el-granada.com - The Ketchums in France - Thursday July 5, 2007 Day 9

France 2007

Prev
Wednesday July 4,2007
Day 8 - Mont St Michel to Amboise

Thursday July 5, 2007
Day 9 - Amboise

Next
Friday July 6, 2007
Day 10 - Amboise to Chinon

Thursday morning we had breakfast at Les Grange, then headed to Chenonceau. Dusty really wanted to get good pictures of this château. Fortunately it was partly sunny, and with a little waiting we got really good pictures.

Chenonceau
We met a couple on a Rick Steve's tour - the husband took this picture of us.

Chenonceau
The chapel is the closest room to you.
The kitchen is in the basement, near the water to help put out fires, and below the castle, so the fires help heat the château

King Henry II gave Chenonceau to his mistress Diane de Poitiers in 1547. When the king died, his wife Catherine de Medicis took Chenonceau and forced Diane to move to Chaumont. We toured the château, which was reasonably interesting with the iPod audio tour. The accompanying wax museum was completely lame. We then rented a rowboat for the whopping sum of 4 euro, rowing out to the river and under the château, which was quite fun.

Chenonceau - the Grand Gallery that spans the Cher River.
The Grand Gallery hosted great balls 500 years ago, and was a military hospital in World War II

Chenonceau from our rowboat on the Cher River

Unfortunately by now the clouds had returned, so lighting was poor. We then went to Fougeres-sur-Bievre – Dusty got out, took a few pictures, then we headed to Chambord.

Fougeres-sur-Bievre

Chambord Château

Chambord

Chambord started as a hunting lodge... and now has over 400 rooms and 350 fireplaces since the best hunting is in the fall and winter after the leaves fall off the trees. The building appeared to be the size of a major league stadium. We decided not to tour the inside, since it did not have too much to see, and had lunch outside the château. Dusty spent the entire time waiting for brief moments of partial sun to take pictures, as opposed to the overcast skies that dominated by now. Later we went to Cheverny, one of the most authentic château in Loire valley, since it has been in the same family for hundreds of years and was not destroyed during the French Revolution since the family has always been well liked by the townspeople. The interior was impressive, and they thoughtfully devised a game to keep kids entertained during the self guided tour.

Cheverny

CJ's picture of a ceiling at Cheverny
French ceilings expose the beams, though not all were decorated like this

We stayed on for the 5pm feeding of the dogs – they were quite loud, and quite smelly. Rick asserts that the dogs are very well trained, since they don't eat before their trainers tell them to. Since the trainers had whips, I would assume fear has some some bearing on the dogs' decision not to eat until they are told to.

Cheverny - the hunting dogs

CJ's picture of the dogs at Cheverny

We then headed back to Amboise, and eventually, after further deliberations, ended up back at the same pizzeria, which was not nearly as packed this evening. We didn’t recognize any of the same staff on hand.

Prev
Wednesday July 4,2007
Day 8 - Mont St Michel to Amboise

Thursday July 5, 2007
Day 9 - Amboise

Next
Friday July 6, 2007
Day 10 - Amboise to Chinon