Le Weekend sur la Riviere du Loire

Brace yourselves; there will be a ton of pictures in this post.



So this weekend, my director Madame B took us to the Loire River Valley, where all the great chateaux and castles of France are housed. We took a tour bus, and it dropped us off at various locations for a few hours before picking us up and driving us to tour next destination. It was very cool.

We started the weekend in Chartres, to look at Chartres cathedral. It is the biggest church in France. I remember studying it in my Early Midieval Art class last year, so I was able to fill my friends in on the historical deets of the site. (See, Dad, your money is going somewhere, after all!)



Then we went to the chateau of Blois, where the Duc of Guise was assasinated. It was big, but not my most favorite. Afterwards, me and some friends had lunch at a resturaunt; three courses for 10 euro! It was awesome. I had steak, tomato salad, and the biggest glass of chocolate mousse I have ever seen.



Then we went on to the chateau of Ambroise. It was slightly dissappointed as 75% of the castle was destroyed, and there was only a tiny corner left. But the view was amazing, and the town of Ambroise was really quaint. After the chateau, we walked about 10 minutes to Da Vinci's house. Talk about AWESOME! It must have been totally worth it to be a genius because his crib was pretty sweet. My favorite was the trails and grounds he had, and seeing all of the inventions he came up with.



Da Vinci's House



That evening, we took the bus to Tours and slept there. This hotel was much better than the nightmare that was the first night in Paris. They actually had an elevator. :-) We had the best dinner ever at this tiny resturaunt. I had pintade, which is a petite guinea fowl. It was so good, I swear I'm going to be thinking about it for days.

The next morning, we woke up and went to Villandry. The chateau was nothing special, but the gardens were....Wow. I spent 30 minutes in the cahteau and and hour and a half in the gardens. They just kept on going, and there was so much to see! It was raining, though, so I was a bit cold, but I think the garden shots came out even more beautiful because of all the green.



Next, we went to Chenonceau. It was built over the Loire River, and was really pretty. Mary Stuart stayed here.



The last chateau we visited was Chambourd. It was freakin huge. There were 365 fireplaces. No joke. And it just kept going on and on, like a labrynth. In addition, in the middle of the castle, there was a double spiral staircase. It has two openings at the bottom, and two people can walk on this staircase and see each other through a window, but they will never actually meet on the staircase. It was weird. I just kept imagining that is the perfect set-up for a horror movie or something.



Then, we took the bus home and got ready for the week.

Yesterday and today I had class. And this afternoon, my director made a special announcement;

WE ARE GOING TO THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL IN MAY.

SERIOUSLY.

I literally shrieked and freaked out when I heard it. It's going to be absolutely amazing.

After class, Co, S, and I took a walk along the Seine for a while. It was so warm, and the sun was out, that it was nice to just take a moment and soak it all in.



Beautiful.

A demain!

--C.