A few more Loire Valley shots, and then we head south

I closed the last post with a shot of a covered bed inside Azay-Le-Rideau. So let me share a few more shots inside the château. First is a shot of what was the kitchen...


A large fire would be built and pots would be swung out over it

And for relaxation after dinner (not that the master of the house was cooking the meals!)...





As we left, this lovely view was one of the last things we saw on the way out of the grounds...



That was our last château before we wrapped up our Loire Valley visit and headed south to Provence. As part of our travels, I had planned to take a route that would bring us across an engineering marvel, the Millau Viaduct. While the name may not sound impressive (a viaduct?), the Millau Viaduct is the tallest bridge in the world.

We stopped before we crossed it, so we could get a good view and I could get a few photos. To do that, we had to park in a parking lot near the bridge and hike up a rather impressive hill. It had a walking path, but it still was quite a climb. (I was pleased, on the way back down, to see a young man in pretty good shape breathing quite hard as he hiked up there.) Here's a photo I took once we got up there...



Next up actually won't be Provence. Rather, we made another stop on the way, and I have some photos from that. I would promise not to take so long for the next post, but I try to keep my promises and I've been bad about posting lately! So let's just say that I will make some effort to post again soon and leave it at that! :)