On the road (2) – beaches, castles and chateaux COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM - Page 16 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Those desserts look delicious! By the way, do the beds look as small in person as they do in the pictures? They must have been very tiny people.
they are. We've seen a lot of these places that catered for people in years gone by and all the beds are small. I guess it means that people probably were shorter a few centuries ago...
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Monday 7 June – part seven: the highlight of the chateau
From there, you head into the gallery, which is one of the highlights of the tour, as it stretches over the river Cher. This was added on by Catherine de Medici, who created the formal garden that we had earlier strolled through. It’s a magnificent room and was definitely one of my favourite parts of the castle.
Next, we headed downstairs into the kitchen area and the area where the servants would eat. This wasn’t as big as perhaps I’d envisaged it would be, considering the area that it had to serve.
We headed back upstairs again and entered Francois I’s bedroom.
From there, it was into Louis XIV’s drawing room, named after the wonderful portrait hanging on the wall, which was surrounded by a stunning wooden frame, all covered in gold leaf. This truly was another highlight of the tour.
Next, we headed up the staircase to the first floor and, in itself, that was quite an attraction too, as you can see:
When you get to the first floor, you step out into Katherine Briconnet’s hallway.
Off this hallway is the five queens’ bedroom, named because of the five queens who stayed there, Catherine de Medici’s two daughters and two daughters-in-law.
The other rooms on this floor are Catherine de Medici’s bedroom....
.... exhibition rooms just off her bedroom, which chart the development of Chenonceau....
... Cesar of Vendome’s bedroom, who became the owner of Chenonceau in 1624....
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Monday 7 June – part eight: our very own chateau for the night!
Then it was back up the staircase again and into the second floor hall.
From here, we got to see Louise of Lorraine’s bedroom and this was something I had read about in the guidebooks, but nothing really prepares you for seeing it first hand. : The story is that, after her husband, King Henri III, was assassinated, she retired to Chenonceau to meditate and pray. She was always dressed in white, as was the Royal protocol for queens in mourning. She decorated her room to show her mourning, with the walls all in black. It’s quite something.
That’s the end of the tour and, from there, we headed back to retrieve Mark’s passport and hand back our video iPods, which had been fascinating to listen to.
We headed back outside and took a stroll down towards Diane de Poitiers’ garden, which was very formal. By now, I was starting to flag with all the walking and it was still quite hot, so we didn’t linger nearly as long here, although we did get some good photos of the two of us with the chateau in the background while we were here.
We started to walk slowly back to the entrance, pausing to listen to the racquet that the frogs were making. We’d heard something similar at the American Military Cemetery yesterday and had been amazed by the noise these things can make, considering their size.
We headed back along the tree lined avenue, getting a few final photos as we went.
Then it was through the gift shop, stopping to buy some postcards and a fridge magnet, before we headed for the car. We had spent more than two and a half hours there and had loved every minute of it. I’m so glad that we were going at our own speed. The amount of people we’d seen hurtling round the place, as they were obviously on a guided tour and on a deadline was depressing. Let’s just say the Korean tour party in the chateau itself had driven us nuts. We began to wonder why they had even bothered going in, as they were moving so fast, they just didn’t have time to appreciate anything they saw.
We got back on the road, with Tim guiding us to the chateau where we would be staying the night. We did wonder where he was taking us, as he took us through the back of beyond, but he was a good boy and guided us well.
You see, we did see some animals other than cows this trip!
Soon we were driving along a road that ran parallel to the River Loire. We couldn’t get over how wide this river is....
We found the chateau itself with little problem and pulled up to the gates....
... before driving in...
The guy who checked us in couldn’t have been more helpful, showing us directly to our room and even carrying some of our luggage for us. I was very impressed with him. It struck me that this was someone else who really cares about the visitors they have and wants to keep them happy. He explained on the way up that they had no restaurant, but that was no issue for us, as we were still pretty full and had decided to snack in the room.
The room was lovely, really big and beautifully decorated. Ironically, no TV, which we thought might be an issue, but it was actually a really pleasant change in the end.
The interesting decoration on the ceiling in the bathroom The door to the closet The view outside
We settled down for dinner, enjoying some of the rest of the couscous, the salad, some crisps (chips to you guys) and fruit. It made a lovely dinner.
Fortunately, with free wi-fi access, we were set for the night, although we didn’t make it too late, as we had had an exhausting day.
Today we drove 221 miles. The weather today was warm and sunny, with just a little cloud, with temperatures into the low 70s. The best thing today was Chateau de Chenonceau. The worst thing today was the drivers and cyclists we encountered in Tours and the cathedral being closed due to the funeral. Today we tried staying in a chateau And the result was it was a beautiful and very quiet place. The most magical moment today was seeing the Gallery at the Chateau de Chenonceau.
Tuesday 8 June – part one: that’s too many steps for us...
It was up early today, as there were important tasks to be done – my hair being washed as one of them! We had breakfast in the room, as we had more than enough food with us, making do with a selection of cookies and muffins.
Before checking out, we headed out for a walk around the estate to get some photos.
It’s probably just as well we did, as we had both put jeans on. Judging by the sky outside, it looked like rain and, sensibly enough, we had assumed that would mean that it would be cold outside. Not a bit of it! : It was really humid out and as soon as we got back to the room, we both changed into cropped pants instead.
We loaded up the car and paid the bill and off we went, with the rain just starting as we left. Fortunately, it was only light, so it didn’t stop me from getting any photos. Sadly, it was a sign of things to come and just how reliable the weather forecast would be today, as it had said rain at 9am. Unfortunately, all of its other predictions of rain today were also right...
The village the chateau was located in The Loire River Coming into Blois
We went into Blois first, with every intention of visiting the chateau there, but we couldn’t find the entrance to it. We thought it was up a huge amount of steps and there was no way that I was walking up all of those and Mark was in agreement, so we decided to give it a mess. However, the town itself was beautiful.
We headed across one of the bridges across the Loire River and then followed its course for a while, on our way to our next stop, the Chateau of Chambord. This had a lovely lead up to it, where you were able to catch glimpses of it, as you drove up.
We wondered if this bridge was one that got blown out in the Second World War? And then this bridge just stopped by the road...
From there, we parked up and realised that you had to pay for it. At first, that stuck in our throat, after yesterday, when it was all free at the Chateau de Chenonceau. However, the reason soon became clear. This car park was actually in the village of Chambord, rather than being in the chateau’s grounds.
We headed towards the chateau, wisely deciding to let the bunch of French school kids, a group of whom were running in front with their teacher, to go ahead.
So many gorgeous pictures! Chenonceau is absolutely breathtaking! And how cool to stay overnight in a chateau. I love the picture of Chambord facing up the drive.
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they are. We've seen a lot of these places that catered for people in years gone by and all the beds are small. I guess it means that people probably were shorter a few centuries ago...
Deb
: The story is that, after her husband, King Henri III, was assassinated, she retired to Chenonceau to meditate and pray. She was always dressed in white, as was the Royal protocol for queens in mourning. She decorated her room to show her mourning, with the walls all in black. It’s quite something. 
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