Monday 9/10

There is a chateau near the Gite that I have wanted to explore for a couple of years, and today is the day. We have a slow start, leaving well after lunch, figuring on an hour or so. Wrong! It turns out that our visit to the chateau itself is guided, and the next one is almost an hour away. So we begin to amuse ourselves with a series of challenges on the grounds, which appear to be meant for children. It turns out that the puzzles are not easy, and some are actually hard. But we are determined since we know there is some sort of prize at the end. At the farthest edge of the puzzle trail we are diverted by signs to the menhir – standing stones – on the property, and by the time we have found them we have to jog for about 10 minutes to get back to our guided tour in time. The tour itself is very interesting, especially seeing what a chateau in that area of the country looks like compared to the grander ones we saw on the Loire. The piece that I remember best is the clock on the mantelpiece that is made to show only one time – the hour and moment of the beheading of Louis XVI. Why the whole clock? Beats me.

After the tour, we were really determined to finish the puzzle tour, which we did, ending up with “gold” medals for our trouble. And proud we were, I’ll tell you!