On Sunday night, our tour group met in the lobby of our first hotel for an overview from our guide, Patrick Vidal. We also introduced ourselves, mentioned how many Rick Steves tours we had taken (some have taken as many as 8!), and why were excited about the tour. He also gave us the ins and outs of what to do and what not to do over the next two weeks.

We then did a walking tour around Chartres, followed by a nice three course dinner at Cafe Bleu...red pepper soup, chicken with a scallopped potato, and a chocolate brownie type dessert...and of course, wine! Great comfort food after our long journeys and the chilly weather.

The next day, Monday, was our first full day of the tour. We started the day with another quick tour of the town, followed by a tour of the Chartres cathedral. A 90-year-old gentleman name Malcolm gave us a detailed tour of the inside and outside of the cathedral, including storytelling of the stained glass windows. The poor guy was fighting a cold and fighting the noise of the construction in the interior of the cathedral... but he powered through! After that, we all went our separate ways in the cold, windy weather to have lunch in various restaurants, then met up with our group again in the afternoon to take a tour of the stained glass museum. It was okay, but I would not have chosen to do that if I was travelling on my own.

The next day (Tuesday) was our first day on the bus with our driver, Philippe, and we drove a couple of hours to the small town of Amboise, whose claim to fame is being the place where are Leonardo da Vinci spent his final days. Some members of the group decided to go to the Leonardo da Vinci house, but it didn't sound appealing to me, so I went to a bakery, grabbed a sammich and coffee, and just explored the cute little town. I eventually caught up with some other members of the group (a hilarious couple from Northern California) and decided to walk around with them for the rest of the time there. 

After that, we met up with the group again and took the bus to Chenonceau to see the famous chateau. Ever since my mom gave me a framed poster of this château as a high school graduation gift after taking four years of French, I've always wanted to see it. It was every bit as scenic in person! We walked around the château and checked out the various rooms and explored the grounds. A few of us even what through the hedge labyrinth, but it wasn't very challenging. 😁

Later that day, we took the bus to a small town called Chinon, to check into our cute boutique hotel that's run by an American woman and her French husband. All the rooms have a different style, with some of them even including bidets (not mine). After settling into our rooms, several of us opted to join our guide for an optional tour of the town to get our bearings, and later that evening we joined the larger group for a lovely dinner in a tiny restaurant dining room that included a tomato tart with greens, followed by beef cheeks with delicious vegetables and mashed potatoes, then some type of chocolate lava dessert. It was one of the most delicious meals I've had in years! We even have wines of every color on the table to enjoy with our meal (white, rosé, and red).

The next day included tours of more chateaus and gardens, and I will write about that in a few days! The last thing I will add is that I'm never eaten so much bread in my entire life! Every meal includes bread or some type of of baked good. It's a good thing we do so much walking on this tour.

Well, bonjour, France! It's been a minute.

Well, this is my first blog post in a loooooong time. I arrived in France yesterday by way of Paris, met my driver outside of the CDG airport, went to the Montparnasse train station (train + mall in one), then took a 1.5 hour TER train to Chartres. While at the train station, I visited a gift shop owned by the co-worker's husband. She was kind enough to gift me a small box of macarons, and one of her employees helped me purchase my train ticket to Chartres.

I wandered around town yesterday late afternoon and came upon the annual harvest parade which included in a parade of geese and sheep. It was really random but very cute. 

Not much was open, but I did find a kebab shop with a menu that brought out my inner and Beavis and Butthead. (I'll pass on the ass kebab, thanks.)

Haven't gotten much sleep over the past two nights due to travel, and there was an obnoxious American family upstairs from me who decided to argue at midnight. So I was awake, then started worrying about my dog, George. I began watching him on camera at his kennel back in Chicago and saw that he was all by himself in a pen. I guess they don't have a lot of dogs kenneled on weekends. Poor little thing looked so sad and lonely, so I emailed the kennel asking them to go love on him for a little bit. I just had to trust they were taking good care of him and try to go back to sleep.

After hours of choppy sleep, I finally got up and made my way into town on the hunt for a good bakery. They have breakfast downstairs in our hotel, but because it was so packed and nobody was wearing masks, I opted to go elsewhere.

Most shops are closed on Sundays here in Chartres, but a few things are open, including some restaurants, bakeries, and gift shops to accommodate us tourists. I got myself a cafe-au-lait, croissant, and pain aux raisins, and did a bit of window shopping and sightseeing. Felt very Breakfast at Tiffany's. It was before 10 am, so still very quiet and peaceful on the streets.

Later, after twisting my ankle a bit on the cobblestone streets (so much for my cute block heel boot idea), I came back to the hotel to rest a bit, met some of my fellow tour members in the lobby, then went out and about again to purchase a sweater and scarf, which I had planned on purchasing as souvenirs. The prices here are surprisingly reasonable...of course, I'm not in Paris!

I walked around a bit more, snapped a few random shots, and also nabbed my first France Geocache! 

Chartres isn't a very exciting town, but it is very cute.

The Rick Steves Loire Valley to Nice tour starts today, with our initial group meeting at 5pm. It's been 3 years since I've been to Europe and with COVID still hanging over our heads, this is going to be an interesting next two weeks. They are requiring tour members to be fully vaccinated and wear masks on the bus, but I'm still very paranoid, because I follow his travel forum and have read about other tours losing members due to COVID. Basically, if I contract COVID while on the tour, I have to leave the tour and will be stuck in whatever city we are in. From what I've heard from other tours, the meals together are very tricky, so I am going to see where I can do take away/takeout as much as possible. I also just recently got the bivalent booster, so hoping that will help. 

Will post more in a couple of days as I start exploring more and flexing my Français.