We had a good breakfast at 8.30 and asked about keys. We had not been given a key to our room or to the bnb which we assumed had been overlooked. John and Barbara said they don't use keys – it is nice to think they are not needed. The bnb is on its own little island and we were going to eat there again so getting into the building was never going to be a problem.

We set off for Chenonceaux to see the Chenonceau (without an 'x’) Chateau . We had chosen to stay in this bnb because it was about half an hour from this chateau as well as looking very interesting and having good reviews. I had decided on this chateau because it has a self guided tour and it is particularly lovely. The drive there took us through the countryside which was flat with big fields and lovely stone villages. We arrived at the château at 10 am to find no queue at the ticket office and we also had relatively small numbers in the various rooms except when a tour group caught up with and then overtook us.

We walked up the long avenue of trees to the chateau. It certainly has a lovely setting. We went past a well that had children peering in (I assume there was money at the bottom) and the Marques tower. This was then Keep of the original castle on the site and the rest was demolished in the 16th century.

I had to hand over my passport to get the ipod audio guide (there was a choice of the short or full version) but John was just looking so he became the official photographer . Photos were allowed inside but not with a flash. We also had booklets about each room. The chateau is known as the ladies chateau because so many women had major roles in its history.

We started in the Guardsroom which had the motto of Thomas Bohier and Katherine Briconnet who built it – "If I get to the end of this construction job, I will be remembered". The sides had blue tiles but all colour has gone from the middle. All through the chateau there are the initials TBK on ceilings etc.

The chapel was interesting as it has a Royal Gallery so Queens, including Mary Queen of Scots, could attend mass without having to mix with others. It was saved during the French Revolution by being turned into a wood store, so disguising its religious character.

The next room was the bedroom of Henri II’s favourite mistress, Diane de Poitier. She also was responsible for the large garden in the grounds. The bed was a relatively small 4 poster, as were all we saw later. After the King’s death, his widowed Queen, Catherine de’Medici, took over the castle and her portrait is in the room. She looks very fierce. As well as the tapestries that lined this (and most other rooms) we started to also see paintings by artists whose names we recognised so were very famous!! The study off the side was green except for a tapestry that had faded to blue. It showed pineapples and orchids and other plants inspired by the discovery of the Americas . On the wall was a Van Dyke, as well as other masterpieces. The room next door had a great view of the river.

Catherine de’ Medici extended the chateau and we went next to the Gallery she had built on a bridge that Diane had built behind the original chateau. It was designed to honour her son, King Henri III. The floor seemed uneven because the white tiles had worn more over the years than the black ones. It originally had statues but these are now in Versailles so it is now a huge empty ballroom of 60m by 6m. It interested us more for its recent history. In WW1 the château was used as a hospital, caring for 2644 patients, and patients would fish out of the windows with bell on the rods to ring if they had a catch. In WW2 the dividing line between occupied France and Vichy France ran down the river so this was a line of escape for the Resistance.

The ground floor had another bedroom with more masterpieces, including one called the Three Graces, three sisters (all naked) who were successive mistresses of the King . Another picture showed Diane de Poiters as a huntress – and then there was a painting of 2 Bishops!! The fireplace here was magnificent but then so were those in almost every room. The other room here was a drawing room in honour of the visit of Louis XIV, with a portrait of him in a wonderful frame made of 4 huge pieces of wood.

Downstairs we went to the kitchen area which was often at risk of flooding. It was a series of rooms with a butchery, a pantry, a bakery, a larder and the servants eating area. It had lots of old kitchen equipment, most of which looked too clean to have been used. There were, however, old knives, butcher’s blocks and tables that were well used over the years.

Upstairs there were more bedrooms all with old tapestries, elaborate ceilings, antique furniture and valuable paintings. One was called the 5 Queens room because 5 Queens slept in it at different times. There was a lovely chest given to Mary Queen of Scots as a wedding present that had inlayed pearls and ivory. There were lots more pictures from famous artists like Rubens and a tapestry I especially liked showing three months of the year and showing sheep shearing, falcon hunting and harvester’s getting paid.

There was an area that had been smaller apartments but is now a gallery. It was not clear but we assume it is used for exhibits . The tour groups certainly did not come into this part but we enjoyed the paintings here. They were all by the same modern artist and on a variety of themes, including a Japanese bathing scene, a girl in moonlight and various recognizable city scenes.

The last room was the bedroom of Louise of Lorraine who went into seclusion on the death of her husband. She dressed all in white and was surrounded by nuns as if in a convent. The room is certainly morbid with various symbols of death, and all in black and white. Not really a nice note to finish the visit inside. It was good to go back down the stairs and see colour.

After handing back the audio and retrieving my passport we walked around the smaller Catherine De Medici garden then had a lemon drink at the café. We then went around the larger Diane de Poirter’s garden and took even more photos of the chateau. It was probably at it best from this side. There were also people swimming in the river as well as many boating . We walked through the maze then had a look at the flower and vegetable garden before going back to the car. The carpark was much fuller now with many people picnicking in the nearby park as well as those visiting the chateau and gardens. It was a very leisurely 3 hour visit.

For the afternoon we had decided not to visit another chateau although we considered visiting Leonardo de Vinci’s home. The other options were to visit Loches, the local mediaeval town, to go into the caverns under the town, to go on the river or to cache. It was a bit hot for a town visit, not hot enough to need to be underground and rain looked possible, so we decided to cache in the countryside.

We found three – 2 involved short forest walks and the third was at an old Roman aqueduct. The drive took us into new subdivisions with more modern houses but they were all built in a similar style. We noted that they often had a wall with no windows. The windows overall were smaller than we are used to and they all have shutters .

The cache notes were all in French so we were pleased with ourselves for deciphering enough for success. The last was at the aqueduct and we arrived to find a couple there also looking. When they spotted our GPS they said ‘geocaching?’. We managed to communicate enough to say we were from NZ and to find out they were the cache owners on a maintenance run. We later worked out that we had found another of their caches in the forest. They had set a lot in the area and had found over 2400.We were going to visit another aqueduct in better condition but the thought of a swim was too tempting and then John had a snooze.

Dinner was again at the BnB at the tables set out by the river. A couple from Sydney had arrived as well as a family from Amsterdam – the last table was taken by a couple from York who were also there the previous night. They had booked late so had stayed one night here, were spending 2 nights in another bnb and were then able to return for 2 more nights. They had been to Chenonceau also today but had arrived at midday and had found it much more crowded. They had also visited a small château in the village where they were staying that is owned by a Parisian who employs a local caretaker who had given them a tour. They said it was old but the furniture was modern so that was quite different. We talked about the old building – their room in their BnB was about 8m by 8m with an attached modern bathroom, and cool because of the size and the wall thickness .

I told them how much we liked York and how we had especially enjoyed our ghost tour there. They had never been on one but did say one goes past one of their favourite restaurants and the tourists peer into the place most nights.

The couple from Sydney were here in part to follow the Tour de France. They had arrived into Amsterdam, had seen the bikes at Rotterdam and were heading south. They knew Nelson as she had worked for Avis a number of years ago and had visited there often for work. We liked them in part because they told us we were wise to travel while we were still young!!

Once again the food was well worth staying in for - a pre dinner drink, melon and ham salad, coq au vin for me and duck with prunes for John, cheese then summer pudding. We had realised we had no idea what the wine had cost the previous day so asked, to find that they look for wines they can serve for 10 euro (very reasonable) .

We asked about a chardonnay and were surprised to have a Chilean wine recommended. They had had a guest stay and drink 9 bottles of different chardonnay in 9 nights and he had said this was the best – to the extent he bought 6 bottles from them. It was nice, although it felt odd to drink a Chilean wine in France. John (from the BnB) said that they had had NZ wines in the UK but they were more expensive so he couldn’t stock them. He had bought the wine back from Wales and we recorded the name, (Dona Dominga Chile Chardonnay single vineyard el cerro) in case we see some there.

At this stage everyone except me went into the lounge to watch the Football World Cup final. I worked on the computer in our room and heard the cheers and oohs from there. I think everyone was supporting the Dutch team so the result was a disappointment.