Wednesday.  We decided to go to Blois today and Nathalie told us we could take the bus so that's what we did.  We walked up to the Wilson Place bus stop which is just outside the small supermarket.  While waiting "the man with the beret" joined us -- too bad we don't know his name because we see him everywhere.  We'll have to ask Douglas.  The bus arrived exactly on time at 7:22 a.m.  It cost 2 euro each for the trip which took about an hour and 15 mins. or so.  It was a nice ride and we picked up a lot of school age kids on the way so I guess that is their "school bus."  The man with the beret got off in the center of Blois but we rode the bus to the train station so we would know where to catch the bus to come home later.

Blois, like so many of the towns we have visited, is located directly on the Loire River.  We headed into town and walked through this gorgeous garden.  The tree is amazing and some of its huge branches are propped up by wires, I guess to keep them off the ground.

I wanted some coffee and David wanted some tea so we wandered into the center of Blois and stopped in at a cafe/bar.  The owner spoke a little English and I had two delicious cups of coffee and David had hot tea.  It was an excellent place to people watch people on their way to work.  Once we were caffeined up we headed to the Office of Tourism but were waylaid by a patisserie with fresh baked cookies!  You don't see cookies in French bakeries very often.  They had white chocolate chip/macadamia nut and pecan/chocolate chip.  We picked up a few and stopped in the lovely park again to eat them.  Finally we walked up to the tourist office.  That was one busy place with only two people answering phones and the tourists questions!  We got a map and headed out.  The Royal Chateau of Blois was directly across the street and up a few stairs.  This chateau was the residence of 7 kings and 10 queens of France!!!  Hard to believe! There is almost a thousand years of history here.  Because I'm a big fan of women throughout history, I noted that in 1429 Joan of Arc visited the chateau to have her banner blessed.  

 The little church is very beautiful.

We didn't get a great picture but this is an octagonal stairway enclosed in a well.  Truly beautiful and very different.

I'm pretending to be a queen but it looks like my head is awkwardly sitting on the railing.  No comments, please, Kema!!!
 

Below are pictures of the King's bedroom, the Queen's bedroom and . . . a chair in the Queen's bedroom they called the "gossip chair."  

As most of you know, I am obsessed with having things with my name or initials on them.  But I'm not as bad as King Henri III who had his initial put in all of the tiles on the floor!!!!!

This is the State Room where the King received visitors for conversation after dinner.  The fireplace is spectacular!  The throne wasn't as big as I expected but the men were smaller then, weren't they?

Cool sculpture in the courtyard.  Think it's a cat? Or as David says, chaton chat, French for kitty cat.

This is a view of the chateau from the back side -- street view.

Just a pretty street view from the chateau courtyard.
 

After we toured the chateau, it was time to find some lunch.  There were many restaurants to choose from and David wanted an omelet for lunch so we were able to narrow down the choices.  We chose the busiest restaurant where two police officers were visiting with local people so we decided it would be good.  And it was!  We had omelets with frites and salad but I neglected to take a picture.  Guess I was just too hungry!  Below is a picture of a half-timbered style house we saw on our quest to find a good restaurant.  Beautiful! 

After lunch we had a little more time before our bus ride home so we shopped.  It was lightly raining but our jackets had hoods on them so it didn't really bother us.  Blois has very good shopping with a Longchamps store and a Sephora and Armand Thierry.  Not David's favorite sport but he nicely walked along with me.  Walking around Blois we learned that you are moving uphill or downhill, seldom do you find yourself on level terrain.

When it was time we walked back to the train/bus station and guess who was also there waiting for the bus?  The man with the beret!  We had a nice bus ride home and felt like we had had a very successful day!

Tired out, we just stayed in for the evening and had a little cheese and a few crackers for dinner.  Another great adventure in the Loire Valley!