Loire Valley and Chambord

Our drive from Carcassonne yesterday was, luckily, uneventful and we arrived safely at our lovely cottage just outside of Orleans, in the Loire Valley. We are about one hour south of Paris. Our cottage has 3 bedrooms, a fireplace, country kitchen and a small forest in the backyard! The owners live in the main residence closeby and we are entertained each day by their two loveable dogs and mischievous cat.

Today, we ventured south to the Loire Valley's largest chateau, Chambord. Chambord was built in the 16th century for King Francois I as a hunting lodge. It is grandiose and as today was only 6 degrees celsius, it was also COLD! The chateau has its own forest and is fully walled. While it was intriguing  and opulent in parts, we think one or two chateaux while we are here will suffice. We are a little "castled-out".

Our cottage in the Loire

Our cottage's living room - so cosy!

Our country kitchen - with silver cutlery chandelier!

One of the children's bedrooms

Sean with our resident feline, Valentine

Our new playmates in the Loire 

Our own woods in the backyard!

Eloise with Valentine

Our cottage owner's main residence

Chambord, Loire Valley

Eloise, Brett Snr, Sean and Brett at Chambord

Four-poster bed at Chambord

The internal staircase of Chambord

Chambord's chapel

Brett and Sean overlook Chambord's garden and woods

Some of Chambord's many hunting trophies

A room fit for a king - Chambord

A lasting impression of Chambord

Arriving back to our cosy cottage this afternoon, we lit the fire, played with the animals and rode bikes in the garden and prepared a home-cooked meal.We are conserving some of our energy for Paris, Disneyland Paris and skiing in Bavaria! Brrrrr.                Tricia

Farewell to Carcassonne

Our last two days in Carcassonne have been relaxed and relatively uneventful. Today, I found a wonderful hairdresser and also a health food store that stocked most of the foods I've been craving for weeks. Hooray! Doesn't anyone in France eat hommus, unhomogenised milk, dips or rice crackers? Seems not many!

This afternoon, we all headed back to the castle to do an audio-guided tour of the interior. It was very worthwhile. Brett Snr ( or should I say, "Pierre", since his shave this morning) and I also looked through the wonderful cathedral in the Cite, and browsed what stores were open.

Carcassonne's castle is stunning and unique but I am looking forward to moving on tomorrow. Alas, we have a 6-hour-plus drive to the Loire Valley. There, the temperatures will be quite a bit lower. Hopefully, the lovely cottage we have booked plus all the surrounding chateaux will compensate for any winter chill!                Tricia

Dali Theatre Museum (Spain) and Collioure

For some time, there are two places that have intrigued us and today we visited both - in different countries! Our first stop was nearly a two hour drive south, in the Spanish town of Figueres. Here stands the largest surrealist monument in the world, the Dali Theatre Museum. Figueres in Catalonia, Spain was Dali's hometown and it is here that the most spectacular collection of his works is housed in a museum designed by Dali himself. It opened in 1974 and continued to be updated during the 1980's. Dali died in 1989. His crypt is in the museum.

The museum was unique, extravagant, self-indulgent,intriguing and off-beat. There seemed to be no medium Dali did not explore - and master. He created a prolific amount of work, ranging from jewellery, sculpture, paintings, furniture and objets d'art.  His wife, Gala, was clearly an inspiration and source for many of his pieces but eggs, animals, gold and optical illusions also feature heavily. We were mesmerised.

Heading home from Spain to Carcassonne, our goal was to visit the southern French beach of Collioure. Collioure is the subject of the beautiful watercolour painting Brett and the children gave me for my birthday earlier this year, painted by local artist Ray Smith. It is a famous spot for artists, as it features an unusual church bell tower on the point and offers a soft, unique light.

Arriving around 4pm at Collioure, although a cloudy day, we were immediately struck by the relaxed beauty of the surrounding town, boats, beach and mountains. Families, couples, old men, ladies walking their dogs and even a boys scout group strolled and climbed the seascape. Dotted occasionally along the walls were framed prints of masters such as Henri Matisse, who frequently used Collioure as the subject of their works.

Dali Theatre Museum, Figueres, Spain

Sean and Brett at the Dali Museum

A portrait of Dali's father

One of the many Dali jewelled sculptures

Dali's crypt, Dali Museum

Optical illusion of Mae West's face

Dali bed creation

Dali explored all media

Dali sculpture - a bit turn-about

Obscure archway to one of the 22 rooms, Dali Museum

Opulent room of the Dali Museum

Brett with a Dali painting he once tried to copy for an art project

A BEATING jewelled heart

A Dali jewelled clock brooch

Beautiful Collioure, on the French Meditteranean

Tricia overlooking Collioure's iconic bell tower

Brett, Eloise and Sean at Collioure

Tricia and Brett at Collioure

Sailing on Collioure's crystal waters

Collioure's Eglise de Notre-Dame-des-Anges ( Our Lady of the Angels), 1684

Boy scouts receive a lesson at Collioure

Boy scouts climb the viewing frame and steps at Collioure

Sean anticipates the view through one of Collioure's viewing frames

Crucifix protecting Collioure's shores

Collioure's carousel and shore

Henri Matisse was enamoured with Collioure - above and below

Collioure's bell tower and carousel

Sadly, today it was too cold to enjoy the crystal clear waters of Collioure. Our time there, however was lovely. A few postcards, many photos and some special memories of Collioure were all we needed.                   Tricia