France Day 6 - Double Staircase!

In the morning we packed up and left Tours to see the castle at Blois. Not going to lie, it was rather lame. Highlights: this one was built in sections too, and there are four distinct architectural styles present. Also there were some crazy gargoyles that they salvaged from the original building before they restored it, now on display with a bunch of other worn-away stuff in what used to be the castle kitchens. 

Panoramic view of the town from
the terraces

Small chapel in the courtyard

In the afternoon we reached Chambord, having driven there after Blois while eating more sandwiches in the car. Chambord was my favourite castle overall, since it’s considerably larger than the others and had more interesting stuff inside. In the very middle of the castle there’s a huge double staircase winding all the way up to the rooftop terraces. The staircase was possibly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s designs and very innovative for the time. It’s made so that if two people went up the separate staircases they could see each other across the central column but never meet. So it is like this. According to the internet, it’s supposed to be so that the king and his servants wouldn’t have to use the same staircase.

Up on the terraces, you could look down on the vast expanse of the castle grounds where noblemen used to hunt wild boars. There was also a chapel of some sort, and the spires rose high up into the cloudy sky.

Pretty tree on the grounds

Witty postcard at a souvenir shop

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. 

France Day 4 - Tours

We left Beaune bright and early and went to wait until the local supermarket opened. The chain of supermarkets here in called Casino, and it's more or less like a Loblaws or Metro. We bought sliced bread, sliced cheese and slices turkey so that we could eat in the car. 

We drove all morning until we reached the city of Tours. It was overcast in the morning but the sun started to come out just when we reached Tours, and it got pretty warm out. We stopped at the tourism office to get maps, and crossed to the large train station to look for public washrooms. The interior was being renovated so there was scaffolding everywhere, and not much to take pictures of. The washrooms were guarded by a severe looking French lady, charging us 50 cents for toilets and 20 cents for urinals (although I'm not sure how that could be controlled). Outside the train station, there was a little park with a fountain that looked like water spraying over the back of a metal whale, surrounded by pretty pink flowering trees. 

Inside the station

The whale

yay, flowers <3

cool graffiti 

If you look carefully, it appears to be
a bunch of Snitches. Or that thing
from D. Gray Man 

Hotel room: the couch pulls out
to make a bed

the hotel's staircase

France Day 4 - Countrymen and le Cygne

We tried to find a hotel by driving around the spots marked on the map but failed, so we parked on a tiny street and set out on foot. We finally found one called Le Cygne, and when we walked into the reception, we saw a Chinese lady! We were able to speak Mandarin to her, and she showed us into a beautiful room on the second floor. We had to haul our stuff up a winding staircase since there was no elevator in the old apartment. The room was decorated with pretty pastel colours, a large mirror, a high ceiling with a chandelier, and two huge windows that open up all the way to let in fresh air from the street below.

This is the tiny entrance to the garage
of the hotel, only a few inches wider
than our car O_O

 

Creeping on the man with baguettes xD

Giant chocolate macaroon, mmm...

 After we settled in, we went for a walk by the river and had dinner.

 

Strange carrot soup-like substance
served before the meal in a tiny bowl

Smoked salmon and, for whatever
reason, a slab of butter

Terrine of some sort, and pear slices.
There are pears everywhere in France.

I forget what this is called but it's a
pastry sort of thing.

Fish, obviously. It wasn't very good.

Lamb.

Duck breast and more pear slices.

Yay sorbet! <3