CHATEAUS NEAR BLOIS FRANCE

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I hope that you have enjoyed my slideshow of flowers from the Chateau Chenonceau, also known as “Chateau du Dames”. I decided to only post the pictures and not post today’s journal until tomorrow morning. Thought this would give you something to enjoy and also give you a rest from my ramblings about our travels.

After so much late afternoon rain on Monday I was worried that we might have to deal with rain this morning so we first went to Chenonceau where we would have to walk into the Chateau thru the forest surrounding the castle. Martha says of all the chateaus in the Loire Valley this is her most favorite…. Now I understand why, the building, grounds, furnishings and most of all the flowers are all so beautiful that you can’t help but love it. You really must take time to see the pictures on Martha’s slideshow of the inside rooms as each is furnished to reflect the taste of the person who at one time lived in each room.

From here we drove to the Chateau Du Clos Luce where Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. You see his bedchamber, work study, kitchen, the dining room with a copy of the Mona Lisa (actually much larger than the original in Paris). Much of the chateau is information and displays on the many inventions of Da Vinci.

I thought that we were ready to find our hotel after this as Martha had said that we would only do 2 buildings today……then she said but Chateaus in Amboise is really an extention of Leonardo Clos Luce residence….so it really did not count as a third visit because this is where Leonardo is buried and a must see to complete our day. As it still hadn’t started to rain….. I said okay but hope we can park close. She was able to find parking within a reasonable distance but what she did not tell me was that we would have lots and lots of stairs and ramps to walk once inside. She is getting really smart about only feeding me just enough information to get me inside and once I’ve paid I want to get my moneys worth.

The first stop after climbing the flower lined ramp, was the petite chapel where Leonardo da Vinci is buried. This Gothic chapel comes with two fireplaces and beautiful stained glass windows. Views of the rooftops and the Loire River escort you into the large central chateau where you find rooms filled with high backed chairs and massive stone fireplaces. The strategic value of this site is clear – the visibility is great and the river below provided a natural defense. The tower climbs 130 feet in five spirals…. As I said. lots of stairs and ramps in this building. The top floor rooms are well furnished from the post 1800’s and they all seems to use vases of flowers in their rooms but none can compare to the arrangements in Chenonceau.

Off to find our room for the night…tonight we are staying at the Hotel Balladins in Blois. We actually have a ,very small, bathroom right in our room. Different from the Formule Ones that we have been using as their bathrooms are all “down the hall”. We also have free internet and a TV with BBC in English. This is all a real treat for us as we have not had English on a TV since March 9th in Toulouse. But we have had free internet most of the time until we got in the Formule Ones in France and this is where we would pick up the news so we have gotten along quite well without TV. We have had heavy rains for most of the late afternoon and evening so glad we completed our travels before it started.