The Chateaux of the Loire

Chambord

First off I have to apologize I am not sure whether its Chateau or Chateaux and also I may get places confused. There was a Chambord a Amboise and Blois so the names run together. I'm pretty sure the first place we visited was Chambord. Its was a hunting lodge built in the 1500's for the French king. Its famous for a double spiral stair case and its incredible towers. Inside it is kind of empty and unfurnished, but that is how it was. Amazingly the chateau was little used, no one lived there full time for most of its history, in fact the king who built it was only there 70 or so days over 30 plus years.  Furniture was only brought in when the king was visiting. The usage record of later kings and owners was little better.

A brief aside:  We got out here via rented car, our first such attempt. We had quite a time finding the Hertz office. We knew it was near the Louvre, but after not finding the address we called the office to find they are actually in the Louvre.  There is a picture of Mary online to get to the car rental place at the end of this post! (Also, automatics cost much more here and gas is $8-9 a gallon, though I hear its around $3 in the good old U.S. of A. )

Cheverny

Our next stop was Cheverny a 'smaller' chateau which apparently inspired the house that comic character Tintin lives in. Interestingly this chateau is privately owned and the owner still lives in the right wing.  We discussed what it must be like to have your home open 365 days a year (even Christmas and New Years) The inside is pretty interesting filled with the curiousities collected by the generations of owners (all one family)  The other Cheverny claim to fame is its hounds, over 100 of them. Feeding time is insane, kind of like Pee Wee sports, every now and then a dog comes up with a chunk of chicken and tries to carry it away, only to have five other dogs steal most of it first.

Our Chateau

 We got to stay the night in a Chateau, near Ambois, very beautiful.  We stayed up in the top of the tower to Mary's left.  It was a very nice room and we slept soundly despite being outside the defensive moat.

Chenonceau is literally on the water. It probably has the most history as many different queens used it as a residence. 

 

Mary at Amboise. Hopefully you can see the river below (on Mary's right) this chateau was built into an old fortress high above the town of Amboise.  The existing buildings are only one fifth of the structures that were once here. If you go here there ask about the alternate exit that lets you go out via one of the two spiral towers that the king had built to permit cavalry and carriages to get up into the chateau.   Its good to be the king.

Feeding time at Cheverny

We are actually in line to get into the car rental place (really!)