Blois, France

It's pronounced Blwa. Say that 3 times fast.

Blois is a good base to see several chateaus in the Loire valley. There's one right in the center of town even. We've been traveling pretty hard and decided that it's such a nice little city that we don't need to to run around and catch inopportune buses to and from Chateau Chambord. It's one of those "must see" chateaus but we decided we didn't need to see it. It's always going to be there, right? Our apartment host told us that Chambord didn't really have much to see inside but the outside was beautiful. That was enough for us to take a day off and enjoy the town we're in.

Instead, we enjoyed hanging out in our 500 plus year old spacious apartment. If those walls could talk.....It's a block from the chateau in the center of the old town. When we did get around to visiting it, we were so happy that we didn't try to do two of these in one of day.

The Royal Château of Blois has lots of history and the museum was incredibly well done. Everyone got a tablet with interactive software that made it so interesting. It was the Royal Palace of French Kings Louis XII, Francis I, and Henry III from the 1500's. They were the last of the House of Valois (never heard of 'em either). The next Royal house was the more well known House of Bourbon. Louis XIV, the Sun King came 3 generations later.

We enjoyed our last small town experience in France and cooked dinner at home on our last night. Tomorrow we're off to Paris for our 3rd visit. I have no plans and no expectations. I wouldn't mind visiting the Musée d'Orsay again, but other than that I'd be happy to just walk around and check out neighborhood life.

More photos and videos are here.

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