July 21, 2004

Lots of chateaux, lots of wine, a perfect view of the July 14 fireworks from the terrace of the apartment, a visit with the white tigers at Beauval, ogling Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester at Chambord, rowing a small boat around the Cher river at Chenonceau castle, a magic show at Robert-Houdin's Maison de la Magie, a horse-drawn carriage ride through Blois, a light show at a royal castle...our trip to La Loire was incredibly fun and went by all too quickly. We made headquarters in Blois, where we stayed in an apartment ideally located in the vieux quartier with a beautiful view of the city. Some days we stayed in Blois; other days we hopped in the car for outings to Amboise, Chenonceau, Chambord and other places. Click the thumbnails below to see a few images of some of the wonderful things we saw and did during the first days of our vacation (there will be more photos in a subsequent entry):




Even with all the activities, I got to do some summer knitting! We made several outings to surrounding areas which required 15-30 min rides in the car, so when I wasn't reading, admiring the scenery, or napping with face embarrassingly squished against the passenger window (happened only once, thankfully), I was KNITTING. (The MS&W Festival tote that my pal Claudia gifted me a few months ago rode with me all over the Loire Valley. XOXO, Claudia!)



Photo above is of the front piece of my Phil Ruban cardi, and I seamed it while I was there, opting to save the dreaded weaving of the ends for when I got back. The cardi was too big to tote around with me, so I spent time swatching for some projects when in the car. I got lucky with the gauge on two and decided to start one of them while I was there: The "Jacke in Apricot" from Rebecca 27, using GGH Java in light pink. [Rebecca 27 is from Athena, who sent it to me back in May. Java is from Marta, who sent it to me a few weeks ago. Photos here!] And just for you, I have car shots: Pictures I took of things I saw while knitting in the car. All photos were taken while the car was in motion, and some required that I stick the camera out of the window in order for me to get a good shot. [Hello, I'm just a photo-happy tourist with some knitting in her lap!]

But wait...there's more! I left the Loire Valley with some stashy goodness [click here to see it]. While driving through a town after a visit to Amboise, Monsieur Le Hubby said to me (and I'm sure he regretted it afterwards), "We just passed a Phildar." Oops! The car skidded to a halt and I ran inside the store, on a quest for yarn on sale (SOLDES - magic word, that). I was in the store for five minutes only, but all I'm gonna say is: If you live in Contres and were hoping to pick up some discontinued Phil Ruban in fabulous colors, a whack tourist rabbit already cleared it all out.

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