My group visited four locations today and witnessed several instances of how people love to shoot themselves in the foot. But otherwise, the places were all very nice and pretty.
La Cave des Roches: Despite being told that there were 120 kilometres of limestone tunnels (blue foot mushroom tunnel shown) spread out over seven levels and that someone got lost last week, members of the group continued to press on without the guide in order to take photos, doubling the length of the tour.
Les Caves Monmousseau: Luckily, some of the students were impatiently waiting for the “Méthod Traditionel” (absolutely not Champgne but one probably couldn’t tell the difference) tasting at the end of the tour so they didn’t wander everywhere taking photos.
Clos Lucé: Leornardo da Vinci’s last home contains several prototypes that pre-date the actual invention by several centuries. At one point during his stay, da Vinci had written that the time for learning had passed and he should devote his remaining years to innovation. Despite what the Canadian and Ontario governments believe, it may be necessary to devote tax money to development; had more attention been paid to da Vinci’s brainstorming, advances in military technology, flight, and public infrastructure would have occurred years earlier.
Château d’Amboise: One of the homes of the French monarchy in and around the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion, the Château d’Amboise was quite large and somewhat ornate. Napolean gave it to a friend who was a senator representing Orléans under the condition that he restore and maintain it. So the friend demolished eighty percent of the architecturally unique building in order to reduce what he had to pay for.
As Run D.M.C. always said, people should never forget their common sense.