Race Report: winja's IRONMAN SANTA ROSA (May 12, 2018)

I DID IT. I'm an IRONWOMAN. AGAIN!

It was a whirlwind of emotions this past weekend, but I'm fortunate enough to say that I finished the race and have officially "renewed my membership" to the IRONMAN club. 

A year and a half ago, when I finished IMAZ, I told myself (and others) that I was "one and done". It was a lifetime achievement - so much so that I would have been content never working out again. But then I got restless and needed to fill my time with something, so I signed up for AIDS/LifeCycle, biked down the coast of California, and in the blink of an eye, 2017 was over. 

2018 was a milestone year for me: new job, new living situation, and new priorities. It meant putting on my "big girl pants" and making decisions. So many decisions. Many people welcome change: I will be the first to admit that it's hard. My hours in the office were extended, I worked out much less, and my self-esteem suffered in the cause-and-effect cycle of not having enough time to do all the things I wanted to do. But c'est la vie. When the dust settles, I know that I will thoroughly enjoy all that life has in store for me. 

(WARNING: This is a huge wall of text. I come back and read it often though, so bear with me.)

For those who don't know, an IRONMAN is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling, and 26.2 miles of running. To qualify as an IRONMAN, one must complete all three legs in 17 hours, or it will not count. That's similar to swimming from SF to Alcatraz, Biking from Long Beach to San Diego, and then running from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier. All in one day. 

PRE-RACE:

I had been avoiding packing for this race for the longest time. In fact, I'd successfully avoided reading the athlete guide (with all the race details, maps, and directions) up until the week prior to the race and was under the impression that the race was on a Sunday. Nope - it was on a Saturday. 

Moving from one apartment to another upended my life: I was living out of boxes, and while I'm particular about many things, unpacking is low on my totem pole when there are other things that need to be addressed. Like my last IM, I had begun to develop a rash on my side due to stress. I knew what it was so I didn't worry too much about it. I hastily packed everything I could on Wednesday night, snoozed for a few hours, and got up at 4am on Thursday to leave for Santa Rosa. 

We started our journey at 5am. The goal was to get to Santa Rosa in time for the athlete briefing at 2:

Santa Rosa is far.

I signed my life away, learned a little more about the race logistics, and prepped myself for all of the hills we were going to see on the bike course. 

Fear now surpassed by excitement, Joyce and I headed out to drive the bike course. At our athlete orientation, we were told that we'd be climbing nearly 4,000 feet in elevation. That's equivalent to climbing Mt. Baldy. On your bike. It was exhausting just thinking about it. The worst part? Just a week prior Strava sent me an email to remind me just how little I trained. "7 days," it said. I'm sure 5 of those days were cycling. How embarrassing. 

To take my mind off things, my sister and I met up with our little brother, Kelvin, in Petaluma for dinner. Brazilian BBQ is probably not the best for carb-loading, but THOSE CHEESE ROLLS. So good. 

We got back to the hotel later that evening and before I went to sleep, I had this great idea to sort out all of my stuff chronologically. I got a little too excited with the sorting. Every little thing counted, and I ended up purging a lot of items before they went into the bags. 

To be clear: I would do this again every time. I loved the idea of laying everything out and walking through what I would be doing. Did I really need 2 sets of goggles for the swim? Probably not. But it would be smart to have a bottle of water for every bag, right? Sure. 

The best thing I did for myself? Write directions. Every bag had directions. "Drink this." "Eat this." "Put this in your pocket." - when the volunteers came around to help me during my transitions, they read the directions on each baggie and told me to drink, eat, and shove stuff into my pockets. I never felt like I was forgetting anything, nor did I ever feel like I was wasting any time. 

On Friday, we were required to drop off our bikes, our bike bags, and our run bags. We drove over to the town center, dropped off the run bag, and drove the 30 miles to Lake Sonoma, where the swim was to be held. I pulled my bike out of the car, put some air into the tires (just in case I wouldn't get the chance the next morning) and grabbed my bike bag for T1. 

As I walked into T1 to put my bike bag down, I was advised to pull anything remotely edible from my bag. Apparently last year, wildlife had entered T1 in the middle of the night to snack on Clif bars and other treats. Alice mentioned to me that during T1 last year, one of the first swimmers came in only to find that his bag had been taken and dragged down the hill by a fox! The athlete was stuck looking for his bag and was ultimately one of the last athletes to leave transition because of his predicament. Poor guy. 

A volunteer followed me to my bag and strongly encouraged me to take "anything that would be eaten" out. He made me take my inhaler, my chapstick, and my sunblock out so that I'd "still have my bag" in the morning. Really? My inhaler? Fine. 

Joyce and I spent the rest of the morning at Lake Sonoma. We watched some of the athletes test the waters, sat on the dock, and dipped our feet in. The temperature was perfect. 

Every little thing triggered me. Who signs up for an Ironman and then doesn't train for it? Me. Who goes into something not knowing the outcome? Well, probably plenty of people. 

The rest of the day included food - lots of food - before heading back to the hotel for last minute check-ups, putting my numbers on!!!, and bed. 

RACE DAY. 

It's 2:30am and I. AM. JAZZED. soooooo excited! 

I shove a sandwich into my mouth - a King's hawaiian roll stuffed with spam - made by Alice the night before. My sister drops me off at the town center, I drop off my special needs bags, and I stand in line for the shuttle. The plan was to have Joyce drop me off so that there would be no hiccups, and then she would meet me at Lake Sonoma in the event that she had trouble finding parking, etc. 

We got to T1, and I immediately headed over to my bike to check on it. Are my tires still there?! Calm down, Winnie. They are. Are they still inflated?! I said CALM DOWN. They are. 

I set up all of my nutrition: Jelly Belly Sport Beans in my bento box for a quick, sweet jolt on the ride, Endurolytes for hourly checkups, and a disposable bottle on my frame so that I could trade it out at each aid station. 

I met back up with Joyce.Time for the waiting game. 

As the boat ramp continues to fill up, I start to feel this numb sensation. I'm excited, I'm scared, but more than anything I think I'm just indifferent. In the event that I didn't finish, Patrick had made a great point: I was already an Ironman. I had nothing to prove. I had no one to prove it to. 

If I finished, great. If I didn't? Well, I'd be right back where I started. 

I said my goodbyes to Joyce and watched as the horn sounded and the elite athletes got into the water. Athletes slowly filed in, and at 6:57am, it was my turn. The volunteers in front of me lowered their arms, signaling that I could get into the water, and I waded in.

The swim was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. With the exception of a few people trying to swim over me, I took the swim slow and focused on my breathing and keeping my arms steady. I counted - every two strokes was one number, and I made my way up to 1,100 before coming out of the water, walking up the boat dock, scanning my timing chip over the mat, and then... doing it again. 1.2 miles, done. 1.2 left to go. 

The second loop was a little rockier than the first. Some people were on their first lap still, which meant having to swim around them or having to redirect myself so I could avoid them. By the time I counted to 1,100 again, it was time to get out of the water. I was consistent in my swimming, and only 4 minutes slower than my first Ironman, so I'll take that win. 

IM says my total swim time was 1:29:29, averaging 2:19/100m.

Strava says my total swim time was 1:29:25, averaging 1:59/100y.

I'll take it. 

Getting out of the water also meant having to climb the massive boat ramp to get up to T1. Realistically, running up it meant that I would be tired for the bike portion, so I walked up. Peter met me as a volunteer wetsuit stripper, and held my hand as I stepped out of my suit.

I ran the rest of the way to grab my Bike bag, and made my way into the women's changing tent, where Nanette (a fellow Women for Tri ambassador that I met at Vineman 70.3 2 years ago!) helped me pull items from my bag. She fed me, made sure I had sunblock on my arms and back, and helped me put all of my swim stuff away!

I mounted my bike, and was a few miles in before I realized I had not put any sunblock on my face. MY PERFECT PLAN, FOILED BY THE SUN! Luckily, past Winnie thought ahead and put a sunblock stick into the bento box. Thank goodness, because temps were predicted to be in the mid-80s during the day.

I've probably told everyone willing to listen at this point, but hear me out! The bike portion of this race was hard. Probably not the hardest thing I've ever done, but certainly challenging, to say the least. The first part of the race held the biggest climbs: a 200 elevation climb, a steep descent, followed by a 400 elevation climb. Normally that's fine, but there must have been 100 smaller hills along the course. The descent at mile 3 is deceiving - you think you're going to rock the bike ride, and smaller hills bring you back down to size.

I wish Strava would tell you where the winds were during your ride. The race briefing person told us that the winds would come from the north, so if we timed our ride correctly, we'd have the winds on our backs pushing us forward the whole time. I was looking for this much-needed aid, and got it for the first 60 miles...

After special needs, however, it took a turn for the worse. The wind decided it wanted to come up from the south instead, which meant we were met with headwinds. For 50+ miles. By round 2 of Chalk Hill at mile 88, I was shedding invisible tears while going up a steep hill at 4mph with headwinds. It broke me.

Somehow, I trudged on through to mile 112. I counted up to 1,000 and then backwards from 1,000. When I lost my place with the numbers, I'd choose a random number and continue counting down. Anything to pass the time. My toes went numb. My legs started to cramp. The wall was creeping up.

When I did IMAZ, my friend John mentioned offhandedly that if I was able to get off the bike by 4pm, I'd be able to walk the marathon portion of race. I looked down at my watch and saw that I was ahead of my own schedule. If I picked up the pace, not only would I make it back before 4 -- I could legitimately walk the run portion of the race and still make it before the 17 hour cutoff time!

Trudge, trudge, trudge.

I got to T2 and a volunteer held me as I said #ShutUpLegs and peeled myself off my bike. Only 26.2 miles separated me from the finish line.

My bike portion was amazing.

IM says my total bike time was 7:11:01, averaging 15.59mph.

Strava says my total bike time was 7:08:05, averaging 15.6mph.

Considering the climb, the headwinds, the hill at mile 88 - I will take this. Hell, I would take this on a bike ride ANY DAY! At one point, I was coasting at 19.91mph. YES. YES. YES.

The best part? I was less than 8 minutes slower than I was at IMAZ: a predominantly flat course with no real incline that I definitely overtrained for. Maybe under-training comes in handy sometimes?


T2: more sunblock, swap shoes, add hat. RUN TIME.

I'm out! All smiles, I'm so excited to finish. AND! It's 3:57 pm. I'M ON THE ROAD BEFORE 4PM! I CAN WALK THE WHOLE MARATHON AND STILL FINISH! As long as I maintain an 18 minute mile, that is.

I start running, and it's slow but steady. Half a mile in, however, it hits me - my stress fracture, exacerbated by the constant revolution of my legs on the bike and the pressure of the weight of my body, decides it's time to quit. I "pull over", try to stretch my lower calf, and am immediately met with resistance. I can't bend my knees for the life of me.

I'm distraught. How was I going to attempt 25 more miles in this pain?

So I start walking.

"John told me I'd finish if I maintain 18min/mile if I get out by 4. John told me I'd finish if I maintain 18min/mile if I get out by 4. John told me I'd finish if I maintain 18min/mile if I get out by 4. "

-- "Winnie!"

I turn around.

"John?"

Nope, not kidding - John was right behind me. Did I mention he was doing this race too? It was his 13th Ironman (yes, he qualified for Kona!). He fell into step with me, and that's how it went for the next 25 miles. One foot in front of the other, shooting the shit, right up until the finish line. It couldn't have gone any better - I had company for 25 miles, I walked through the pain, and I finished in a timely manner! John was my saving grace, both at IMAZ and at IMSR. If you're reading this, THANK YOU, JOHN.

The finish line called to me: bright lights. Mike Reilly. My sister, brother, Irene, Ruth, and Peter. I let John cross the line first and trailed after so he could have his moment on the carpet.

squee! I finished!

Nanette was volunteering at the finish and snapped this shot of me right after:

This, my friends, is sheer happiness.

H A P P I N E S S 

I am now a two-time IRONMAN triathlete!

IM says my total run time was 6:33:32, averaging 15:01min/mi.

Strava says my total run time was 6:33:36, averaging 15:06min/mi.

For someone in pain, I think I did pretty well! I can't complain about any of this.

Total times, as provided by IRONMAN:

Y'all ready for the aftermath?

... and a whole pizza and 2 full-sized Snickers bars. :D

THANK YOU. 

My training buddies - Alice, Jason, Patrick, Evan, Jay, Martin, Bryan, and Charlie!
My Marvel and HT/HU teams, and my friends, for enduring my bullshit.

Special shout-outs to the following (in no particular order):

Newly-inducted IRONMAN finisher, Alice! Thank you for being my training buddy. For forcing me to swim when I tried to avoid the pool, for encouraging me to do a lap around the Rose Bowl even at the wee hours of the night, and for letting me in on your bike rides so I wouldn't have to train alone. As Mike Reilly says, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! I am so proud of you and your endeavors.

Team DISNEY. My heart will always belong to Disney, no matter where I am. Disney runs in my blood and I'm so fortunate to be able to surround myself with such bright lights - to train with, to commiserate with, and to enjoy life with. You are my home, Team DISNEY.

My sister Joyce, who always inconveniences herself to ensure that I'm having the best time. She's selfless, she's thoughtful, and she never hesitates to come along for the ride! Thank you for everything you do for me. Expert spectator doesn't even begin to cover it. I am lucky to have you as a sister and a best friend. 

My little brother, Kelvin, for showing up to one of my races! In my nearly four years of racing, this is the first race Kelvin has gone to. If I had tears to shed in this moment, I would have. Special shout-out to Irene, who came out too!

And finally, no picture, but this will do: Patrick, my first training partner and my buddy through thick and thin -- thanks for reminding me that I had nothing to prove to anyone. My outcome was mine alone, and I needed that reminder from someone like you. Thanks, buddy.


CONCLUSION. 

My team surprised me when I got into the office on Monday! I only told a handful of people about this race, and forced them to promise me that if I didn't finish, we were never to speak of it again.

THANK YOU to the wonderful team at HT for keeping tabs on me! You believed in me even when I didn't believe in myself.

I had dinner with Alice last night to talk about the race and debrief. We went over how everything went, and ended up on the topic of training. I told her that I had only worked out 19 hours in April. In comparison, when I was training for IMAZ, I was averaging 19 hours every week or so.

Alice pulled up her hours, and I was blown away: (her number is the bottom number)

I... probably should have worked out more. But Alice - so. many. hours.



I think I'm done with fulls forever. It's a lifetime achievement to do an Ironman even once, so 2 times is almost unheard of. Anyone who does more than that is definitely crazy. But I'm sure I'll continue to iron in some way or another. It's in my blood. :)

What are we Ironing, anyway?

Update on What We've Been Ironing

It's been a while since both Patrick or I have updated, and much of that was due to changes. Big changes!

Patrick will send an update along when he's ready, but as for me? The time is now!

I do a lot better with bullet-point formatting, so I'll just get to it:

• I'm injured. There's likely a stress fracture on my shin. I tell everyone it's shin splints, and initially I only felt the pain after a mile or two of running, but now I feel it even when I'm not running!
• It's painful. 
• I'm worried I won't be able to finish my full ironman in time to make the cutoff, but I'll do the best that I can. 
• After the race is over, I will likely not be running anymore until I know it's fully healed. 
• I started a new job!
• It's amazing. I'm learning so much and doing many new things. 
• As such, however, my life is a little imbalanced and I'm learning how to adjust to new things. 
• My hours are off, which means my training has been off. Meaning I haven't been training. At all. 
• Outside of that, things have been fantastic. I'm happy and healthy, and I guess that's all I can ask for :) 

It's dangerous to go alone!

Well it looks like my knees are *finally* feeling good rested enough to get back into running. I have my follow up with the doc on Wednesday, but MRI didn't reveal anything worrying or I assume he would have called me.

But wanting to ease into it - overuse is how I jacked them up in the first place - I decided to start on a dirt trail instead of pounding the pavement.  Thankfully Griffith Park is nearby, offers some easy terrain and has a good three mile loop if I was feeling ambitious (I wasn't).  The only downside, Griffith Park is DARK y'all.

Oh, and there's these:

Thankfully, I was aiming for doing only 1 to 1.5 miles - hey, I *said* I was easing back into it - so thankfully I was only out on the trail (with a light of course) for about 15 minutes.  Still, there were a lot of scurrying critters in the underbrush.  Maybe I should have stopped by that cave I passed on the way in...

FRANCEgiving 2017

75 miles. We walked 75 miles across France.

Paris
Bordeaux
Aix-En-Provence
Marseille
Nice
... and back to Paris.

I HAD THE BEST TIME!

It's been a while since I've been out of the country - I usually keep my traveling to the states, but when a round trip ticket showed up for less than $500 - we had to jump on it!

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I had a trip to New York planned for just before our trip to France, and whilst there I managed to sneak a peek at the new Blue Box Cafe at Tiffany's Flagship store, watch Hello Dolly on Broadway, and dine at Ai Fiori and the NoMad Restaurant! Success all around.

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We flew in to London Heathrow and memories flashed back to when I had studied abroad many many years ago in Bloomsbury and Stratford Upon Avon. Those were the days! Plays at the Globe, the British Museum, Afternoon Tea - severe FOMO definitely set in. Gloom and all, we watched the sunset before flying out to Paris.

I got to see the Eiffel Tower from the plane!

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Day 1 - Paris

Day 1 was very short. We arrived in the evening and checked into our hotel before heading our for dinner. We settled at a quaint little restaurant called Le Bookie -

Everything was so good. I couldn't tell if it was because of the long flight or if the food was simply made with love - but we ate everything. I was, however, very surprised to find that no one in France shared anything. Everyone ordered their own pizzas and their own appetizers. We joked that we seemed like savages for sharing everything, but how can you enjoy all the things France has to offer if you're limited to only trying one thing per restaurant?

Total distance: 3.0 miles walked
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Day 2 - Bordeaux

The next morning, we took the train from Paris to Bordeaux.

Spoiled with Wi-Fi and a total trip time of 2 hours, we were very excited about what was in store for us. We didn't realize until later that we had ridden a bullet train to Bordeaux - all the other train rides paled in comparison!

Bordeaux was definitely a top-3 city for me in France. 15 years ago, it was still an industry-driven city with warehouses along the Garonne River. It's been known as the wine-industry capital for a long time, and it's apparent in the way the locals drink their wine (with just about every meal...). We walked up the Garonne toward La Cité Du Vin, a museum for all things wine. It was gorgeous and immersive and had a massive wine library that I don't think I totally understood.

It was here that we boarded a small ship that would ultimately take us on a river cruise of the Garonne - it included 2 wine tastings and a spectacular view of the sunset. As soon as we boarded, Marie - our guide - started speaking in French to the 30 some-odd french locals that had joined us. I COMPLETELY forgot that we were in a foreign country and that we were the minority in this situation.

Luckily, Marie noticed that we stuck out like sore thumbs and took turns giving the spiel in French and then again in English. We had a private lesson in wine tasting and learned to smell, see, and taste: something about tannins and wine color and gurgling to make sure air bubbles did something or other. It was amazing. I felt like we got so much out of it!

That sunset? To die for. Probably the prettiest sunset I've ever seen.

We ended the night with crepes for dinner and a visit to the Église Notre-Dame. Stunning.

Total distance: 12.0 Miles walked

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Day 3: Bordeaux --> Aix-en-Provence

In the morning, we bundled up to see the Basilique Saint-Michel.

It was cold and the streets were empty and I was surprised (yet again!) that the sun didn't rise until 8 in the morning. France is very slow-going. As an early bird, it was hard to want to do so much in the morning when the lights didn't want to go on until so late in the day!

The architecture alone put LA to shame. France is so rich in history! We learned that the architecture in Bordeaux, however, was "faked" to look like the historic stuff to keep consistent with the facade of it all. I'm not complaining. Old stuff makes me happy :)

We took the train to Aix-En Provence -

Had burgers for dinner, some wine at a local bar, and then checked into our beautiful hotel - Hotel Cezanne (named after the eponymous artist). The key was a bit of a shock as it was so dated, but I think it added to the novelty of the city.

so much cheese.

actual hotel key.

newfound wine-enthusiasts. 

Total Distance: 7.3 Miles walked

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Day 4: Aix-en-Provence --> Marseille

Aix-en-Provence is known for their fountains - about 1,000 of them! Everywhere we turned, there was a fountain. In walls, standalone, in the middle of the street - fountains, fountains, fountains. A review on TripAdvisor suggested that if you were bored or had kids, a "keep-busy" event would be to count the fountains in Provence.

LOOK A FOUNTAIN!

We walked all over the city (it was rather small) and stopped by the Paroisse Cathédrale Saint Sauveur - a beautiful cathedral right outside of the city's center.

We walked all the way up to Paul Cezanne's Studio - his place of residence for the last few years of his life - and we were able to see all the beautiful things that inspired him, be it still-life or landscapes.

I always admire those who can find inspiration in the simplest things. I think there's a part of my brain that wants to draw from material objects, but I don't think I function that way. I always look for clear lines and linear patterns, but find myself getting distracted because my brain can't process and turn 3D into 2D.

We had pizza, pasta, and risotta for lunch and wandered in the city center to people-watch for a few hours.

... and then we took the train to Marseille!

Total distance: 12.8 miles walked

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Day 5: Marseille --> Nice

I wish we had more time in Marseille - we can't say we saw too much of it because it was nearly nightfall by the time we arrived, and the sun had only just come up before we left.

We woke up very early in the morning to hike up the hills to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde - a beautiful cathedral that we weren't able to see in the darkness, but the city it overlooked was gorgeous. We sat for a few minutes to enjoy the view, but because we had an early train ride, we had to book it back to the hotel.

In Nice, our first stop was the Basilique Notre-Dame de l’Assomption - another Notre Dame!

This one was a little different because it looked like an outlier. High buildings surrounded it - literally an H&M across the street - it was so odd to see history buried in modernity.

Soooo... Nice. Nice was SOOOOOO NICE. By far my favourite city on the trip. It may have had something to do with being so close to the water. Or how the city changed based on how inland you were. The coast was tourist-y, but as you got further away from it, the areas became residential and the crowds thinned out.

We walked, ate, walked to the Castle on the Hill (it was actually called Castle Hill!), enjoyed gelato at sunset, and had a wonderful night in the hotel room with room service and really bad French TV.

Total Distance: 11.9 miles walked

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Day 6: Nice 

We were finally able to slow our roll in Nice. We got to roam the same streets for more than one day, buy tacky magnets for family members, and - you guessed it! - visited another cathedral! For a few hours, we forgot everything and sat on the beach. Chelsie tried to teach me how to skip rocks, but all I heard were ker-plunks. Me + rocks = sinking ships.

As day turned into night, it was time for the NIGHT TRAIN to Paris!

We thought this would be a fun adventure, as it meant consolidating time spent on a train and sleep time while covering distance -

It was definitely going to be an adventure...

Total Distance: 7.6 miles walked

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Day 7: Paris!

I should probably mention that our 7 hour train ride turned into a 16-hour train ride. Our train stopped randomly in Toulon, and for a while, we couldn't figure out what had happened. We looked out of our window and saw people slowly filing out, but the announcements over the loudspeaker were in French, and clearly none of us could understand what was going on. It was 1 in the morning before someone knocked on our door to let us know that our train was going to be stopped indefinitely in the station, and that our new train was set to depart from Toulon at 5:45 in the morning. As in 4 hours later. We had our own room on the train (the perks of first class!), which was awesome - but it looked like those who were in second class had to get off the train and sleep in the station.

At 5:45, we left Toulon to head back up to Paris. Our train was delayed, and instead of arriving a little before 10 (an already 3-hour delay), we didn't arrive in Paris until nearly noon.

Luckily, we didn't have anything set in stone!

We went to the Louvre, walked along the Jardin des Tuileries, and got caught in a full-on rainstorm at the Notre-Dame de Paris (yes! another cathedral!) -

We stomped in our rainboots as the weather cleared up just in time for the lights at the Eiffel Tower to turn on.

But, as a foodie, I really wanted to go to Angelina for the hot chocolate. HOT CHOCOLATEEEEEEEE!

Delicious, but rather thick. But I do believe in trying everything at least once!

Happy Francegiving to us. We had a nice dinner at a cute little restaurant by our hotel -

and retired to bed early because we were so exhausted. CHATEAUS AND CHAMPAGNE AWAITED US!

Total Distance: 12 Miles walked
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Day 8: Loire Valley

We were so excited for chateaus - predominantly because they were the inspiration behind this trip as a whole, but also because we knew we would be able to walk through history consolidated in singular buildings.

First Stop: Chateau de Chambord

We were told that this was going to be the biggest of the three Chateaus that we were going to visit.

The rooms were intricate - the chimneys aplenty! And hands down the largest chateau in the Loire Valley. It was believed that Leonardo Da Vinci designed the architecture of the chateau because of its Greek influences amidst the French construction. 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. Also - did you guys know that a king only needed to spend one night at a chateau to make it a royal chateau? This makes no sense to me, but okay.

We stopped for lunch in Amboise, which was on our way to our second castle. We would later return to see the chateau in Amboise, but because of winter hours, the chateau wouldn't be open until later in the afternoon.

Second Stop: Château de Chenonceau

Château de Chenonceau is a privately owned Chateau - not a royal one like Chambord but a significant one because it doubled as a hospital during WWI and also happened to be a gift (a gift!!!) to King Henry II's mistress in the 1500s.

Third Stop: Château d'Amboise

Château d'Amboise was the least impressive of the three chateaus we visited - mainly because it was just a remnant of a chateau. Much of it was demolished in the French Revolution, but! The best part of the visit was that it was the final resting place of Leonardo Da Vinci. A pleasant surprise.

The trip back was like driving back to Pasadena from Santa Monica in rush-hour traffic. Toward the end I started to get carsick, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were dropped off at the...

Arc de Triomphe!

Gorgeous.
We made the walk back home, packed, and got ready for the flight home.

Total Distance: 8.8 miles walked.

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All in all, a wonderful trip. We covered so much of France that I felt like we were always on the go - I loved having a purpose and I loved seeing so much rich history that it felt like 10 days just wasn't enough to see everything.

My next trip back will include Normandy, Lyon, and all the other cities along the border. Maybe I'll even sneak into Italy, Switzerland, and Germany.

Thanks for the memories, France!