It was our last day in France, so we tried to get going in a timely manner. We dressed and primped and packed our things up and checked out of our hotel. We had an evening flight to Rome, which meant we had the day to do a bit more exploring and some shopping around the city. We headed in the direction of the Notre Dame de la Garde, the basilica atop the large hill that overlooks the city. Upon looking at it this morning, we were somewhat apprehensive about making the climb, but set off up the hill.

We were able to get out the door at a decent hour, as we had exciting sightseeing plans for the day. We planned to catch a ferry to visit Chateau d’If and the nearby island (Ile de Frouil). We packed ourselves a tote with beach goods, as the island was purported to have some beaches. We grabbed pastries from our now usual boulangerie around the corner and headed to a wine and goods shop. We took a stroll what turned out to be a pleasant little neighborhood, with cute little shops, most of which had opened yet and passing a massive, gorgeous striped church.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I woke up relatively early and was able to take my time getting ready for the day. We decided to skip the first session of the conference, as we were both presenting later in the day and wanted to be rested and refreshed. We meandered out to a little boulangerie around the corner to grab some morning pastries and sat out at a table to enjoy them (and the people-watching). We decided to take a very round-about route to the conference site in order to explore the area a little bit. We wandered the shaded streets, past little discount clothing and shoe shops until we came across a beautiful set of steps leading up to the train station.

It was a beautiful morning plane ride over Marseille, and it wasn’t long before we were off the plane and I happily collected my luggage (pleased/relieved that it made it through both my connections). I grabbed a ticket for a shuttle bus into town and was soon on my way to Marseille’s central train station. It was surprisingly hot for so early in the morning (28 C at about 9:30 am). In the interest of not being a sweaty mess and getting to the conference in a timely manner, I decided to grab a cab to the hotel. A somewhat regrettable choice as the cabbie informed me in somewhat broken English something about minimum distances/fares which resulted in my paying 20 Euro for a 10 minute cab ride. Ah well, nothing like a likely unscrupulous cab driver to start things off!

We headed downstairs to a nearby boulangerie to pick up our breakfast, and D made a pit stop for coffee. We were soon on the metro, headed to Ile-de-la-Cité to get a glimpse at Notre Dame. We had both seen it, of course, but we thought it would be nice to have another look. There was some talk of going inside, but as we approached the square, we prudently decided against it, as the queue out the door was ridiculously long.

Once we were all loaded up, and amusedly after our hostess had warned us of the dangers of pickpockets and the like in Paris, we headed northward. It had been raining fairly heavily in the early morning, complete with thunder and lightning, but it had thankfully stopped by the time we left. We listened to tunes and enjoyed the scenery and gradually made our way back to Paris. We opted to take the A highway (a toll road), but they were wider and faster and made our drive a little less stressful.

I desperately wanted to avoid major crowds at our final chateau, so I was determined to get there before 10 am. We largely kept to schedule and were soon cruising towards Chateau de Chambord. It wasn’t long before we entered the Parc du Chambord, apparently the largest enclosed game reserve in France with red deer and wild boar wandering about.

We made our way to the nearby town of Blois. Amazingly, as we wound our way through and found a parking spot, the sun made its appearance. Fabulous timing! I wanted to try and take a look at the city from a distance, so we took a walk down in the general direction of the river, passing an impressively large cathedral on the way. The breeze along the Loire was refreshing, as we wandered over to the bridge for a few pictures.

After saying our goodbyes to the hosts, we drove off. Our initial route was going to take us to Cheverny, but we decided at the last minute to veer northwest towards Chateau de Chaumont-Sur-Loire. Every year, the chateau holds an International Garden Festival, with gardeners coming in from a host of different countries. We figured that since the rain had stopped, the cloud cover would keep our walk cool.

We hopped in our darling little Twingo and made our way across the river and up to Amboise, situated on the south bank of the Loire River. The heat was already starting to accumulate, so we made our way up the hill to visit the Chateau d’Amboise. The chateau was perched on a cliff above the town, thus the terraces surrounding the chateau afforded excellent views the city and the river.

Pulling into the parking lot of the Chateau, it began to dawn on us that Chenonceau was on a much larger scale than any of the other places we’d visited. D estimated there to be a good 300 cars parked, having arriving from all over France, as well as Great Britain, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Switzerland at the very least. Slightly daunted, we had a little picnic of cheese and bread along the moat before entering the madness.

We lazily lingered over our bread before heading back into the house and readying ourselves for the day. Today, we would hit our first chateau of the Loire, the Chateau de Villandry, known for its ornate gardens. We set out on our drive; it was only about 20 minutes or so away, so we were able to amble and enjoy the drive along the river.