Twas the night before....

 Our last night in France. We leave tomorrow to head back to beautiful NZ, family and friends. It will be wonderful to be back home for awhile, but we will miss so much here too.
It has been an absolutely amazing 16 months which we will never forget. What a privilege it has been to live in this fantastic country and meet such a great group of people who will be friends for life. 

Bill and Betty our wonderful across the road neighbours.

The 'Team',
'Captn' Steve, me, Chris, Les, Jay & Martin. Wonderful fun friends whom we will see again!

Before leaving Moulin du Bayle we have had a very busy last month or so travelling to places new and to local parts unseen. The following is just a snapshot of what we have seen and done. We spent some time in the Loire Valley which is beautiful and completely different from our part of Southern France both in the landscape and the architecture. 

The Troglodyte houses in Saumur were amazing. These homes were carved into the side of hills after the people who were mining the limestone for local buildings realised that they could make their homes here too. People are still living in these villages today, inside the temperature never changes from 13 degrees so it is pretty cool. Not great for a cold fish like me!

Chateau Breze is a beautiful castle in Saumur. It's 'point of difference' is that it is a chateau within a chateau. Not only is there the chateau you see here but also a Troglodyte one underground as well. 

There is a huge 'moat' all around the chateau, on one side is the above ground chateau and on the other the Troglodyte one with kitchens, workshops, a winery, bedrooms, halls, shops....fantastic!

The fairytale chateau of Chenonceau is another beautiful Loire Valley castle.  

Chenonceau is built across the River Cher. It is a stunning piece of architecture with an amazing history. It has housed the French elite as well as being a place where a number of famous artists, philosophers and musicians visited and worked. During the first World War it became a hospital and the story goes that wounded soldiers used to put fishing lines out the windows to catch the trout.  

We spent a day at Versailles which was another jaw dropping experience-such opulance almost seemed obscene. Not difficult to understand why the 'have-nots' eventually got fed up and revolted!

The ground at Versailles are huge. We walked for awhile and then decided  to hire some bikes so we could  cover more ground. The grounds and gardens are amazing, the statues are huge. A beautiful place that could easily take you several days to get all around.

We arrived back from our road trip to get ready for our departure. This meant lots of packing of boxes to send home (expensive exercise!), having meals and drinks with friends and of course the dreaded packing and cleaning. All of which seemed to go by in a blur. 

We are now in Nice, our beloved 'Pugette' (car) left yesterday with her new owners and tomorrow we board a plane for home!

Thank you France for a wonderful 16 months, we will be back!

Au revoir pour maintenant la France!