Sunday.  What a nice, quiet day we had!  We slept in and David went to the patisserie and brought home wonderful treats -- 3 chocolate and 1 coffee eclair!  And, of course, the mandatory baguette. 

These eclairs are seriously delicious and I wish I could bring some home for everyone.  The coffee eclair was for me since David does not like or drink coffee.  Rachael, have you had them?

We didn't do much today.  I ironed the bedding I washed the other day and remade the beds my friends used when they were here visiting. I caught up the blog and continued reading my book.  David spent some time on his laptop checking the college football scores and reading the news.

It turned out to be a nice, fairly warm day so we went out for a walk in the afternoon.  Later in the evening we had some wine and then pasta for dinner.  The Super U brand has a bottled sauce that David and I both like -- tomatoes and olives.  Green and black olives.  Very, very good.  That was about it for Sunday.   

Saturday.  Market Day and Saint-Simon Fete (festival).  Because our days are winding down here we didn't really need anything at the market.  Sigh.  But we did want to check out the Saint-Simon Festival so we went out to look around.  Of course first we had to make our almost daily stop at the boulangerie.  I went by myself this time and successfully ordered, in French, a baguette, an apple tart-like pastry and, for David, an almond and chocolate pastry like the one he had in Bourgueil on Thursday.  

The "main street" of Saint Aignan was packed with booths -- some were offering flea market type things, some food like sausage, some roasted peanuts and some clothes.  I resisted most of the offerings but I did buy a scarf (you can never have too many!) and a knock-off Longchamps bag in red that looks pretty darn authentic.  Here are some street scenes.

The kids seemed to enjoy the rides!

This band traveled up and down the street playing.  They were so good!

We also noticed this building which we have admired many times when we've walked past it.  It looks like it has been recently painted.  I don't know if it is a private home or what but it is beautiful!  The name of the building/home is Villa Rose. I did see a little boy looking out the upstairs window. 

It was a very festive atmosphere and we loved seeing all the people out and about.  There was music playing most of the day -- some by the band and some just over loud speakers.  We were afraid that as the evening progressed it might get louder and rowdier but it wasn't too bad.  The loud sounds we did hear were laughing so that was good!

We enjoyed our Saturday evening cocktails and finished off our bottle of gin.  For dinner we had delicious vegetable soup with baguette and cheese.  We had two kinds of cheese we hadn't had before tonight.  One was a sharp white cheddar from England (loved it!) and the other was a mild French cheese that the clerk at the cheese shop recommended.  Another lovely day in Saint Aignan!

Friday.  A day to rest up after yesterday's all day trip.  We just toasted a baguette for breakfast -- no pastries today.  

We realized today that we would only be living in La Boulangerie one more week.  You cannot even imagine how sad that makes us.  When we first decided to spend two months here, we certainly had some apprehension about being away from home for so long and wondering how we would fare in a small French village for two months, etc.  Now we have become so comfortable here with the rhythm of life in Saint Aignan that it is hard to think about not being here!  Oh well, I'll put those sad thoughts off until another day and enjoy our last week here!

Today we did a few errands.  We walked up to the cheese store for butter and cheese and saw that booths and rides were being set up for celebrating Saint-Simon Day on Saturday.  

   

I have to admit I'm not really sure what this celebration is all about but I know that one of the things they are celebrating is the arrival of Bernache.  I mentioned before that Bernache is a grape juice at the beginning of the fermentation process.  Claire warned us that what used to be a fun festival has turned into a bit of a drunken festival in recent years.  We shall see!

I noticed that the Tourism Office had new, Fall flowers in its window boxes.  Aren't they beautiful?

We also stopped the the supermarket to pick up a few things -- dish soap, Coke Light, etc.  We spent the rest of the day blogging and watching the news.  In the evening we walked over to Les Cepages for a few glasses of wine.  David used his excellent French and bought a gift certificate from Les Cepages for a friend we made here.  I couldn't believe he was able to do that!  I took a picture of the wine label from the wine I was drinking because I liked it very much and the wine bar owners, Michelle and Alan, got into the picture.

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After a nice visit at the wine bar, we walked home and fixed an easy dinner of  BBQ beans and baguette and butter.  Simple but very good!

Thursday.  Today is definitely a "David day."  We planned a road trip to Saumur.  Yes, there is a chateau there . . . but that is not why we decided to go there.  David had read about a toy soldier factory/store just outside of Saumur and he really wanted to visit it.  I think I've mentioned that David collects miniature soldiers.  Also, in Saumur there is an armor museum he wanted to tour.

We left early in the morning, about 7:00.  I guess it seemed earlier because it was still so dark outside!  And definitely cool.  David planned the route which would take us to Saumur by A85, the expressway.  It was a little over an hour's drive and there were two toll portions of the road.  One cost 5.80 euro and the other one cost 2.30 euro.  That's $7.34 and $2.91 respectively.  It was a very nice highway to drive on.  Driving on A85 enabled us to get to the area to be explored quite quickly.

Part way there we stopped in the town of Bourgueil for coffee and hot chocolate.  We love the little bars that offer coffee (and wine and beer) in the morning.  After our break, on the walk back to our car, we passed a patisserie so we had to stop in for some nourishment.  They had pain au almond with chocolate that was called choc amande and we both had that for breakfast.  Very good treat!

It didn't take us too much longer to get to C.B.G. Mignot, the miniature soldier (and other miniature figures as well) store.  It was a little difficult to find because it's off the beaten path but, of course, David found it!

On the main floor of the store there were various dioramas set up but that was only the beginning.  While we were standing around there, the owner of the store walked downstairs and greeted us; his name was Loic Pemzec.  He spoke very good English and told us to go up the stairs and view the video of various news programs about the store and then walk around to see all of the miniature figures, etc., they produce.  David mentioned he was aware the store was originally in Paris and the owner, Mr. Pemzec, confirmed that.  It dates back to 1825.  In 1994, Mr. Pemzec's father bought the business and moved it to LaBreille-les-Pins, the small town where it is now.

The videos were very interesting and the displays were amazing!  There were all kinds of miniatures, from dinosaurs, to Roman soldiers, to the French Foreign Legion, to beach goers.  There were miniatures from every period in history.  I didn't think I would ever get David out of there.  He knew he wanted to buy some soldiers but it was hard for him to decide which ones he wanted.  We went back downstairs and there was an artist sitting there painting the figures.  The figures are very small and intricate but she painted with a sure hand.  It was fun to watch her.

Mr. Pemzec came back to talk to us and he showed us many, many soldiers David was interested in.  David made his choices and arranged to have them shipped home.  Much easier and safer than us trying to haul them around with us until we leave France.  I'm sorry I don't have any pictures but photography was not allowed there.

After I pried David out of C.B.G. Mignot, we drove to Saumur and after a few wrong turns, we found the Tank Museum.  I really wasn't interested in it so I sat in the lobby and read while he toured.  Here are some great tank pictures!!!  The pictures below include early French tanks from World War I, a tracked ammunition carrier with a tracked trailer, A German World War II half track with the Nebelwerfer rocket laucher, a German World War II half track for transporting troops, The German "King Tiger" tank from World War II, although having issues, couldn't be beat for crew protection and killing from a distance, the Hetzer tank with its low profile and slanted armor made it quite formidable, a German tank recovery tank with a large winch for recovering damaged tanks from the battle field and only an anti-aircraft gun for self defense, and finally a German self-propelled gun (a tank with an artillery piece instead of a regular tank gun).

After David got his fill of viewing tanks, we decided we needed to at least drive by the chateau.  We really weren't up for touring another one, tho.  As chateaus go it is small and they were doing a lot of renovating to it.  We did have beautiful views of the Loire River from the chateau.

  
By this time we were very hungry and we saw a restaurant just above the chateau so we walked up there.  We were the only customers but the food was good!  I had cream of asparagus soup with frites.  David had . . . yes, he had another omelette!  He really does love the eggs in France!  I apologize for not having a picture of his lunch.  I believe he ate too fast for even the fastest shutter speed.  I think the toy soldiers and tanks excited him.

After lunch we had a very leisurely and gorgeous drive back to Saint Aignan.  We took the southern route back east, about 10-12 miles south of A85 but parallel to it.  We took all small, two-lane roads that took us through one picturesque village after another.  One was more beautiful and quaint than the next.  Here is a picture of the wonderful car Yves loaned us so we could explore just about every inch of the Loire Valley!

Wednesday.  Day at home.  Coffee, iced tea and a wonderful surprise for breakfast.  David had been wanting to taste the French eclairs since we arrived and we were resisting temptation UNTIL TODAY!  David went to the patisserie and all of our favorite things were sold out so he brought home chocolate eclairs.  They were so much better than this picture even begins to convey.  And get this:  they were filled with chocolate cream!!!!  Heaven!

 
We had a few chores to do today.  I needed to iron and put away some linens we used -- I have to say I love ironed sheets and pillowcases!!!!!  David walked up to the Super U and picked up a few things -- wine, kleenex, lime -- the normal stuff.

As we do laundry, put clean sheets on the beds, fold towels and return them to the cabinets, we realize that our time in Saint Aignan is drawing to a close and we are not very happy about that.  We feel very comfortable and at home in La Boulangerie so we are in no hurry to leave.  So, when we have these thoughts about the end of our stay, one of us tells the other to get that thought out of our heads as we still have so "X" number of days remaining.

Pasta for dinner sounded excellent so we decided to go to L'Amarena (again).  We had a glass of wine at home and walked over to the restaurant about 7:00.  BUT . . . there were no tables available!  It isn't a large restaurant and now that the weather is cool and people can't eat outside on the patio, it fills up quickly.  I had my heart set on pasta, tho, so we asked the owner when we could come back.  He told us 8:30.  He said he didn't need our name because he now recognized our faces.  David remarked he recognized our full faces, made full by a production line ingestion of baguettes and butter. 

We returned home (across the street) and had a few more glasses of wine.  What else was there to do?  At 8:30 off we went and we were given a very cozy corner, window table.  The pasta was fabulous!  I had spaghetti bolognese and David had tagliatelle with mushrooms and cream sauce.  We loved both dishes!

We really enjoyed our pasta with some delicious bread and a few glasses of their house rose wine.  As you can see, the portions are large so we had no room for dessert.  After dinner the owner surprised us by bringing us limoncello.  What a lovely way to end a lovely evening! 

  

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!