Amboise to Chaumont sur Tharonne.

We are now higher up the Loire river, close to the town of Orleans where we finish our trip tomorrow by taking a train to Paris airport. The town is tiny and very much in the country, an area mostly of forests including oak forests. We thought it might be a peaceful final night in France but on the other side it lacks facilities which might have made it easier to pack and prepare for tomorrow, which will see us on a plane by night. For example we have something of a trudge to make into the centre of the village, to seek out its one restaurant! Today started in Amboise with a vist to the Amboise Chateau, principally to see the grave of Leonardo da Vinci. He died there in 1519 and is buried in a small chapel near the castle. Not too many people around at that time of day so we could walk in mostly on our own, and view his grave which is a slab of stone on the chapel floor with his name inscribed on it. A small but perfect building, with that air of silence inside a stone construction. Wonderful, pitted and heavy oak doors and bright stained glass windows. The Chateau itself seemed to have much to do with amour, guardhouses and weapons and other signs of its defensive role. We had noticed the night before that the main wall has streams of machine gun fire pockmark ing some of its surface. All these great buildings suffered to some degree from the Nazi invasion, either by being shelled or by being taken as residences for the occupying army. The French weren't much better, often using them at various times as prisons, hospitals etc, not to mention decapitating many of their occupants during the revolution. From Amboise we drove to Chateau Chambord, not to visit the interior buy at least to have a view of one of the most celebrated of these buildings, renowned for its almost unimaginable whimsy on a grand scale. We approached the castle, perplexed by the sheer number of people about. A straight driveway at least 3 km long approches the castle, and well before halfway we were stopped for parking, and walked the rest of the way with parallel parked vehicles on both sides of the road. There was a festival on crowds were everywhere. But the good news was that the festival, whatever it was,was in the chateau grounds so we could walk easily up to the moat and view the building in front of us. The painter of a fantastical imaginary castle could possibly draw something like this, with turrets and spires of all sizes, packed into a skyline vista probably hundreds of metres long. These buildings seem to be dotted around everyw here, along with other grand edifices and event the attempt by many private homes to have a turret if at all possible. At their simplest the turret might have a square rather than round cross section, but always tiled usually in grey slate. The French crowd was equally interesting. We didn't see another tourist, it was locals who had come en masse. They weren't going to miss Sunday lunch and there were picnics going on everywhere, often with portable tables etc. The chateau grounds also had many market eateries set up. The French sit down to eat and take their time, none of this fat hogs walking around eating hamburgers stuff etc. Galleries of portable tables and chairs packed with the ever yapping French. One stall has hazelnut products and a photo of the the families hazelnut grove somewhere nearby. That was obviously their livelihood and two teenage daughters were selling at the stall. I thought of our own half a dozen or so hazelnuts. Increasingly we are thinking and talking about being home. Tonight is our last night in France and its back to itinary studying, packing discussions, returning the car, sorting the train travel and what the sequence of events and time schedule will be tomorrow which will see in Hong Kong for 2 nights, en route to home.