Psycho Reno, qu'est-ce que c'est?

So many days, so many chateau's.

Last night we wandered to Blois' main square near the river. It seems as though everyone in town was there as the sun had been out, glorious all thru out the day. Strangely enough the only 2 restaurants which occupied that tree lined space were Italian and American. The travel and food channels have changed us all.

Salad full of fresh vegi's and blue cheese

Today's adventure takes us to Chambord Castle, a royal hunting lodge. The estate, owned by the French Government, is about the size of Paris inside of the perimeter. We drove quite a ways thru the beautifully kept forests, which hosted a bevy of walking trails and bike paths, before reaching our destination. Now the reason for my title today was the roof of the castle. Kings had been sticking new chimney's on top, in various styles and shapes for hundreds of years. It was quite dizzying and disconcerting. Perhaps this is where the phrase, "over the top" originated.

Big ones, little ones, round ones, square ones, pointy ones

Chambord is the largest castle thus far and had at least 5 major renovations by various royalty. Other than the somewhat bizarre roof line, it's true attraction is a double staircase in the middle tower; that depending on where you entered, one could go up or down without meeting others who were also going up or down. Just think of a M.C. Escher print and that is the general idea. It is thought that Leonardo had a hand in it's design.

On the top of Chambord

Chamborg is so far away, that During WWI (it's been D-Day over here ya'll) much of the art work from the Louvre was hidden here, including Mona Lisa. The ground floors of the castle now house the police and their horses reside in the ancient royal stables.

Really nice stables

Chambord has also jumped on the art in spaces bandwagon in the interior of the great halls.

This painting is about 15 feet long

We enjoyed and interesting drive back to Blois, finding the Donkey Chateau.

If you don't have a carrot, I'm not getting up!

Manana takes us to Chartres, using all blue highways. I can't wait!

Odo du Blois

Leaving the loveliness that was Amboise and Le Rocher (Gite de Charme) we meandered thru the French countryside in our fearless yet petitte Fiat to the City of Blois (pronounced Bla-wahh). Our last 3 days in France will be spent in Hotels therefor check in is the standard 3pm. Thru country roads we zoom to Montrichard, also to be found on the River Cher close to Chenonceau. Actually, we passed 2 large "chateau" type places before we found Montrichard.

Chateau de Chissay - Hotel  Fresh

Chissay was in a fabu town with well kept homes, most having their own troglos. Ah, heaven! Spring in the french countryside, all the fields green and yellow with some sort of grain like plant. Fresh apricots at all of the marches'. CHERRY'S.  Arriving in Montrichard, I am pleased to find a crumbling castle far above town, which has no entry fee. We picnic across the Cher, with the splendid little town our view.

Montrichard, home of neolithic people too!

I have absolutely forbidden the GPS, and so we continue to  wind about 2 lane roads on our way to Chaumont Sur Loire . Most of us have a vision in our heads of what a castle should look like.  That image was placed there by Mr. Disney by way of his renderings of Cinderella's castle. Mr. Disney used Chaumont as his model.

Chaumont, high above the Loire with really great gardens.

Well now, let me tell you hunney's, Chaumont had it going on! It wasn't just a castle, it was an Art Center. All of the stables and servant quarters had been renovated to hold art exhibits. Not only is it a UNESCO heritage site it is a contemporary art center.

Exceptional installation by Patrick Dougherty

Also, this is the first castle we have visited, that just let you wander around inside thru the servants and worker-bee's quarters. All peeling wallpaper, exposed beams and lathe work. Tiny hallways twisitng around the royal chambers.
Thus far,  Chaumont wins best vision of what can be done with a castle to make it more than just a castle.

The view from Cinderella's castle.

It's just a hop, skip and jump to Blois later that day. Guess what, there's a castle there too!

Rain, Castles and Google Maps

We arouse early to get to the Chateau Royal before the tours arrived. Buses with old folks and young folks all about us. Arriving about 30 minutes after opening and it being a 90% chance of rain, we found ourselves pretty much alone, except for the lawn guys and the ladies at the ticket counter. The wind whipping around us, we had a gorgeous view of the Loire.

Me, wearing Tammy's raincoat. Thanks, it was indispensable!

High atop the city Amboise

The biggest draw of the Castle de la Loire, was the grave of Leonardo. According to the books, his grave was uncovered many years ago from an unmarked grave during renovation and moved to the

chapel on the grounds of the castle.

We wandered around, marveling at the immaculate grounds and the general state of the buildings. It is said that there are 4.5 kilometers of tunnels under the castle for all the workers that took care of the Royal Court. But Castle de la Loire is not what I was drawn to Amboise for, it was for Chenonceau, located on the Cher River.

Built right over the Cher River.

Now, in the few days I have been in the Loire Valley, I have learned that one can go broke seeing castles. You can't swing a cat without hitting a castle or a chateau, they are frickin' everywhere. As we had already given our moolah for the day to the Castle, I just wanted to look at Chenonneau and maybe walk around the gardens. Maybe drink a noisette in the town. But there was no way to get past the gates. Thus my delightful Monkey Man got us on Maps a la google and we plotted a series of small dirt roads that looked as though they followed the edge of the river, on the far side of the castle.

Dirt path leading to the far side of Chenonneau. Raining like crazy.

Sure enough, thru the magic of our google overlords, we found a great path right up to the castle. We hid under an ancient stone archway during the worst of the rain. That didn't bother me none, because a lovely bottle of Cheverny White was waiting for us at our gite.

Amboise, the King o' France and Leo

Amboise has charisma oozing out of every crevasse, courtyard and stone within it's charming borders.  Once home of the French Royal Court, the town is a mixture of  15th and 16th century buildings (and of course, TROGLO's)

Wine and cheese and birthdays, oh my!

I choose Amboise as one of our hubs, unsuspecting it was the heart of the Early French Renaissance. nor that it has been inhabited since neolithic times. I mean, even the Visigoths visited here! The castle, as we know it, became a hub sometime around 1489, a bastion of enlighten thinkers and artists.

High above on the ramparts.

The real surprise of this small village, with it's tiny, twisty alleyways and crazy beautiful buildings, is that Leonardo Da Vinci lived the last 3 years of his life here. I guess I always thought he died in Italy, but at the age of 64, Charles VIII, the King of France, asked him to come, stay, work, paint and generally, just hang out and do what he wanted. Chuck gave Leo a Chateau with a generous allowance and a secret tunnel that connected to the castle. It is unimaginable to me that at age 65, in the late 1400's, Leo crossed the Alps on the back of a donkey. Of the personal items that he could put in the donkeys trunk (which was probably about the size of the Fiat we have rented) he brought the Mona Lisa. I always thought the French had stole her, like they stole most of the art in the Louvre.

Leonardo's Chateau

We toured his last home, viewing his last works and those of his students. Harvey was fascinated with his inventions. IBM had gifted the Chateau Leo's inventions in working model forms bringing his flying machines, swinging bridges, geared vehicles, to name a few, to life.

More of Leonardo's personal items.

The room where Mona Lisa first lived in France

It has been a rainy day and the Chateau full of school children. We wind our way back down the narrow street to the Carrefour and buy the fixin's for French chili to be cooked in our new gite, in which the kitchen is in a cave. A lovely bottle of Samuer (white wine) and a bar of dark chocolate, and we are out the door for a warm and dry evening.

Au Petit Troglo

Entry, Au Petit Troglo

I am now officially a Troglodyte. Last night I spent the night in a cave under a castle that was built in 1400's. A cave with WIFI. Leonardo D Vinci is buried near the castle (not in my cave) and we're not even in Italy!
'Nuff said!