winter streets

Winters are pretty quiet in Amboise.  This little street leads up to Clos Lucé (Da Vinci's former home) and is normally packed with tourists in warmer weather.

sunset cruise

I rarely see power boats on the Loire.  This one has a small outboard that made hardly any noise at all and seemed to struggle a bit in going upstream, especially under the bridge.  But this couple picked a great evening to motor about and take in the color.

shadow show

dawn / l'aube

Silhouette at dawn of the château, the hôtel de ville, chapelle Saint-Hubert, l'église Saint-Florentin, and the bell tower over rue Nationale.  First time I ever got them all in one shot.

five years and counting

It's been five years since I took this snow snap in Amboise.  I'm beginning to wonder if it's ever going to come back.

opening night

Every February, the town of Amboise has an outdoor skating rink brought in for the great amusement of the winter vacationing school kids as well as the school kids at heart (that would be me).  Last night was the grand opening with top level ice skaters putting on a show of how it's done.

winter haze

The three French public school groups are starting their winter vacations this week. Each gets two weeks off but the three are staggered so that the highways and ski resorts are less inundated.  It's looking like that would be the only way I'll get any snow pictures this year.  But fortunately there's still the fog.

CDP Theme Day - loving life

The first day of the month is Theme Day for the worldwide bloggers of City Daily Photo and today it's "loving life".  To see how the other bloggers interpreted the theme click here.