Bonjour à tous et toutes!
I hope that you have all been having a good week!
Sorry for my late post, I was gone all weekend, so I didn't have the time to update, then I got caught up in classes yesterday and today.
This weekend was pretty awesome - almost all of my CIEE group went down to the Vallée de la Loire (Loire Valley) to see the châteaux (castles) there. Turns out, there are many, many, castles, so we (obviously) didn't visit all of them. We did visit four different châteaux, two Saturday, two Sunday.
On Saturday, after meeting up at 8 to get on the road, we made our way down to the Château de Brissac. It was really beautiful, and happens to be the tallest castle in the area (if not France overall) because it has 7 stories (including the basement level(s)). It was also really cool because the current Duke and his family live in the Château still, which is pretty unusual. This also spurred many of my friends to start making plans to fall in love with and marry one of the Duke's children so that they, too, could live there :) It was a really cool castle, although one of the previous Duchesses was really into hunting so their were mounted horns and heads all over the place (especially in the dining room), which was pretty nasty. The cool thing about this Duchess, though, was that she was actually a feminist way back in the 1800s (aka before it was even slightly cool with the oppressive menfolk), and she was actually the first woman in France to receive her driver's license (there's a picture of her below). After a tour of the castle we had a complimentary wine dégustation (tasting) of three of the rosés that they make there, which was pretty neat :)
Then we went to the Château de Villandry, which is known for its beautiful and extensive gardens. Unfortunately it was kind of drizzly, but the gardens were clearly beautiful nonetheless. First we explored the castle, with the aid of an audio guide, saw the collection of rather gruesome religious paintings that the family had collected over the years, and then made our way outside to the gardens. The gardens are on three different levels, with the "water garden" (a pond surrounded by grass, guarded by two mean swans) the farthest from the castle. Next to the castle is the flower garden, which is separated from the plant/vegetable/herb/some flowers garden by a stream (not exactly a moat, but close). (There are pictures below)
On Sunday, after eating breakfast at our hotel we hopped back in the bus for a short ride to the Château de Chenonceau. This was definitely my favorite château, because it looks like it's straight from a fairytale -- one of the happy ones, not the Grimm's Brothers fairy tales where everyone dies. This is one of the most famous of the châteaux, and for good reason. Not only is there the beautiful castle itself, which is surrounded by water and architecturally cool (to my untrained eye), there are also extensive gardens, a wine cave, a labyrinth, vegetable gardens, and a variety of animals. Needless to say, it was a pretty darn cool visit and I took plenty of pictures.
Finally, we finished our tour with the Château d'Amboise. Now, this one is cool and interesting. Not only was it home to Anne de Bretagne (the last Duchess of independent Bretagne who sacrificed herself by marrying the French king, Charles VIII, so that he would not set the French troops to attack Bretagne), it is also where Charles VIII accidentally killed himself in 1498 by shutting his head in a door (no, I am not joking), and where Leonardo da Vinci is buried. Unfortunately, much of the castle was destroyed after it fell into disrepair in the late 1500s, but what was left was still cool to visit, especially when we learned about the family history and the connection to Bretagne.
So, moral of the story: visit the Loire Valley, drink some wine, visit some châteaux, (drink some more wine) and do it all with wonderful friends.
A la prochaine fois,
Evelyn
I hope that you have all been having a good week!
Sorry for my late post, I was gone all weekend, so I didn't have the time to update, then I got caught up in classes yesterday and today.
This weekend was pretty awesome - almost all of my CIEE group went down to the Vallée de la Loire (Loire Valley) to see the châteaux (castles) there. Turns out, there are many, many, castles, so we (obviously) didn't visit all of them. We did visit four different châteaux, two Saturday, two Sunday.
On Saturday, after meeting up at 8 to get on the road, we made our way down to the Château de Brissac. It was really beautiful, and happens to be the tallest castle in the area (if not France overall) because it has 7 stories (including the basement level(s)). It was also really cool because the current Duke and his family live in the Château still, which is pretty unusual. This also spurred many of my friends to start making plans to fall in love with and marry one of the Duke's children so that they, too, could live there :) It was a really cool castle, although one of the previous Duchesses was really into hunting so their were mounted horns and heads all over the place (especially in the dining room), which was pretty nasty. The cool thing about this Duchess, though, was that she was actually a feminist way back in the 1800s (aka before it was even slightly cool with the oppressive menfolk), and she was actually the first woman in France to receive her driver's license (there's a picture of her below). After a tour of the castle we had a complimentary wine dégustation (tasting) of three of the rosés that they make there, which was pretty neat :)
Then we went to the Château de Villandry, which is known for its beautiful and extensive gardens. Unfortunately it was kind of drizzly, but the gardens were clearly beautiful nonetheless. First we explored the castle, with the aid of an audio guide, saw the collection of rather gruesome religious paintings that the family had collected over the years, and then made our way outside to the gardens. The gardens are on three different levels, with the "water garden" (a pond surrounded by grass, guarded by two mean swans) the farthest from the castle. Next to the castle is the flower garden, which is separated from the plant/vegetable/herb/some flowers garden by a stream (not exactly a moat, but close). (There are pictures below)
On Sunday, after eating breakfast at our hotel we hopped back in the bus for a short ride to the Château de Chenonceau. This was definitely my favorite château, because it looks like it's straight from a fairytale -- one of the happy ones, not the Grimm's Brothers fairy tales where everyone dies. This is one of the most famous of the châteaux, and for good reason. Not only is there the beautiful castle itself, which is surrounded by water and architecturally cool (to my untrained eye), there are also extensive gardens, a wine cave, a labyrinth, vegetable gardens, and a variety of animals. Needless to say, it was a pretty darn cool visit and I took plenty of pictures.
Finally, we finished our tour with the Château d'Amboise. Now, this one is cool and interesting. Not only was it home to Anne de Bretagne (the last Duchess of independent Bretagne who sacrificed herself by marrying the French king, Charles VIII, so that he would not set the French troops to attack Bretagne), it is also where Charles VIII accidentally killed himself in 1498 by shutting his head in a door (no, I am not joking), and where Leonardo da Vinci is buried. Unfortunately, much of the castle was destroyed after it fell into disrepair in the late 1500s, but what was left was still cool to visit, especially when we learned about the family history and the connection to Bretagne.
So, moral of the story: visit the Loire Valley, drink some wine, visit some châteaux, (drink some more wine) and do it all with wonderful friends.
A la prochaine fois,
Evelyn