The "Wine Tasting"

In class last week, Brianna informed us that her family had come to Paris and instead of going on a wine TOUR that they had booked, they just wanted to hang out. But, they were offering their tickets to anyone interested. And while we are in Europe, we are still college students and free is free, so the we got really excited to go wine tasting the next day. 

Corrine, Jess, and I woke up to meet the bus at 7. Little did we know that a Wine Tour is not a Wine Tasting. More interesting... a Wine Tour is actually about castles. Not wine. 

So we ended up taking an all day tour of castles and walking around the French countryside. Which is what we do on most days (I fully realize how ridiculous I sound). At first, we were a little concerned that we were spending our only day off for two weeks and the day before Corrine's 21st birthday on a castle tour. But honestly, if I had to pick 14 hours to spend with two girls on the trip - it would have been them. We made it an awesome day by paying a little attention at the beginning of the tour so we knew where we were and why it mattered before going off on our own exploring adventures. We ended up seeing some beautiful, not to mention super historical parts of France, and it was my favorite day of the trip thus far. Attitude and company are everything. 

Corrine and Jess bright and early and when we still thought we were going wine tasting... :)

Surprisingly cool to see - it's in a little chapel next to the Chateau d'Amboise

In Europe and especially people in France, its not always warmly recepted when you ask someone to take your picture. We asked a grumpy old Frenchman, and were all laughing in this picture because before he look it he said (in english) CHEESE!

These pictures were as close to we got to wine, and they were both taken after we ditched the tour group and were adventuring on our own. The grapes were AMAZING though!

Chateau d'Amboise

Chateau of Chenonceau

It was built on a river, and was by far the most beautiful of the three!

Catherine d'Medici slept there. Total nerd moment, and no shame. 

our friend donkey. 

Chateau of Chambord

To be honest... at this point we had been exploring/on the bus for about 11 hours. So we were a little loopy and decided to take pictures outside the castle, and buy crepes and wine for dinner. Perfect ending to our time in Paris, huh?

Heading back to the hotel and passing by the Lourve. It was raining the day we went, so we made a quick stop for tacky tourist pictures in front!