Jun 22-23: Chenonceau to Blois (+rest day)

We got rolling by 6:30am to both avoid the midday heat and arrive in Blois with enough time to visit Chateu de Chambord. The plan was a great success. We made it to Blois by 10:30, before the day started to heat up at all. The AC at the hotel felt beyond amazing (so American, we know, but it was seriously hot!), so after cooling down we took a revolutionary mode of transportation called a “bus” to the chateau instead of going by bike. Turns out it’s a much faster trip if you do it that way.

We spent the afternoon in Chambord (see pictures below) and enjoyed touring the MASSIVE chateau. We spent at least 4 hours walking around inside and still didn’t get to see all of the rooms. It was originally envisioned as a hunting chateau for King Francis I in the early 1500s, but he ended up only spending about 70 days total in the place. Also interestingly, art from the Louvre and other museums was stored here during World War II to protect it from bombings.

The next day we woke up to start biking…but decided to take a rest day instead. We mostly did a good job of resting during the day but managed to visit several of the boulangeries to get baguettes, as evidenced below.