Two Chateaux Today

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I caught a small head cold from somewhere, probably from someone in Paris. It's the first time I've ever been sick on any of our trips. But, a trip to the pharmacie, and I'm on the road to recovery. French pharmacies are wonderful. You tell them your symptoms, and they give you these miracle drugs that I've never heard of. I've been on them for two day's now, and I'm feeling better all the time.

We were going to try and make it to three chateaux today, but because I felt rotten, we only made it to two. The first one we chose to see was Château de Chambord. It is the largest castle in the Loire valley, and was built to serve as a hunting lodge for King François I. It took 20 years to build, from 1519 through 1547 (there was a hiatus on the building of the chateau for about eight years in there somewhere).

It is truly massive with 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. It sits on a 13,000 acre game preserve enclosed by a 20-mile-long wall. It features a 128m facade with 800 carved columns. Because of the high ceilings and open windows, heating the chateau was impractical. And, because there was not a nearby village, there was no real source of food other than wild game. Therefore, the chateau sat empty most of the year, and when it was occupied, everything, including furniture, food, servants, clothes, etc, were brought with the hunting party, typically around 2000 people. No wonder the French people wanted to do away with the aristocracy! Pictures don't do it justice, but they're beautiful none the less.:

Next, we went to Château Cheverny. Built between 1624 and 1630 by the Hurault family. It is one of the few chateaux that is still owned today by the same family. It was lived in by the Hurault family until 1985. The original furnishings are still in the rooms, and the 70+ bloodhounds are still let out to hunt twice a week.

After the two chateaux, we headed back home. We stopped at a patisserie in one of the small villages, and I bought Carolyn a swan made from a cream puff and filled with some kind of wonderful cream. She loved it.

Tomorrow, we're planning on doing laundry (whoo-hoo), and then we're going to visit one of the troglodyte villages that abound in this region of France.

Until next time remember, you're wine glass should never be empty…

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