Today we will travel south to the Loire Valley!

Stefan started the day with a run. Neither of us really took advantage of living across from a park this week, so this was his last-ditch effort. Good on him!

//Stefan Note: Stefan with the greatest parking spot ever.  Thats from our window.

Packing the car was simple because we found an amazing parking spot right outside the building when we returned from Versailles on Wednesday. Sweet! Stefan remarked how fast the week went by. We love Paris and will certainly be back. But I think we are all ready to move on to explore a new place. The kids are happy as we all pile into the car.

The total drive is 3 hours, 45 minutes. We decide to stop about halfway at Orleans, the northernmost town of the Loire Valley. According to my guidebook, it’s known for good food and shopping. Perfect! We only have time for lunch, but we make it a perfect leisurely lunch.

We park downtown and walk to Les Fagots, a cute little spot on a side street–the type cars can go down but don’t. We order the dish of the day and watch it cook over the fire inside! It was all very charming. Our server is an adorable French girl, who we ask to be our au paire. We need someone in NYC starting in January, and you never know! The lunch menu includes a “kir” of our choice. I’ve never had kir, except in a kir royale. I try cassis while Stefan has peach. Both are good, but peach is better. It’s fun trying something new that is common for locals. The meal concludes with the best blueberry pie–flaky crust, a thin layer of custard and loads of blueberries. Yum!

Joan of Arc lived and fought in Orleans. Her home there stood from 1400s until the Second World War. A recreation stands in its place. We walk by it, then head to the car.

We get off the freeway and drive through beautiful countryside for a bit. Then we come to a beautiful town with a chateau on the hill. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough. Our GPS takes us down some small, winding streets in town, and Stefan is getting excited to see where we are staying. Then we start heading back into the countryside. I can hear him thinking, “uh oh.” We drive into the country for a good ten minutes, and Stefan starts laughing with disbelief. We approach a small cluster of homes and turn off the road there. Our Airbnb is on a narrow cobblestoned street next to the town’s church. I point out we are in the middle of it all!

This place is so unique. The photos on Airbnb do not do it justice. It’s at least 300 years old and has been passed down in her family for generations. You enter two large wooden gates and the inner garden opens up before you. Wow. There’s a beautiful patio that could profit from new furniture. The home is in the shape of an “L”. The original stone floors are cold despite the warm weather. Our host shows the kids her stash of super old toys in what used to be the stables, with room for 3 horses. I love this place.

Our host leaves us notes on the town’s shops, 2 boulangeries/patisseries, 1 general store, 1 restaurant, 2 hairdressers and 1 pizza shop. Pizza?! Done. It’s two blocks from the house. The sign reads “artisanal pizzas”, and we order one of each of the month’s specials. We take them home and sit on the patio for dinner. The pizzas were not good. At all. We were so disappointed. The quaintness of the whole experience made us root for this pizza more than any other pizza. But it was heavy with cheese and lacking in flavor.

This town does have a baguette vending machine though! We are all thrilled and acted like children as Lillian pulled a long baguette out of it. Ha!

The kids watched a movie while Stefan and I read about the chateaus of the Loire Valley out on the patio. It was a perfect quiet night.