Les Châteaux du Chambord et Chiverny

omg le Château du Chambord has so many towers. And huge grounds.

  Today we toured the castles that make this region famous. There is a very convenient bus that stops at several of the châteaux, so we started our adventure at Château Chambord (which is the one MarieAnne recommended, for good reason). It was built back in the 16th century as a hunting lodge and then got passed around by several kings and important people. So there is this absolutely gargantuan mansion, with tons and tons of ornate towers and grand staircases and walkways and carvings and all that ilk, out in the middle of a giant forest, and no one every wanted to live in it, because it's drafty as all get out. There were giant fireplaces in every room, and I think it would have been nice if they'd been lit. But despite the grey weather, it was really fun to wander around, and quite impressive.

The view looking out from the battlements of Chambord. It was kind of a bummer is was such a grey day, but the it's still and impressive sight.

Chambord was originally built by Francois the 1st, who also built one of the wings at the château in Blois proper. He seemed to like big spiral staircases.

And reminding everyone about his powerfulness by putting salamanders and giant Fs for Francois all over the ceilings of everything.

See? Towers!

 

Looking down the walk towards Château Chiverny

In the afternoon, after a picnic lunch of bread, cheese and jam, we visited Château Chiverny, another hunting lodge that has belongs to one family for the past 6 centuries. They have quite the family tree in one of the rooms. The château is still lived in by the current family, but they've opened up the lower floors and the gardens to the public. We had a really nice time just wandering around the grounds, even though we got very wet in the process (it started raining lightly, but steadily, shortly after lunch). And the house itself was pretty neat... I really liked their tour brochure, because it pointed out all sorts of fun little facts as you walked through the house. Like that there is a 6000 year old megaceros skull and antlers in their stairway... It was hard to miss, but I thought it was a giant moose. I guess I was sort of right. In anycase, the castle is quite a family legacy.
By the time the bus came back for us, we were wet, chilly, and pretty ready to head home. But we definitely enjoyed the outing. We're now bunkered in our hotel room with a picnic dinner we got from the local deli (quiche!) and are warm and content. Tomorrow is French National Day (aka Bastille day aka the french version of independence day) so we'll see what sort of events are happening around town. Hopefully it stops raining. (:

The grounds and gardens were really lovely, and there was something very peaceful about the pond with the swans and the lilypads in the rain.

Out near the back of the grounds we found this door that just went into the hill. Probably a gardener's storage or something, but it was kind of funny.

Michael bonded with the suits of armor inside.