Driving to The Loire Valley

We left our Normandy cottage and headed towards the Loire Valley, stopping at Chateau d’Usse, the supposed castle that inspired Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately the princess in our group wasn’t impressed overly impressed with our sightseeing and spent most of the tour crying.

Chateaux d'Usse is rumored to have inspired Sleeping Beauty

Since we were in the neighborhood we thought we’d visit Chateau de Langeais, which had some of the rooms decorated in the original 15^th-century style. We learned that the tapestries were not only used as wall hangings for decoration but also to insulate the rooms and later learned that they were sometimes laid on the floor as carpets, so were quite versatile! We enjoyed learning about the marriage of Charles VIII and 11-year-old Anne of Brittany (who had been previously married), which united France and Brittany. The grounds of this chateau were also interesting as the gardens were beautiful and there were old walls to climb and a treehouse!

Incredible dining room at Chateau de Langeais

Figures staging the marriage that united France and Brittany

Peek of the chateau through a whole in a nearby wall

Standing on a drawbridge

Beautiful view over the Loire River

We arrived Monday evening and realized that our accommodations were actually a guest cottage on the property with the main owner’s home. It was a quaint, bright and creative setup as the previous owner was an artist, which caused Mom to love it even more. We’d booked this place hoping to continue some quiet and rest in the French countryside as there were some outdoor activities like ping-pong table, darts, and pool for the kids to be entertained by while we relaxed.

Boys playing ping pong

Upon our arrival around 6pm, we learned that most of the businesses in the area are closed on Mondays as the French view it as part of their weekend. This meant no restaurants or grocery stores were open for dinner. Thankfully Mom had overbought at the store in Normandy and because we were traveling by car, we were able to bring the food along with us. We were grateful for God’s provision and ate a simple dinner and watched a movie before calling it a night.

It rained over night and we woke up Tuesday morning to more flooding, rain, and cool weather. The local roads and yards were flooded and trees were down, it was truly quite the experience! Thankfully we’d planned to have a quiet day of school and rest and finally by late afternoon we were able to get to the grocery store nearby (which was 20 minutes one way) for some food. Dad treated us to a delicious grilled meal (they had a Weber!) and we enjoyed another movie night along with simple luxuries such as blankets and popcorn.