Officially being part of the Loire region, of which you might have heard of thanks to its famous castles, the particular village we were heading to is however at the utmost outskirts of the region and surrounded largely by farmland and other small villages.
Living in a village of 100 inhabitants without bakery nor market is not for everybody, but having a comfortable house with huge garden, eating your own delicious fruits, jams and vegetables definitely has its charms!
The biggest city nearby is Le Mans, which only gets busting with tourists once a year during the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans car race. During the rest of the year it is a pleasant mid-sized town with a well preserved medieval town.
Food wise, make sure you try Rillettes du Mans! It’s kind of the local variation of the Pate, but more chunky. Best eaten with baguette and an alcoholic beverage during the compulsory daily apero 
Afternoon around 4pm is the perfect time for a little break! On this both Germans and French do agree. While the Germans will go for Kaffee & Kuchen (coffee & cake), either at home or in one of the millions of Cafes, French will prepare apero (short for aperitif). This involves a large selection of alcohols, from beer and wine to strong spirits like Pastis or Schnaps, and several savory snacks, like cheese, pate, saucisson and chips.
How about your country? Any similar afternoon traditions?
We couldn’t leave the Loire region without at least seeing one of it’s many royal castles and drove to visit elegant Chateaux de Chambord (cf. title photo).
Designed purely for leisure, it has no proper defenses and in all aspects prioritizes the aesthetics. Looking huge from outside, the inside space is actually quite constrained (for a royal castle). The central building is symmetrical and cross-shaped with a beautiful white double-helix bridge in its center.
It has an elegant chapel and royal chambers, but somebody went totally overkill with the roof:
A few quarters are nicely decorated in their original style and you can learn how fashions of the royal court changed over time. Did you know it was a special honor to watch the king getting dressed in the morning?
This tradition also explains the funny balustrade in his bed chamber:
After five days we had to leave our peaceful country life behind as Yang Ke’s visa was running out and we headed to Paris to catch our return flight to Shanghai.
Just in time to still celebrate Chinese New Year among family and friends, but we also got a glimpse of celebrations gearing up in Paris:
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
Happy new year of the monkey to all of you!
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