Chambord - the extreme castle

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Castle number two - tick. Although it was castle number one on our list. This is the supersized most extravagant and most visited of them all. And it did take our breath away from our first glimpse of it during one of our many u-turn manoeuvers on narrow country roads. It really is impressive with it's size and whole cityscape of turrets domes and sculptures on top. We were pleased our early morning start got us half way up the number one carpark rather than the other parks a couple of kilometers away. This place certainly was geared up for the tourists with markets restaurants and souvenir shops forming a little village within the grounds.

The grounds were very unimpressive. Little more than badly kept paddocks. Although the large forest surrounding the castle is of note for it's wildlife. The castle was built effectively as a hunting lodge for the successive kings and has never been occupied permanently for any length of time. The inside of the castle certainly has the most unhomely feel and was a huge anti climax after seeing the outside and also the inside of Chenonceau. Most of the rooms were large cold dusty concrete bunkers with a few museum type items on display in glass boxes. There were a few interesting displays but we didn't end up lingering like we'd allowed time to do. There was a 5 minute video on the history of the castle which was informative. We fe and luckily they had an english version playing although we were the only ones in the room of 100 or so watching it.

The one feature I was most looking forward to seeing was the double helix staircase which again was a bit of a let down. I'd imagined it to be wooden and impressive looking but it was concrete and mostly enclosed. No wonder I'd never noticed any photos of it around. I did find it intriguing and loved the concept and design of it though. Two people can be walking on a staircase each and see each other through the windows, but never meet. It is thought to have been designed by Leonardo de Vinci but no one is sure.

After lunch and to fill in our unexpected few hours we stopped in nearby Blois and came across an amusing magic museum. Harry houdin lived in this town and was a very clever watchmaker engineer and magician. The American Houdini named himself after him. As well as illusion and magic displays, hall of mirrors, and an hallucinoscope walk, there was a temporary exhibition and 30minute theatre show with an Alice in Wonderland theme. It was all very well done. The six headed monster creaking out of the building on the hour was a bit lame though.

We spotted an impressive church nearby and a museum of modern art that I definitely have to come back and see.

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Photos

Central tower
This rises above the double helix staircase

Chambord
Backview

view down centre of staircase
Windows to glimpse people on other staircase

St Vincent De Paul Church
in Blois

Inside St Vincent de Paul
The Mary statue at the end was recessed and lit so well - very impressive