Our journey began on Monday morning when we got to navigate morning rush-hour on the metro with all our luggage! After we survived that endeavor, we found our train at Gare d'Austerlitz and headed out to Amboise. When we got off at the train station in Amboise, we gathered round the map for a family meeting. Mom was in favor of calling a cab, but Dad and Shannon determined it "didn't look that far" and they were sure we could walk it.
We all survived the trek, but the second bridge took some of us by surprise! We eventually found our hotel, Le Blason, and settled into our adorable (though slightly miniature) room complete with wooden beams coming out of the stucco walls in a very traditional style. Our first task after unpacking was lunch, and we headed to a cute café just at the base of the castle (Château d'Amboise) walls where we planned out our next day and a half. After sorting through our numerous brochures and several phone calls to different mini-bus tour companies, our schedule was determined. Monday night, we explored the town and the Château d'Amboise, before having dinner nearby at a delicious Italian restaurant.
Day two in Amboise was our "Chateaux tour" day - and on the docket? Count them, FOUR different chateaux. Due to the whirlwind nature of the tour, our stops at each castle were limited to around an hour each. Even so, we saw a lot and took A LOT of pictures! Our first stop was Villandry and its exquisite gardens with our tour guide Aline driving. Even better, we lucked out and the other four people in our tour group were two older British couples with outrageous accents who were altogether adorable. The Villandry chateau itself wasn't much to look at, but the gardens were incredible! There were several different themes, including the sun gardens, the mirror lake, the vegetable and fruit gardens, and several others. I think Dad had the most fun, stopping to identify all of the different plants as we passed by.
Our second stop with Aline was the Chateau Azay-le-Rideau. Out of all of the castles we saw, it was probably one of the smallest. The most interesting part, for me, was the outside of the castle. It was surrounded by a moat...well not in the typical sense of the word. It was purely decorative, and served more as a reflection pool than as a real moat. While the castle looks as if it were built in the middle of a pond, it's actually an illusion. The nearby river (not the Loire, but a smaller tributary) was diverted after construction of the castle was completed to flow around it. What a beautiful view!
After a brief, hastily consumed lunch of sandwiches and Orangina, we found our second tour bus driven by Valentin and started our afternoon castle tours. Our first castle of the afternoon (third that day, and and fourth overall), was the Chateau Chambord. Chambord was one of the favorite hunting estates of Francois I, and since he usually came there in winter, the castle had to be equipped with many fireplaces. One for every day of the year, in fact! And with 365 fireplaces, there naturally have to be 365 chimneys! As a result, the view of the roof was mostly obscured by chimneys in several different styles all stacked practically on top of each other. The other main "claim to fame" of this castle is it's central staircase. It was designed by Leonardo da Vinci and is actually two staircases wound together in a double helix, such that the person going up the stairs can't see the person going down the other stairs! We had a lot of fun going up and down and looking across the center at each other through little windows. Even Mom, who always told us "not to play on the stairs!" participated.
Our fourth and final castle of the day was by far my favorite, the Chateau Chenonceau. This castle, which is actually both a castle and a bridge as it spans the Cher River, is known as the Ladies' castle because all of it's design, decoration, and the majority of it's owners were women. The two most famous women associated with it are Diane de Poitou, the favorite mistress of King Henry II (she was 20 years his senior), and Catherine de Medicis, his wife. Diane was responsible for most of its construction, as well as a good portion of the gardens, since the castle was built as a gift to her from the king. When Henry died in a jousting accident, his wife Catherine finally got her revenge on her rival Diane, and she banished her to a different, much darker and gloomier castle. As soon as Diane left, Catherine set about changing a lot of what she (Diane) had constructed to erase the memory of her from the chateau. Between the efforts of these two strong women, the combination is absolutely breathtaking. In addition, it is also well known for its enormous kitchen, which included special windows and a winch to bring up food deliveries brought in by boat on the river!
After a long day of a lot of walking and a lot of castles, we headed back to Amboise for dinner (topped off with an amazingly delicious banana split!) and early bed before packing for Vienna in the morning. As I write this (I'm a bit behind) we've already arrived safely in Austria and are enjoying our time with Mom's relatives in Steyr. I'll try to update soon with an Austrian edition! A la prochain - tchus!
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