July postcard

This is probably one of the most photographed views of the Hôtel de Ville and Château by visiting tourists*.  I had to take one yesterday myself as it's just too cool to pass up on such a perfect day.

*And I just read that tourism in Amboise and the entire area around Tours is way up this year.  That's a good thing for our community that is pretty much based on tourism.  So come on down.

down by the river

After several days up in the air, I'm bringing you back down to earth today.  It's been relatively dry recently so the water level of the Loire is somewhat low now.

while we're up in the air

To continue the high-flying theme of this week, here are a couple of paraplanes enjoying a good view of Amboise and the Loire.  I'm now on the lookout for a dirigible to complete my collection.

a new angle on Chenonceau

I'm still thinking about my recent balloon ride so expect to see more photos on that topic.  Here we're drifting silently over my favorite château, the one in Chenonceaux*.  The light of dawn really made some nice dramatic shadows.


*Yes the town name has an "x" on the end while the château name does not.

sailing high

This is the first sail plane I've seen in Amboise.  Which is surprising since I thought I had seen every possible flying machine overhead at one time or another.  I love to watch the sail planes silently gliding along.  Maybe that's why I haven't seen one before now.

Monday morning and all that jazz

These young guys were really jazzing up the Place Debré one day last week.  I hope to see them again.

morning light

I was up really early when I took this shot of the château before sunrise.

the dig 2017

There's an ongoing archaeological dig in Amboise and this summer's work is in full swing.  The site dates back to the Gallo-Roman era. There is an exhibition of the project in the church St-Florentine that explains it all while the museum in the city hall has actual artifacts from the dig on display.

la cloche de l'église de Rilly-sur-Loire

I recently had the rare opportunity to visit the bell tower of this nearby church while a friend worked on the clock (and that's a story in itself for another day).  By standing on a very tall ladder I could just barely squeeze through an opening to get this shot of the biggest of the church bells.

it's about time

One of our Amboise friends repairs watches for a living but is also a collector of clocks of all sorts.  This is just a sample of them.

first time fishing in the Loire

Standing in the cool water on a summer's day... does it get any better than this?

at last, the balloon ride !

Well after six years in Amboise, I finally took my first balloon (aka montgolfière in French) ride with my visiting son-in-law from the States.  The pilot was skilled enough to "steer" us over the château in Amboise and Chenonceau.  It was fantastic.

Theme Day July - motion

The first of every month is Theme Day for the worldwide bloggers of City Daily Photo.  Today the theme is "motion" and you can see how they interpreted this them here.  Today also being the first day of the Tour de France, I just had to post a photo taken at a local race in the streets of Amboise.