Drove across more pretty county, more corn, sunflowers and grapes. Arrived at Tours. Booked our chateaux tour for tomorrow. Then went to find a campsite and have lunch.

Set off for Amboise, where we went to Clos Lucé, a small chateau/country house built in 1590 . It was given in 1516 by King Francis 1st to Leonardo Da Vinci. The latter spent his last 4 years there and died in 1519. The gracious and peaceful house is set in Parc Leonardo Da Vinci. Here he finished work on his 3 favourite paintings, including the Mona Lisa. A copy of this hung in one of the rooms, much larger than the original that we hope to see next week.

In the basement were numerous models of his inventions. The grounds and gardens were lovely, and more models were round every corner. Flying machines hanging from trees. Really not enough time to do justice to the gardens and we missed seeing an exhibition of drawings. Saw the areas he liked to sit and paint in; beautiful leafy glades set among giant pine trees.
Back to camp, but we noticed the villages around here are so pretty, it would be great to have more time to walk around. We are lucky the crowds are all gone; nowhere is crowded or "busy".