Did you know that there is a direct train from Saint-Aignan to Lyon? That fact surprised me when I first found out about it, because most trains from this area go to Paris, where you can connect to lines leading to other regions and cities.
The train from Saint-Aignan to Lyon originates in Tours — our largest local city — and includes stops in Vierzon, Bourges, Nevers, Moulins, and many more towns and villages along the way. The trip takes just more than five hours. At Lyon, you can get a train to Grenoble or Marseille, for example.
Anyway, I'm pretty exhausted after four days of touring around by car, preparing food at home, and coping with our "hot" weather. In fact, we had a beautiful weekend, with temperatures in the 80s F and bright sunshine. We had lunch on Saturday at the Relais d'Artémis in Bracieux, just outside the walled park of the Château de Chambord, and we sat outside on the terrace.
In fact, even at home, we had all our lunches and dinners out on the front terrace. It was a treat, and it was a great weekend. We hadn't seen Harriett and Tom since 2006, when we visited them in Illinois, and they hadn't come to France since 1985. We've been friends for 35 or 40 years.
Today I'll just post a few more pictures that I took at Chambord Saturday afternoon. The first is of a portrait of the Renaissance king François Ier. The others are details of a gigantic Renaissance-era tapestry showing hunting scenes.
I love that first photo. It looks like Francis I is floating around!
ReplyDeleteOui, CHM, on dirait un fantôme.
ReplyDeleteI love the image of Francois too -- very clever. All the close ups of that wonderful tapestry are a lovely treat too. Costume historians could examine this work for hours on end (the hose hitching arrangements alone could be the subject of a thesis).
ReplyDeleteLove the tapestry with all its intricate details.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good time with your visiting friends.
Great shots!
ReplyDeleteMy morning french cultural minute - or two or three! I love to sew and the Renaissance is the era I love best for all of the precious details in their clothing. These images made me smile.
ReplyDeleteMerci, encore, Ken!
>>Did you know that there is a direct train from Saint-Aignan to Lyon?
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I've always had to change to a milk-run train at Vierzon. i wonder if it runs every day.
I'm not a big fan of tapestries, but these are very nice.
ReplyDelete