Leonardo da Vinci

Last night when we went out to the car to get dinner we discovered a huge ding in the back. Our Peugeot is 2 weeks old and only had 7km on the clock when we picked it up in Barcelona. It was quite a shock but when we went to Reception, a guy had left his details for us which was very decent of him. So this morning with the hotel staff acting as interpreters, we lodged an accident file with the French insurance company. And so having been cautious about car theft since we arrived (warnings galore in travel books) we now look like locals with a dirty banged up car nobody would want!!! 

As a bit of background to our mornings activity, last year while we were preparing to go to Cambodia with the church team, one of the group activities was a personality test. I was thrilled when I had the same personality type as Leonardo da Vinci but as was proved today, clearly that is where any comparison stops! We spent the morning at Chateau du Clos Luce, where da Vinci spent his final 3 years. Here he was lavishly taken care of by the king and given every opportunity to continue to dream and work. It had amazing gardens and also working models of the inventions he penned back in the late 1500s before he died. He was an absolute master of art, engineering, invention, machinery and the list goes on. As it says in one of the guide books "He was like a man who had woken too early in the darkness when everyone else was still asleep."  It was a very impressive place.

In the afternoon Karl went for a ride and I did the Amboise Chateau Royal, right in the centre of town. It was here that Leonardo da Vinci was buried.

Tomorrow we leave the Loire and head to the coast to Mont St Michel.