Last post about France

We're getting ready to fly back to Sydney tomorrow so I'll briefly tell you about the last few days. We left one beautiful area for another, driving to the Loire Valley. The main thing we did here was look at chateaux and chateaux. I can't remember all their names but they were mostly beautiful and amazing. One of them is where Leonardo da Vinci is buried. One of the major ones that we went to I thought was overrated and they charged extra for every little thing, including a guide to the place so we just winged it.
Kate gets the prize for picking the best places to stay. While we had lovely bed and breakfasts at the three previous towns, this one I had picked and it was a bit of a dud. I had booked a room with a bath (and i had been so looking forward to soaking in the tub) and air conditioning. Instead he had given us a room with a shower and no a/c (however same price!). When I complained, he tried to tell me how our room was much better and was trying to explain something about the window. Not getting anywhere with the argument, I returned to our warm room and opened the window to cool down. Of course that was the night that France made it into the final of the Euro cup and fans were going crazy in the street for ages. Add to that the early morning street sweeping trucks and we weren't happy Jan.
The next morning, the guy decided to show us the room with a bath to see if we wanted it. What he was trying to explain about the room was that this only had a skylight, not a window. Who cares, it had a bath and a/c! Consequently we got a great night's sleep the second night.
After 2 nights here, we drove back to Paris, stopping along the way at Chartres cathedral, which has magnificent stained glass windows. We also climbed 300 steps up to the bell tower. Then we drove via Giverny, to Monet's house and garden which he immortalised in his waterlilies paintings.