ABC, ABC......

As I go through today's pictures I realize that this may have been the "LONGEST DAY"!

When we began early on another drizzly morning we were told it would be our day of ABC's.....Another Bloody Castle, Another Bloody Church!

Oh, how right they were!

For Jimmy and I who have never traveled and never toured we were thrilled to have someone tell us when to get off the bus and what we would be seeing when we got there.  No matter what it was, it was exciting!

We began by walking down the Rue Nationale in Tours.

There were beautiful shops and as appealing as they were to all of the women, we were on a mission to reach the Cathedral St. Gatien.

It was an amazing church built in the Gothic style with stained glass windows from the 1300's.  

Much was destroyed during the war but what was maintained was meticulously maintained.

The vast amount of Catholic Cathedrals in the country is a testament to the continued faith of the French people.

Next, a short walk to the Basilica of St. Martin the former Bishop of Tours.  Mass was said in the intimate crypt chapel by our pastor .  Immediately behind the altar was the tomb of St. Martin.

The confessional....totally reminiscent of that dreaded box where I made my first confession!

Upstairs the Basilica was much more grand.  The churches were not just churches.  They were magnificent places for people to gather and worship, surrounded by paintings and stained glass depicting early Christian life.  I could have spent all day in each of these places.  They were absolutely majestic.

A little more time wandering the quaint streets and listening to interesting facts about the early French culture.  So...interesting to me...the fact that the narrow streets were lower in the center and led to drains periodically.  The reason.....people had no indoor plumbing so they threw the urine in buckets out the window and it could flow down the streets into the drains.

I traveled a very long way to lock on that interesting info!

Back on the bus...next stop CASTLES!

First up.....the Castle Villandy

Yes, it was just like a fairy tale.

This Castle is famous for it's magnificent gardens.  

There were begonias and cabbage plants and so many of the same things we grow at home....but, somehow they did not look anything like what was in my backyard!

Time out for expresso and an eclair (my snack of choice for 10 days) and it was on the bus to find a place for lunch.  So, did I mention that if we were not exploring France, we were eating our way across that same country!

Belly's full and we are off to Chateau d'Azay le Rideau.

This chateau was occupied by Francois I and from what I understand his fair share of women...not all of which were his wife.  In a place this big you could keep a cluster of women going and there is no way they would ever run into each other.  Such enormity is just overwhelming.

Father Timothy's not so good impression of Francois I.

Another short walk through the village and "hello French Bus driver"...what a welcome sight you are!