Stay at the Castle!!

This morning it was 23°C, or ine could say the perfect temperature!  We had breakfast with the family that owned the chateau and met a woman and her husband from northern scotland who were also guests of the chateau and her father. After that we headed on the road to our next destination, Chateau Les Merles!  We drove for about three and half hours while passing a lot of sunflower fields as well as many castles!! We arrived at Chateau Les Merles (Woohoo!)  It's so big!! Charlotte and my room is at the end of the hall.  We have another large bath as well and nicely decorated rooms! Wen we got to the castle we started the day with a nice lunch and then laid by the beautiful pool that has the backdrop of gorgeous French countryside.  Lucas and Else played some golf while Charlotte and I made some bracelets, enjoyed some ice tea, and then played in the pool until close to 8:00 PM. There was also an inflatable tube and ball that were a lot of fun! The castle also had many features including a winery, golf course, pool, restaurant, stables, and an amazing view. 

July 26th: 

Else took Lotje and I to Chateau de Brigoidire, a newly opened. Astor to the public. They are in he process if renovating it but the rooms they had done already were very nice! They even had knight armor on the stairs! The wine cellar was neat along with the prisoners area and also its own chapel in one of the side towers. 

Outside they had it set up like a festival with a lot of old games they used to play but were still fun! They ha a game where they had all these strings tied like a spiderweb with bells attached and you had to try to make it through without ringing the bells.  There was a life sized chess board and some billiards type games as well. 

After the excursion we enjoyed the pool an the castle! I read some of my book, The Hundred Secret Senses (great book) while soaking up the sun. 

We had our farewell dinner at the castle and I tried a very divine French dessert as well, made of apple (tatata or something like that) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a caramel drizzle on top. I also walked into the vineyard and watched the sunset. 

The next morning both Charlotte and I got up at the crack of dawn and looked for the sunrise.. That is we walked on a path through the golf course to get a better view. We walked for a total of about 30 minutes and then when we got back to the castle it finally popped above the trees above the horizon so the best view of all was from right as you step onto the start of the golf course at the top of the hill!