The fairytale chateau of Chenonceau on the Loire, which, unusually, belonged to a series of women, including Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II, and his vengeful widow, Catherine de Medici, who evicted her.
Zoe, me, Irene and Roy outside Chenonceau
It is imaginatively built spanning the River Cher
A fairy-tale chateau, isn’t it? I love it so much!
Apparently, the female owners would walk up and down this gallery with fantastic views of the river and gardens for exercise and contemplation.
A walk in Chenonceau
Looking upwards in Chenonceau
Impossibly ornate Notre Dame
Villandry
Sacre Coeur
Bois des Moutiers, Varengeville, Normandy
A house designed by Lutyens. Gardens designed by Gertrude Jekyll. An Arts and Crafts house. We spent a happy day in the gardens.
Étretat, scenes which inspired Monet. The Alabaster Coast.
Panorama of Eretrat beach from the board walk.
Eretrat Beach
Eretrat Cliffs (credit)
“Tudor” style building in Eretrat.
Parc du Marquenterre, We spent a golden day in this bird sanctuary on the Somme.
Read my new memoir: Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India (US) or UK.
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Anita – so gorgeous! This was a lovely break for me from cleaning mold today. Steve and I are hoping to visit France some day. I’ll have to keep these places in mind. Restful. Thanks so much!
Anne-Marie, thank you for coming along. France is magical, as is Italy–but France is probably more romantic. And of course, there’s Oxford 🙂 if you’d like to have tea with me
You were in Paris? Wish we could have hooked up…
Very briefly–just Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. Perhaps you might visit me in Oxford. I don’t anticipate travelling till July if I go through with chemo. Mid-July at the earliest 🙂
Happy New Year, John!
Such beauty and history. Thank you for sharing your adventures.
Loren, thank you for checking it out!
Dear Anita so glad to see you enjoying the places you love, thank you for sharing the beautiful pictures. I love France too, it brought back beautiful memories of many walks and a joyful heart at so much natural and man created beauty .
Peace and Grace be always with you.
Maria Elena
Grace and Peace and Happy New Year to you too, Maria Elena!