Since leaving Paris, we feel like we are on a different kind of journey than the previous month, maybe because we are travelling from place to place more often. We hired our little car that has lots of guts, despite our initial hesitations (a Peugeot 207). Must have somthing to do with being diesel (MG's thoughts, not mine).

Our first stop out of Paris was a Chateaux on the northern edge of the Loire Valley, near a small town called Nevers. Our endless nights on chateaux websites certainly paid off - what a place! Not huge by chateaux standards, as we were soon to discover, but definatley huge by 'house' standards! Chateaux du Four de Vaux looks like it belongs in a fairytale. It even has turrets on all four corners - so I felt very much like a princess for a few nights, which suited me just fine.... From here we explored the region, the winerys and a lovely hilltop town called Sancerre. From Nevers it was on to Amboise, in the heart of the Loire Valley. Amboise is a great little town - small enough to explore on foot, but large enough to easily spend a few days in. It is dominated by the Royal Amboise Chateaux, above the town and right on the Loire River. Very picturesque, especially at sunset. From Amboise we visited a few of the key chateaux in the area, namely Chenonceau built (by a French king for his mistress) over a river, and Chambord. Chambord was absolutley HUGE, even though it was only built as a hunting lodge, not as a proper castle! We were also able to visit the smaller chateaux in Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last 3 years. This was great as they have made life size models from the drawings of his many inventions and placed them throughout the house and gardens. I'm embarrassed to admit that I hadn't realised just how many things he invented so many hundreds of years before his time. Another history lesson! From Amboise we headed to Limoges (despite the warnings from our hosts at the chateaux) where I have to say we were very glad to only be spending two nights. We decided that the best thing about Limoges was leaving Limoges. It's just not a very pretty city when compared to others, and there is very little to do besides visit the porcelein factories and shops (which i think was my motivation for the visit in the first place). Also it just didn't stop raining, and that really makes it difficult to enjoy a city. Anyway, so we were glad to be leaving for Bordeaux, a beautiful city on a river in south western France. We think Bordeaux is like a mini Paris, and have had a great time exploring it. We just keep praying that the rain would cease! Quite the opposite of Sydney.... From Bordeaux we took a day trip (about 1 hour drive) to the coast, to the little sea-side town of Arcachon. As we arrived the ever-present clouds cleared and we were blessed with a beautiful day. Shopping, eating ice cream and wandering along the boardwalk, we almost felt like we were in Sydney! That is, except for the absence of fish & chip shops - not one! Just restaurants everywhere, when all we wanted was to take some fish & chips down on the beach. We eventually found somewhere to get some prawns and somewhere else to get some chips and settled down on the beach. What a treat!! That is, familiarity of this ritual.....we were getting some strange looks from passers by - I don't think take away food of any kind is the norm in France, let alone peeling prawns on the beach!