April 2, 1999 – Chateau Country and Paris, France
Today’s Itinerary: Eat Breakfast, Amboise, Chenonceau, Chambord, Dinner, Evening Sightseeing
Tonight’s Hotel: Hotel Sofitel
Morning Departure Time: 09:00
We started the day by running off the train and catching breakfast at a nearby cafe. We had croissants, hard rolls, and either orange juice or hot chocolate. We then drove a couple of hours to the Chateau country. We visited Amboise first. It is a nice chateau, kind of small and quaint. I didn’t make it through the chateau, sadly. In spite of that, I know that many Protestants were hanged off of the towers. We bought chocolates in town and had another breakfast. Next was Chenonceau, and it was about 20 minutes away. This place was bigger, better, and was much prettier than Amboise. We ate lunch at a building close to the chateau. I had a hamburger and french fries. Chambord the largest of the chateaux was about an hour away. Inside there was a double spiral staircase. Where if two people took opposite sides, the will never see or meet each other. It took about an hour to tour Chambord. It took about an hour and a half to get back to Paris. We stopped at the hotel so we could claim our bags and find our rooms. Luckily for me, my roommates already got my bag. About an hour later we left for dinner. We had salad for the first course. Salmon and potatoes and carrots made up the second course. And a really good chocolate pudding made up the third course. After dinner we headed back to the hotel for about 15 minutes to grab our coats. We then rode the Metro to the Tour Eiffel for a scenic boat ride. The boat ride wasn’t too bad, except for the line to get on the boat. The one-hour ride was a good overview of most of the sights in Paris. It sprinkled during most of the ride but it was just a minor annoyance. We then rode the Metro back to the hotel ending the long day.
I found some old travel journals and have decided to post them in a series I am unimaginatively calling “Time Travel.” Here is the seventh entry, verbatim, from my 1999 spring break trip to Italy and France. I don’t have any digital pictures from this trip as that was before I got a digital camera.
