Château de Maintenon

Yet another piece of the French history snaps into place as we are guided through this lovely châteaux. How could we have previously missed the fascinating story of Madame de Maintenon, the second (undeclared) wife of Louis XIV, in our previous French History studies? The Château and gardens were beautiful, and the (unfinished) aqueduct at the bottom of the garden was impressive. Earlier we had visited the church in Houdan, which meant that we were allowed to have coffee in the square opposite, and lunch in a nearby antique centre. We resisted Emilienes pressure to buy a stone sculpture and enjoyed our salads en plein air before returning to Vicq to regroup before another late evening dinner of salmon (cooked with sorrel á la mode Emilienne).