Da Vinci

Hello from Ambois!

This morning I arrived safely after a nice night in my hostel, which was cool enough to have given me a single room with an en suite shower and bathroom. Simple pleasures... I wanted to see just two things here, one was the Chateau, which was home to the capitol of the French empire for a time, and Da Vinci's last place of residence, as he was an employee and friend of the french king. Also, his grave is in the Chateau's chapel.

After finding the hostel and depositing my bag there, I headed off to the Chateau, which is on a hill overlooking the Loire, a river that is the namesake of the Loire valley, which is a thriving place with many small towns in the middle western area of France. After paying too much money to get in, I spent a hefty amount of time walking around inside the Chateau while also walking around the grounds, which had many different gardens and lookout points. The area was so nice and serene that I was compelled to sit down at a bench, take out East of Eden, the novel I brought, and simply read and soak up the environment.

When hunger struck I left the Chateau and walked around the town, which has a meager population of 12 thousand people. I was thinking about it, and all of Columbia's students and teachers could probably make up the population of the entire town! Since it is so small, it isn't very industrial, so it has kept the feel of a little Renaissance French town with narrow streets and identical houses. After walking around and scoping out the area, I finally purchased my lunch- an apple, a peach, and a slice of pizza from a deli. For some reason, I've been craving fruit recently, so I love going to the market and getting fresh apples and other things. I ate on a park bench and continued on to Leonardo's place. Once there I encountered just a hint of French rudeness at the ticket counter, but it was alright.

It was amazing to see the actual bed where Leonardo Da Vinci died, where he thought, wrote, and invented, and even where his last meals were made. The king must have loved him, because the house was amazing. The museum had an exhibit of models of ideas he had drawn, including the first army tank, machine gun, helicopter, car, and various bridges and things. The guy was just a plain genius! Upon finishing with the museum, I walked around the big park that has been set up around the house where there are paths that wind around even more models of his works. Again, since I both had nothing to do and was impressed with the beauty of the place, I found a bench and continued reading the novel.

"East of Eden" is by John Steinbeck, who also wrote "Grapes of Wrath". Since G of W was my favorite book, I wanted to be exposed to more of his writing, and I am still impressed with him. The plot centers around two farming families- one in New England, and one in California. It looks into the human spirit while still providing entertainment, humor, drama, and great characters. Although it does not confront as blatantly a large-scale historical struggle, like the Grapes of Wrath did with the Great Depression, but it still manages to bring me into the world of the Characters. I'm more than halfway through and I look forward to what is to come. Upon finishing it I hope to trade it with another traveller, so that I can always have something to read. Nevertheless, if that doesn't happen I have a ton of audiobooks I can survive on.

Tonight, I hope to relax, write some postcards, read some more, and if there's a soccer game on, find a place to watch it. I'm happy to have a day or two that is not packed to the brim with action so that I can remind myself that I am on vacation, not a race against time and distance. Tomorrow I will head out for Bordeaux, where apparently I am arriving just in time for their Wine Festival, which is great because wine was the reason I'm going there. It should be great!

Hoping all is well with everyone else!

(Sorry about the lack of pictures- the internet cafe here isn't accomodating to the uploading of pictures)