hogglestock

Last summer I lost steam recapping my summer vacation on MyPorch and gave up the chronicle about half way through. I think I was trying to include too much detail and tried to do a day by day chronicle. This proved more oppressive than interesting for me and probably for you all as well. So this year I will post as much or as little as I think you might find interesting. And I will intersperse it with other stuff so it isn’t like being forced to watch someone’s vacation slides.

After a flight that literally and figuratively flew by, we landed at Charles de Gaulle on August 22nd and hopped a fast train to the TGV station just outside of Tours in the Loire Valley. On the train there were two female backpackers that reinforced every stereotype Americans have about Europeans not showering enough. I have no problem with a little musk here and there, especially in the European context, but man oh man, did those ladies reek. Even the locals on the train were covering their noses.

We picked up our rental car without any problem and then drove to Amboise where we picked up our friends Ron and Barry at the train station. The weather was warm and sunny. Hot in the sun but really, really pleasant in the shade. We started things off with a little lunch on a lovely green garden terrace before we walked around town a bit and visited the chateau in Amboise.