Loire Valley

I went to the Loire Valley with many of the people from my program (sadly not my good friends) from Friday morning until Saturday night--plenty of pictures are on my picture page. On Friday, at Chateau de Chambord, we were given bikes to bike around the estate and little boats to paddle on the river. It was great. On Saturday, we visited two chateaux, each more beautiful than the one before it.

Friday night we stayed at a Chateau, but all of the students were housed in groups of 6 in little "maisonettes," or cabins. I didn't know 4 of the 5 girls that I stayed with, but it worked out fine because we didn't spend much time there. We had dinner at the hotel/chateau but since it was off season, the food was icky, and so we were encouraged to make use of the wine tap (yes, an unlimited flow of free wine). It was the worst tasting shit I have ever tried, but it managed to allow us to have a good time in the middle of the woods.

The Loire Valley is beautiful, and I don't understand how there can be so many beautiful castles in one small area.