More Olives!

I am not sure if I have mentioned this yet, but the girls have eaten ALL of the olives.  Possibly in the entire country.  We have had olives every day, and today we went to the Amboise market where there was AN OLIVE MAN.  You can probably guess... we got more olives.  Here are the girls eating olives:

 

Backing up... we woke up "early" this morning (8:45?) and headed to the Amboise market.  It was a wonderful way to start the day.  The girls had pastries, a baguette, and a crepe, and we bought olives and apricots.  You can also buy fish, meat, clothing, pretty much everything you can imagine.  It was quite fun.

 

After about an hour of shopping we headed to Chaumont-sur-Loire.  Chaumont is a lovely chateau, but also hosts the international garden festival each year (this year is "Le Pouvoir Des Fleur").  The chateau also features a number of contemporary art installations.  The girls LOVED taking pictures in the gardens.

 

 

 

 Contemplating art:

They also stepped inside the art...

It was very interesting and we stayed for several hours.  Stefani previously researched a "charming" wine/cheese/ice cream store half way between Chaumont and Amboise.  We stopped and had wine and cheese on the banks of the Loire.  It. Was. Lovely.  "Charming" is in quotes because I have been overusing it this entire trip.  However, in my defense, the villages in the Loire valley ARE CHARMING.

 

 

 

Here is a good shot of Stella feeding Ellie cheese, while Ellie rated the cheese with her eyes closed.  I think her favorite was the Brie.

When we got home, the girls went for a swim and, of course, ate more olives (first picture of this blog post).

Then we went into Amboise for dinner.  On our way into town, we saw three hot air balloons taking off.

Finally we returned home where the girls ate more ice cream, packed a little, and went to bed.

Tomorrow, we move on to Paris!  And then home on Monday.  We are having a wonderful time, but these girls have been gone for almost three weeks and I think they will be happy to be in Minnesota Monday afternoon after two busy days in Paris.