So France Has a Lot of Castles

So Sunday was our excursion to see the Chateaux de la Loire. It was not a happy morning considering I woke up at 7:20 and we were supposed to meet at school at 7:15. I literally got out of bed, put on clothes and ran to school. It's normally a 13 minute walk and I was at school by 7:27 just in time to make it on the bus- which left 3 minutes thereafter. I believe the drive was about 10 minutes long with a 3 hour nap sandwiched somewhere in between.

I have to preface all the castle talk by saying something you might find completely deplorable. When it comes to castles, all that truly interests me is the outside. Believe me, I trekked through almost every room in Versailles a few years ago and took pictures of every ceiling and every bed and every fireplace- but the only ones I ever ended up enjoying were of the exterior and gardens. I don't mind a quick peak on the inside to see some awesome clawfoot tub, but I honestly don't need to see another royal bedchamber. My friends thought I was ridiculous for saying this and grumbled that we didn't have more time to visit each castle.

The first castle that we visited was Azay-le-Rideau built in 1515. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, exactly where I'd put my castle if I had one, surrounded by a beautiful lake and stream. The inside was decorated with quite a bit a furniture and was restored nicely. There was also some beautiful stained glass in the library which I took some pictures of. Here's one of the best pictures of the castle.

We stayed for about an hour and got back on the bus for another nap. Next on the list was Chenonceau- probably my favorite of the day. The castle is actually built across a river with arched pilings to allow boat access underneath- it's essentially the world's most high class bridge. It was surrounded by stunningly sculpted gardens which took up an entire hillside next to the castle. There will be more pictures in the slide show but here are a couple that I liked a lot. The picture at the beginning of this post is also Chenonceau.


Okay, last but could never possibly be called least thanks to King Francois the 1st was Chambord. This castle is one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. It has 365 fireplaces and 365 chimneys to match. It was actually never completed, there was supposed to be even more lavishness added to the outside walls- apparently this guy never heard that less is more. Anyway, It was absolutely overwhelming so I just headed straight to the top floor to walk around amidst the chimneys. I did stop to admire the signature double spiral staircase (designed by DaVinci) that runs directly through the middle of the castle. For all those beautiful science people out there- it is in the shape of a double helix. Basically two people can climb the staircase at the same time and never see one another- helpful if you're the king and don't want to cross paths with your servants. Here's a picture if I'm not explaining it well. Click me Anyway- the castle was beautiful and nearly every ceiling and wall was carved with ornate salamandars (the king's symbol) and the letter F for our boy Frankie. The best part is- during his nearly 35 year reign, he only spend 72 days at Chambord- he still had 293 fireplaces to go. Here is another picture for your viewing pleasure...
So Sunday, even though I almost missed it and we spent more time on the bus that in the castles, was quite an enjoyable day. I'm not planning another castle excursion any time soon, but it was pretty incredible to think about the people who had walked those halls once upon a time.

Monday was a long day of classes, 9-5 again. Lunch was predictably bad and I was happy for school to be over. My throat had started hurting so I had a quiet evening at home and went to bed early.

Tuesday was just as boring school-wise, the work is starting to pile up for next week though. My night had been miserable because my nose was all stuffed up and I couldn't sleep. I felt even worse on Tuesday but was cheered greatly by the fact that it was host family dinner night. We once again had great food and lively conversation. The dinner was record-breakingly short (only 1.5 hours) so I was able to get some work done before bed. We don't usually begin dinner until around 20:00 anyway.

Today was Wednesday and I felt absolutely miserable at school- dizzy, weak, cold and I've sneezed like 100 times today! There are 5 other ND kids sick as well- here's hoping it will be gone soon. I have a test tomorrow, two on Friday, a presentation and a test on Monday and a paper due on Wednesday so it's going to be a long haul. This weekend there is another excursion on Saturday to the gulf of Morbihan, and I'm looking forward to escaping all the school work. I have class at 8 tomorrow so I'm headed to bed. Love you all. R