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Published: November 10th 2017
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Geo: 45.1172, 1.22819
We tried to stay an extra night in Amboise, but the hotel was full. We were supposed to drive to Limoge, but decided it was too far to go and get to see the sights we wanted to see. We made reservations for Montlucon instead.
We headed over to the Chateau in the village of Amboise. It is called Chateau Royal d Amboise. It is right in the middle of the village, up on a hill, overlooking the river. In the chapel is the final resting place of Leonardo Di Vinci. He actually lived out his last years at this Chateau. After visiting this Chateau, we headed over to Chateau Chaumont-Sur Loire. We are having trouble telling them apart. This Chateau was up on a cliff, overlooking the river. These Chateaus are so cool. The aristocrats in France all had at least one Chateau. There are hundreds around the Loire valley.
We left the Loire valley and drove down to Bourges. We stopped to see the Cathedral of St. Etienne. It was built at the same time as the Cathedral De Notre Dame and the cathedral in Chartres, from our first day. It has 3 sections, one
is 50 feet tall, the next is 70 feet tall and the main part is 110 feet tall. It was started in 1195 and only took 55 years to build. A pretty amazing feat for a church that is 400 feet long. After visiting the cathedral we headed for Montlucon to our hotel. A little wine, some dinner and off to bed.
The next morning, we got up, packed and headed out to our next stop. It is called the village of Oradour-Sur-Glane. During the second World War the Nazis thought that the resistance had kidnapped one of their commanders. They decided to teach the French a lesson. On June 10th, a Division of 200 SS soldiers came into the village. They surrounded the village and rounded up all of the residents. They separated the men from the women and children. They moved the men in groups to several barns and slaughtered them. They then moved the women and children into the church and started a fire. They shot them and threw hand grenades into the church. All in all 642 innocent people were slaughtered by the Germans. They then burned the village and buried the bodies in a mass
grave. The village has been kept exactly as it was after the Germans left it. It was very sobering to see. You can see the marks in the wall where the bullets hit. There is a memorial in the village graveyard to commemorate this event.
We left there, very sad, and let our views of the countryside lighten our mood. We are staying at an actual Chateau for 2 nights now. It is called the Chateau de la Fleunie. Silly name, but a beautiful Chateau on a hill, overlooking farmlands. It has a large swimming pool, which I used today. Not like I'm used to at home, 84 degrees, but about 72 degrees. Cold , but refreshing. We had dinner in the restaurant and will head out tomorrow to see some ancient cave paintings in a nearby town.
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steelhead
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Fantastic pictures of the architecture. Missing you guys. Wish we were there with you. Keep the posts coming, that way we can live vicariously through them. ha! Looks like your having a great time.