Hey everyone! So these latest pictures below (which are quite out of order, Im sorry) are from this past weekend where I got to go with all the people from my program and see four castles in central France!!! Yes, I know, there's only pictures of three castles and its all because I left my camera on the bus by accident at the second castle, so Ill try to steal some friends' facebook pictures of it and upload them to the blog, but until then, you'll just have to imagine it! Ok here are the details...
Brissac - First stop on the list, a quaint little chateau, which actually looked more to me like a manor or a large English estate. It was a nice place to start off and the guided tour was actually really interesting. The Duke and Duchess who curently own the chateau are too old to keep it up and navigate the grand scaircases, so they've left it so generously to their nephew - the Marquis no less - and his wife and children, who do currently reside there. I don't know about you, but I think it would be awesome to be ten years old and living in a castle filled with secret passage ways, secret rooms, and even a dungeon!! When King Henry resided there for a short while, he even installed a panel that slid open to a secret room with a door that led outside for his mistress. Seems a little overkill to me considering every king at that time flaunted their mistresses about...but to each his own.
Next we were off to Villandry, the castle with the most beautifully and maticiously groomed gardens by far, and consequently, the one I forgot to bring my camera to...The castle itself wasn't too extraordinary, but the gardens just went on forever and they were hedged into little mazes and shapes that you could see perfectly from the walkway above that allowed a bird's eye view. No one was even allowed on the dirt path around the garden because it had been combed with large rakes into beautiful patterns as well! It was breathtaking! There were also some woods near by so me and my friends took a stroll through the woods pretending to be fairy tale characters in search of a dragon hiding treasure, it all got very complicated and in the end we never found the treasure, but at least I got to be a rogue theif for a good two hours - and at a castle no less!
Then the first day came to an end and we settled into the adorable town of Tours, where people were very friendly. We were so very tired we thought we would crash right away, but, unfortunately the hostel was very noisy all night and we all got quite a horrible sleep. But breakfast was good the next morning and off we went to the next castle.
Chenonceau - this is the castle that Beauty and the Beast is supposed to be based off of, but maybe they werent refering to the Disney one when they said that, because I really don't see the resemblance...but it was really cool all the same. Its hard to tell from the pictures, but the whole castle is sitting in the middle of a the Loire River. It's completely surround by water and has a long grand hall in back that travels the whole width of the river like a bridge. The kitchens are neat too because they're below the grand hall, closer to the water - I wonder what they did if the river ever flooded! Those kitchens would be underwater! The coolest part of this castle, though, was the hedge maze in the garden. My friends and I kept racing to the center. It was so much fun!
Amboise - After that, it was off to the last - and maybe my favorite - castle, Amboise. It rests on a small hill, but once you go up the towers, you have a gorgeous view of the whole town of Amboise and the Loire river. It was so beautiful!! Unfortunately, we were all exhausted and there was a mandatory hour-long tour about the castle. I don't think I could focus on a single thing our tour guide said, I was like a zombie. My brain had stopped working by then. I liked the interior of the castle well enough even though I was constantly distracted by the beautiful view from the windows.
I got home in time for dinner with my host mom, Puri, and then went straight to bed - saving my homework for Monday morning. And, indeed, I've been doing little but homework this whole week (but I cant complain when I study all afternoon in the beautifully designed Parc du Thabor in the sunny, 75 degree weather, now can I??) But now all my exams are finally done and its time to start packing and printing directions and washing clothes and buying snacks for my TRIP TO ITALY WITH MOM!!! I cannot wait!! Say some prayers that all the transportation works out cause we'll be taking a lot of it!! Two weeks of Italy here I come!! (And luckily for 1 week I'll be in a part of Italy on the border of France, so maybe I'll still get to keep up my French!!) I'll get to see all the sights, then spend the second week lounging on the beach with my friends and reading my French novels!! YAYA!
Alright, well drop me a line - sorry if I dont get back to you til after vacation - but Ill try my best to keep in touch along the way! Enjoy the pics until I put up all the Italy ones!! All my Love!
~Ashley
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