A Tour of Tours and More!

Another long day!!! I'll give you a short recap of yesterday first and then another of today.

Yesterday, Oct. 23: Loire Valley Day Trip

Lindsey and I met the tour mini-bus at 8:50am sharp. Our tour guide was a very entertaining, petite French woman, who spoke in a very French/British English accent. (Although we could speak French, 3 out of the 7 passengers were Japanese, 1 Chinese... and their second language was English). During the drive, she would give us in-depth historical information about each Chateau we were about to visit, where to start and finish, and what her favorite parts of the castle were. She also explained that the Loire Valley used to be the capital of the French Kingdom in the Middle Ages because the mighty Loire River was the main way of travel back then.... because all the kings came out to build their castles, the nobility did the same.

Our first visit was to Villandry (which ended up being my favorite). We didn't even actually go inside the castle, but just toured the 4 beautiful gardens surrounding the Chateau. The gardens are the best representation of 16th century gardens and they were themed: the love garden (with four parts: tender love, passionate love, fickle love, and tragic love), the water garden (with a big "mirror" lake or reflection pool with swans), the sun garden (a fountain center with gardens extending out like

the rays of a sun), and the food garden (fruit trees, vegetables, roses, all surrounded by grape vines... which had delicious grapes!). Even though we about froze our toes off walking around so early in the morning, it was just delightful. And, fun fact, the noble lineage that owns the Chateau still lives in the stables.... which are bigger than the castle!

Our second visit was to Azay-le-Rideau. This castle, according to our guide, is an excellent example of the "feminine touch of the rrrrrenAissance style of archytecture" because whomever owned it first had his wife design the Chateau. It's a beautiful castle, with a pool surrounding it (made artificially way after the Renaissance), so it's almost like looking at 2 castles if the sun is out and shining a reflection on the pool. I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite...I've also been here once before on my Loire Valley trip in high school. I don't have the best pictures of this one because my camera batteries died. :(

After our 2 stops, we were dropped off back in Tours to grab a quick bite for lunch. Our guide actually told us that all we'd have time for was to buy a sandwich and swallow it, haha. Then, we got back on our mini-bus and headed off to Chenonceau (another chateau I visited before, but it is gorgeous!). The chateau is knicknamed the "ladies chateau" or the "chateau of the queens." And it has quite the risque little history... the original chateau was built and torched a few times in the 1400's, but eventually taken by the King Francois 1 after someone owned him money. Henri II was next in line as King, and he gave the chateau to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She decided it was too much to row across the Cher river to get to the other side of the bank from the castle, and so she had an arched bridge built extending straight from her front door. When Henri II died in 1559, his wife, Catherine de Medici expelled Diane de Poitiers to another chateau (which was scandalous because this was "her" chateau). Catherine de Medici added on the extra levels on top of the bridge extending over the river, as she found the chateau too small for her summer parties.

After her death, Queen Louise, wife of Henri III, was given the chateau, and after her hubby's tragic assisnation, she fell into a state of depression, choosing to live and pray in a completely black room.... And then some other stuff happened that I can't remember, and then in WWI it was used as a hospital... and in WWII it was used by the Resistance to help Jews escape to "free" France, which was divided by the Cher River (with Chenonceau directly in the river). Anyway, in my opinion, the coolest part of this chateau, besides its amazing bridge structure over a river, is it's HUGE kitchen, and it's beautiful checkered hall, on the inside, you see all these symbols for Henri, Catherine, and Diane de Poitiers... like the castle is still conflicted in a love triangle!

Last, but certainly not least, we visited Chambord, which is now the Presidential hunting retreat. The chateau was originally built by Francois I as his hunting lodge. The chateau is the 2nd largest , besides Versailles (although it was built first), and it is surrounded by beautiful forests, still to this day full of wildlife (we even saw a pack of wild boar crossing the street from atop the castle!). The chateau literally looks like it has a small village on top, it has more than 400 rooms, 77 staircases, and 365 windows. I was most impressed by the spiral staircases (designed by Leonardo de Vinci himself). Otherwise, this is just one huge chateau. This picture only shows about a third of the full chateau!

On our way home (Chambort was an hour out of Tours) we passed by Cheverny, Blois, and 2 others I can't remember. If I ever take another Loire Valley trip, I'll be hitting up Cheverny because it looked pretty spectacular!

And that was my yesterday (for the most part).

Today, we got up, refunded my train ticket from Lyon to Paris (woo!), went to McDo for breakfast (coffee, OJ, and 3 mini, but delicious pastries for under 3,50 euros), and then went on a little tour of Tours (haha, I laugh every time I write this). We passed by the pretty bridge with flags, our new favorite Cathedral, the Chateau of Tours (not very impressive), went to Vieux Tours that still has many wood-framed houses, to our hotel for check out, back to the cathedral for lunch at a nearby cafe, and then back to the train station. Our train from Tours to Paris was pretty miserable (so glad I'm done riding trains for a few days) with babies crying, loud talkers, and over crowding near the end. With the strike, people have to crowd onto one train, instead of several... and there isn't always a seat. Thankfully, we already had seats!

From there, I got on the metro in Paris, which was fine. Then, I switched to the RER commuter train to get out to the airport (SO glad I don't have to do this tomorrow morning). This was fine, until I realized the train would go one stop, have everyone get off, and then go in the opposite direction. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't going where I needed to go, so finally I just said, I don't understand, how do I get to Charles de Gaulle???? And a nice older man said he was on his way there and to follow him... he said because of the strike, the regular RER wasn't running, we'd need to take the RER from the train station....we walked REALLY fast, but got there just in time. I couldn't help but think, this little old man with the St. Malo baseball cap is my angel. I would have been riding the other dang train back and forth for the rest of the night!

I caught the free bus to my hotel, which is very cozy, and now it is time for bed!!!!