Day 24 (Friday) Tour Loire Valley Chateaus

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If it is Friday, then we must be in the Loire Valley. High level – we were picked up at our hotel at 6:30 this morning and return to our hotel about 8:15 this evening and in between we saw some pretty spectacular places. Since we had such an early start, we set the Palm Pilot and hoped it would have enough juice to run through the night (tried to charge it but without success). But it worked and we were up bright and early so a day which was mostly sunny, but occasionally cloudy with a couple of sprinkles here and there. It was cooler than the before and probably could have been a long-sleeve shirt day, but who knew?

Our first impression was wrong. We had signed up for the Loire Valley Tour with the optional minibus pick-up at our hotel. I expected them to just deliver us to the main sight and we would join a large bus. Instead the driver picked up 3 more couple (yes 8 passengers in a Mercedes Minibus) and we hit the road for parts south and west of Paris. Well, actually it took more than an hour to pick up everyone and we had another 2 hour ride to where the chateaus are located.

There are about 120 castles/palaces with a few of them being owned publically by the government and the rest being owned privately. Of the 120, about half are open for visitors sometime during the week. Our tour was of 3 famous castles, Chenonceau, Ambrose, and Chambord. During the Renaissance, the Loire River Valley was a favorite destination of French kings and their courtiers who wanted to get out of Paris for awhile. Many of these elegant castles and architectural masterpieces remain today. Art and history have influenced this region, which is known as the “Garden of France”. Chenonceau castle is famous for its bridge spanning the Cher River. Ambrose was the home of Leonardo de Vinci the last 3 years before he died. Chambord is the largest in the region with 400 rooms and features a unique double staircase thought to be designed by Leonardo de Vinci. To varying degrees they are all surrounded by lush and beautiful grounds.

Our first stop of the trip though was at a gas station about an hour south of Paris. This provided WC access, but we also got something from the café to correspond to the breakfast we had all missed. Then it was zip zip zip down the autoroute at about 150 kph (that’s roughly 95 hpm), and we were in the middle lane most of the way (not the fast lane). About 10:00 we were at Ambrose (which is the smallest of the 3 and least impressive). We had an hour for a self guided tour and we spent a lot of time in Leonardo’s basement workshop looking at models of some of his inventions. He was a pretty remarkable fellow. We also had enough time to stroll through the gift ship of course. At this point we lost 2 of our mates who transferred to another minibus, so there were only 6 of us the rest of the day – a nearly personal tour.

Then we were off to Chenonceau. This chateau has a lengthy history of various women owning and building it. The French refer to it as the “chateau du dames” (castle of women). How it got passed from owner to owner and who did what is kind of a muddle right now (info overload today), but we can look it up when we get back home. Suffice it to say it is constructed like a bridge across a river. Except informally, it was never used as an ordinary bridge. Instead it was a marvelous palace across the river with spectacular gardens and a long approach through the tree. We had time to climb up and down the many stone steps and wander along the many passageways before we had a 4-course lunch. This was the best meal we have had in France.

Then we got back into the minibus for an hour’s ride to Chambord. This is the largest and most impressive chateau, however only a handful of the rooms are furnished since the government owns it (the other 2 were privately owned). About 80 of the rooms were open to be visited, but a large empty room does not take long to admire. We had 90 minutes to tour wherever we wanted. The history of Chambord is that it was built on swampy land which various owners worked to drain from time to time. Not problem today, but for a long time there were issues. Anyway, it has a remarkable architecture and would have served as an excellent Enchanted Castle in Disneyland if Walt had been willing to build something with that many rooms. The main element is a remarkable double staircase going from floor to floor, up to all 4 levels. By this time, Janet had seen enough stairs so she stayed on the main floor, but we got to watch a video which gave a lot of interesting information and may have shown some of the things better than climbing all over the place anyway.

At 5:00 we reconvened at the minibus and rode back to Paris. We must report that a suburb is someplace called La Defence and is a collection of modern high-rise sky scrapers of chrome and glass. One of our couple was staying there, so we had to drive through this eye-sore both coming and going back. It makes no sense why a tourist would opt for this area instead of the traditional century old building in Paris (they said they though the rooms would be larger since they were new, but that was not the case).

What was originally considered pollen allergy from the plant show has now been reclassified as a cold – jus tlike the one Janet had before we sailed. But she says the cough is looser now than a couple of days ago. There are times when she has no cough, and other time when there are a lot of them. David’s head cold is pretty well under control but he also has a cough and we were afraid they might take us to a TB ward instead of the hotel. Another good night sleep should help some though.

Anyway, we are back in the hotel and need to pack for our departure in the morning. We also will try to hotel breakfast since it will be easier than finding a place and probably cheaper than eating in the Gare du Nord. So we will report that progress tomorrow.

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Photos

Gardens of Amboise Chateau
Loire Valley - France

Chenonceau Chateau
Loire Valley - while being renovated

Grand Walkway
leading to Chenonceau Chateau

Chambord Chateau
largest chateau in Loire Valley

Chambord Grounds
Outbuildings on this massive estate

Magnificent Double Spiral Staircase
Designed by Leonardo da Vinci