"We all got a castle each. We're up to here with castles!"

This weekend we did a trip to the Loire Valley to visit Chenonceau, Amboise, and Clos Luce! It all started on Saturday morning, bright and early; meeting the group at 8AM to get on the bus, driven by the ever lovely, Christophe (a large, middle-aged Frenchman). While I did sleep most of the way to Chenonceau, I was awake for a few minutes, just long enough to watch the fields of sunflowers pass by me as we drove our 3 hours to the destination.

Chenonceau was a BEAUTIFUL Chateau, apparently designed by all women (so Jenna told me), and was the home of many women (not all at the same time); some notable ones like Diane de Poitiers, Louise Dupin, and most commonly known, Catherine de' Medici. The Chateau was absolutely beautiful. Right on the river, with really lovely tall towers and incredible gardens. Along with a 16th century "farm" and donkey stable, as well as a maze made out of shrubberies. Not only did we have a visit of the grounds; we ate lunch at the incredible restaurant! A four course lunch complete with a baked alaska for dessert! Obviously, that was one of the highlights of the chateau experience.

Saturday night we arrived at our Youth Hostel; very nice, clean and kept. We were kind of a whirlwind of a group, a bunch of loud kids (which is the WORST thing to be), but luckily there were 2 rooms of girls, one of guys and we had sort of separated between the loud and the quiet which was rather nice. A cool night, and up again bright and early for breakfast and leaving for Amboise.

Amboise is on the Loire River as well, built in the 15th and 16th century, housing several kings/queens and also a favorite place of Leonardo da Vinci! Not only that, his grave was moved onto the site when the church where he was buried was demolished. That was pretty neat! This chateau was amazing as well, however over 80% of it no longer exists, which is pretty sad. From Amboise we went to a little market in the town and then onto Clos Luce! Clos Luce was the house that was made for Leonardo da Vinci by the King because he loved his work and Leonardo loved France so much (at least that's how the story goes). We walked all through the house, but the main event was the beautiful grounds that the house was kept on; so many beautiful gardens and little hideaways, just the place a genius would want to do his work! It was a great site to see.

After that, we hopped back onto the bus with good ol' Christophe and drove back home to Paris. Another day of class tomorrow!

Bisous,
Amy