We love Paris. One could spend a lifetime here and not see everything this city has to offer. That doesn’t mean that we sometimes don’t venture out to the see the rest of the world, even the relatively nearby world. That’s what we did over Christmas. Driving south to visit family we decided to stop at the jewel of the Loire Valley, Chambord. It had been some time since we visited Francis I’s 500 year old “hunting lodge” in the Loire Valley, with its Leonardo da Vinci double-spiral staircase, but we had some time to spare so we thought we’d stop.  After you pass the gates and you’re driving in you can see glimpses of…