Loire Valley

My day of castles had finally come. We awoke at a decent time, and by the time we had breakfast and got organized, we were on the road by 9.30. The first stop was Chateau de Luce Clos (the house that Leonardo Da Vinci lived for the last 3 years of his life) and Parc Leonardo Da Vinci, the grounds and gardens around the chateau. Leonardo was not just an artist, he had many other talents, amongst which was an engineer and designer of many incredible inventions. The house and gardens are full of models of his inventions, both scaled and full sized. It was amazing.

After lunch and another hours drive, we were ready for our second expedition of the day, or rather I was. Matthew decided to have a nap and Cameron read a book, whilst I ventured out to see if I could just take photos of the next chateau on my list, Azay De Rideau, (a beautiful castle that overlooks a lake). I couldn't take photos without entering the castle, so I spent an hour wandering around the chateau by myself. Very pretty.

Wednesday, we visited Chateau Chenonceau in the morning, a gorgeous castle which sits on the banks of the river Cher, and actually has a long gallery (originally a bridge, but converted to a hall) that sits across the river. During WW2, the French resistance used the gallery to pass people from occupied France to freedom, as the Cher was the border. Amazing history, and the chateau is one of the prettiest in the valley.

The afternoon was spent touring an underground wine cellars (15kms of old quarry tunnels used for manufacturing, maturing and storage of wine). Very interesting. We also had wine tasting after our tour, and bought a bottle that we both liked and some sparkling grape juice for Matthew.

Our last day in the Loire Valley was Thursday, so we made an early start, booked out of our campground and were at Chateau Chambord by 9.30. Chambord is the biggest chateau in the region, with a massive 440 rooms, 90 of which are open to the public. There is also a huge renovation project going on, and it is incredible to see the work involved in maintaining and renovating the towers. It would be a lifelong job.

Chambord is also built around a double helix staircase, the shape of DNA, designed by Leonardo, where it is 2 spiral staircases wrapped around each other going in oposite directions (so 2 people can go upstairs at the same time, and not see each other).

Our last stop was Matthew's choice, the Maison de Magiee, house of magic. 

We then left the Loire Valley, and headed off to Paris for the weekend. (Always wanted to say that).