cool wine cellar.
Tonight we are having another wine and fixings dinner on the terrace of our hotel. Oui, Oui.
Tomorrow we're off to visit more chateaus. Wine tasting is iffy because of zero tolerance if you're stopped. That's all we need.
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