Western Europe Trip 2 - Page 4 |
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 Amboise.
I liked Amboise. The hostel that I stayed at was on the other side
of the river and there was a bakery nearby. The castle/chateau is
quite imposing as it is built on a hill and rises quite a bit higher from
it's perch.
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 This
chateau as with Chenonceau is in the Loire Valley. You approach the
chateau from the back side and it seems more a chateau then a fort.
A bit less imposing as you can see. It seems more like a nice country
estate.
The stairs leading out from the tour take you by a bit of naughty stonework. Leonardo DaVinci in his last remaining years was a guest of the court here. There was an exhibit on the street behind the chateau. |
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 You
may be surprised that I didn't stop in Paris. I did not because I
had already been there. So from the Loire Valley I headed to
Belgium. I stopped first at Brussels which seemed to me to be kind
of a cosmopolitan town, much more about work than about
tourism.
From there I went to Bruge. Now Bruge seemed a little nicer for tourism. The town is kind of in two parts, the old town section which is a nice circular walled town and the new section. It reminds me a bit of Avignon in the south of France.
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 The
ever popular Mannekin Pis. There is one tourist spot in Brussels -
the little pee pee boy statute. The legend runs something like this
- the mayors little boy was lost. The mayor said wherever the little
boy was found he would erect a statute of the boy just as he was
found. Resulting in - a nice fountain. They dress the little
bugger up in lots of different of costumes. |
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