sb fancied the look of the viticulture museum, and there were several other museums within easy walk of the old town, so we thought we would go to tours. this was a mistake! all the museums were shut – although labelled open in the guides and pamplets. humph! there was a post office, so sb asked – in french – for a stamp for a letter she sent to sailing friend, and then we walked into the old town, and found somewhere lovely to have lunch just off the main square. the food was really lovely, and the girls behaved really well. hmmm, lovely! we also found a drink bb will have without fuss – syrup of strawberries with water. phew!
we then wandered around the old town a bit and then the riverside and returned to the museums – all still shut. humph some more, and a quick shop stop, where sb bought something and bb cried as there was nothing in her pricerange. BUT she didn’t strop, so that is an improvement. we bought icecreams to perk us all up, and then found an exhibition near one of the museums free and open, on animals who are used to describe tools. a bit odd really, but we were the only ones in there, the lady at the desk really desperate we should be happy, and sb desperate to do the childs sheet. we managed nearly all of it, and sb wrote all the answers in french! the lady helped us with the few we couldn’t translate by pointing to the relevant sections and then i could work out what it was!
home – phew! in retrospect, amboise would have been a better choice, with the aquarium open and the clos-luce, where leonardo da vinci lived.
friday was chris’s choice – chaumont – chosen for the exhibition gardens. the weather looked dreadful as we set out. sure to rain, so we had jumpers etc. the way up to chaumont is prob half a mile up a hill by foot, and bb did it all without a fuss. in fact the whole holiday she walked well without a fuss, so received a ‘walking bonus’ to her holiday money, as sb received a ‘washing up bonus’. we prob averaged 3 miles a day. we started off looking at the art installations in the stables. i love art installations, they are so, well varied! one was tulips scanned and then printed in huge on acrylic – looked stunning, another was a video of a jain festival in split screens, and the third was diferent green squares. this was in the cowbyre though, and this was far more interesting, doing a bit of architectural detective work!
the girls opted to start in the festival gardens, and we didn’t think we would see many, but saw nearly all, as they loved popping into each one, finding something they liked or was weird and critiquing it! the weather turned scorching! we picked up some ideas from a few that we would like to pop into our garden, and a bit more achievable than parterres! so maybe we will get around to it… after 2 hours in the gardens – including a short picnic break – we went to the chateau and let bb lead us round at her speed – breakneck!! the chateau is wonderfully picturesque, with stunning views! another catherine de medici/diane de poitiers thing so we did a bit more thinking of the history.
back home and chris and i packed as much as we could so that the next day leaving would be easy – and it was! we also had a meal at the campsite bar. sb is getting more adventurous in what she will try, bb had frites… was v proud of sb, she wanted a spoon and asked for it in french, having rehearsed it with me. tent down and a long travel the next day. but we had picnic, dvd screens, books and stopped at the eurocity for a pizza – yummy. and eurotunnelled it home.
was it a fab holiday – yes it was! shame we lost 2 full days due to sickness tho. what would i do differently? well, amboise pehaps, and maybe chambord and a lumiere evening rather than villandry, even though we loved it. and a boat trip… recommending without a second thought – beaupark zoo and chenonceau top league, and villandry and chaumont much enjoyed also. eurotunnel!
and the speaking french? well, home educating is giving me more confidence to say it out loud and attempt to use it. i realise i have forgotten how to conjugate pretty much every verb, and prob don’t put the words in the right order, but actually most of my ‘conversations’ went ok and we muddled through. partic proud of sb for giving it a go on a number of occassions, and even bb did her merci and au revoirs.