Tuesday.  When Yves loaned us his car, one of the places he recommended we see is Chambord.  That was our destination today.  On the way we stopped in a small town called Bracieux for coffee and hot chocolate.  I don't remember the name of the restaurant but it was small and cozy.  A grandfather with two grandchildren sat next to us and they were a very sweet family. 

After our break we drove on to Chambord.  It is the largest chateau in the Loire Valley and, I think, the most ornate.  It was originally built as a hunting lodge but that was razed in 1519 and Chambord was begun.  It is suspected that it was designed by an Italian and also that Leonardo di Vinci designed the central staircase.  Here are some pictures of the outside and also the central staircase.

 

When we first entered the castle, we smelled the wonderful scent of a burning fireplace and here it is.  As you can see, I could have stood straight up in the fireplace.  You all know this was David's favorite room in the chateau!  He loves to be warm and the warmer the better!

The brochure states that Chambord has 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms.  It also says that the game park is enclosed with the most extensive wall in France -- 20 miles long.  This doesn't really show low large it is but it's the best we could do.

Here are some interior pictures.

The last wing we walked into was long and narrow and had antlers and racks of the kind of animals that were hunted here hung on the wall.  I didn't find that very interesting but we did meet a nice couple there from Australia.  We had a long talk with them and they took our picture.

 

We ended our visit there and decided to find a place for lunch.  There were a number of places on the grounds of the chateau but none of them appealed to us.  We started driving back and ended up stopping at the same town, Bracieux, where we had coffee and hot chocolate in the morning.  We ate at the restaurant called La Bigoudene, next door to the one we stopped at earlier in the morning. Once again we ordered omelettes and they were delicious!

Then on to one last fabulous adventure!!!  On the way to Chambord we had seen a chocolate factory, store and choco-cafe named Max Vauche.  We had seen that brand of chocolate in a gift store here in Saint Aignan and we could not resist going in.  For those of you who don't know, David is a chocolatier and he is quite good.  We were surprised and happy to see that they were making a lot of their chocolates by hand too.  They didn't temper it by hand, but they were making a lot of it by hand.  The store was full of beautiful chocolates of all kinds.  Some of it was made into little "scenes" like a chocolate champagne bottle with chocolates placed on a chocolate platter -- you get the idea.  Most of the chocolate was too delicate to bring home (sorry friends) but David and I did sample some and we bought a chocolate bar for each of us to try.  We haven't eaten our bars yet but I'll let you know later how good they are.  We were not allowed to take pictures in the store but here are pictures of our chocolate bars and a picture of one of the buildings of the store complex.. 

Right outside the chocolate store was this statue that we had to go see what it was.  Believe it or not, it's one of the Three Muskateers -- Roy!!!  Apparently he is from Bracieux!!!  And across the street was this pretty little church.

After all of that excitement we had a leisurely drive home.  Have I mentioned how gorgeous the Loire Valley is?  

Just had some sandwiches for dinner and we went to bed early -- seeing beautiful things makes us tired!