France Day 5 - The Ladies' Castle

Poser ;)

We left Tours in the morning to drive to our first castle, Chenonceau (not to be confused with the nearby town of Chenonceaux). It’s known as the Ladies’ castle since it was the residence of several ladies/queens who decorated various parts of the castle to their tastes during their time there. It was very windy and damp outside so it was pretty cold out while we waited for my dad to take pictures. We went inside to walk through the different rooms in the castle, and had to fight our way through large groups of students and other tours.

THE BUTCHERY (kitchen)

Oh, Daddy..

In the middle of the castle's
hedge maze

We had looked at pictures of the castles online while planning our trip, and we’d expected the castles to be much bigger than they actually are in real life. I found that they are nowhere as impressive and grand as the ones in Austria or Russia, but very quaint and pretty in their own way.

France Day 5 - Amboise

The second castle we visited was the castle at Amboise, belonging to several kings of France. This one was built on a hill behind high walls. There was a big open terrace all around the castle itself, with lawns and gardens as well as a chapel where Leonardo da Vinci’s remains lay. There was also this interesting tree outside the chapel.

Part of the decorative theme gardens

 We went inside for a quick look, and realized this castle’s probably even smaller than Chenonceau. The interesting feature about this one is that it has two wings that were built at different times and are decorated differently. One is Gothic according to earlier French tradition, and the other is in the Italian-influenced Renaissance style. Inside, the only very interesting thing for me was the hall where court events were held, with a massive fireplace at the end that was very warm. The rest were empty guards’ rooms with the wind blowing straight through or small bedrooms that don’t look much different from those in any other castle.

Mmmm, warm.

Yoda??

Top of a tower

I suppose if I were more interested or educated in European history I would find it much more exciting to that so and so lived in such and such a room. For me right now, it’s more or less the same everywhere. The interior of the castles blur together in my mind and I end up just barely being able to differentiate my memories of the exteriors.