The magic museum, Maison de la Magie at Blois, doubles up as the town’s cuckcoo clock. On the hour dragons (sorry, salamanders) emerge from its windows and do a little dance. The half hour is marked by a soloist. A bit like an upmarket Las Vegas hotel. This posted via mobile via Flickr. Continue reading
Clos Luce at Amboise is no ordinary French chateau. It’s the house in which Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last three years of his life and when you’ve finished touring the chateau, you discover the grounds are nothing less than a theme park for grown ups. Katharine and I were so over stimulated Continue reading
The French don’t seem to do ice cream. Or frozen deserts in general. French ice cream is a particularly artificial construction, notable for its weird colouring and unfortunate after taste. The problem appears to be the dominance of Carte D’Or, which not only monopolises the cornet market, but frozen deserts in everyday restaurants. Continue reading
Just nine or ten gardeners (depending on who you talk to) tend the magnificent gardens at Villandry, France. And given the formality and variety of gardens that’s a hefty workload. So maybe someone had been lax with regard to the flowers in the Chateau… A burly attendant bursts into the room and barks Continue reading
This is Chateau d’Usse near Chinon, the castle that inspired Charles Perrault to pen Sleeping Beauty, way back in the seventeenth century. And to celebrate there’s an appropriate wax work within. Locals reckon Walt Disney not only took inspiration from Perrault’s work, but this castle’s turrets too. Others have more convincing claims. Disney Continue reading
