Ussé
This adorable little 11th-century stronghold is said to have inspired French author Charles Perrault to write Sleeping Beauty. (I could see why.) Charles was the brother of famous architect Claude Perrault who worked on the Louvre, and wrote many other fairy tales (Charles, not Claude), including Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, and some you may not have heard of, like Donkeyskin and Diamonds and Toads.
Bro. Welch trying to get us all together for a group picture.
We didn't go inside, just hung out on the adorable grounds and took pictures. Me in front of the adorable little rivière. I really liked this place. :) It made us want to belt out in Aurora-like fashion. And dance around and put our scarves over our heads and pretend to pick berries. Our next stop was...Villandry
In the early 1500’s, King François I built a château around the original 14th-century keep where Philip II of France and Richard the Lionhearted once hung out...I mean, discussed peace. During the Revolution it was confiscated and in the early 1800’s Napoleon took it for his brother Joseph. In 1906 a Spanish guy, Joachim Carvallo, bought the property. He put lots of time and money into sprucing it up and working on the gardens, which are widely known and considered by some to be the most beautiful anywhere. They include a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens. Still owned by the Carvallo family, the château is open to the public and is one of the most visited in France. There you have it.
More castle--looks kind of like the hôtels in Paris.
Dining room.
There were some bee-yutiful flower arrangements.
My favorite part of the interior: the Oriental Drawing Room. This ceiling comes from some 15th-century palace in Toledo, which had a drawing room in each of its four corners. The palace was dismantled in 1905 and Carvallo brought the ceiling back to Villandry, where it took a year to reassemble from the 3,600 pieces!
Janae being goofy.
Taking pictures of the ceiling...silly girls.
An adorable child's bedroom, complete with Diane twirling her hair, in true Diane fashion.
A little puppet theater.
The gardens were beautiful, but must be absolutely stunning in the summer when all that empty space is full of blooming flowers.
More gardens.
On the roof with Serena.
Strolling outside, what we opted to do after a quick visit inside the castle, which was nice, but full of weird art.
At this point, we were in such raptures at the greenery and the semi-warm temperatures that we sat on the grass, put flowers in our hair, and photographed ourselves. It was so much fun. :) This isn't staged at all...
Neither is this...
Flower children.
Sarah and Diane...
drinking in the sunshine...ahhhh...it was so beautiful. Next stop:Chenonceau,
one of the most famous and beautiful châteaux in the Loire Valley, and the most visited after Versailles. It has a long history...basically, the original manor on the site was destroyed and replaced by a castle and mill in the 1430s. It was sold, destroyed, and the castle rebuilt again. François I decided to take it from the owner for unpaid debts and when he died, his son Henry II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who had some serious gardens planted along with Cher River where the castle was situated. When Henry died in 1559, his widow Catherine de Medici kicked Diane out (into a different castle) and lived it up, throwing huge parties. The first fireworks display in France happened here to celebrate her son François II's ascension to the throne. When Catherine died, the castle went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine, wife of King Henry III. You'll hear more about her later. Chenonceau changed hands several more times. Much of its stuff (furniture, sculpture) ended up at Versailles, sold off by the Duke of Bourbon who bought it in 1720. Madame Louise Dupin, grandmother of George Sand, revived the castle (or should we say...enlightened it) by entertaining some of the big dogs of the time, like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. She saved it from destruction by the revolutionaries (who destroyed so many other things). It was essential to commerce, being the only bridge across the river for miles. She's also said to be the one who changed the spelling of the château's name from Chenonceaux to Chenonceau to make the villagers happy during the Revolution...supposedly dropping the x made it no longer a symbol of royalty. Those silly French. In 1864 a Scot who had gotten rich installing gaslights in Paris bought the castle for his daughter, who proceeded to go bankrupt throwing lavish parties there. It was then sold to a Cuban millionaire, and finally, in 1913, to a famous chocolatier family named Menier. The company is now a part of of Nestlé, but the château still belongs to the family. That's basically what happened.
Beautiful gardens...
Beautiful castle, beautiful girls...
I was so paranoid that someone would fall into the river while we were sitting there.
Rochelle went to town photographing herself (and everything else) with Emma's camera. She'd hold the camera out like that, snap a picture, then look at it and say, "beautiful." She's so funny.
So pretty!
More silly girls.
Another castle shot. I took a lot of them.
Rochelle biffed it on the slippery mud by that fountain...it was really funny.
I love vines. Imagine how pretty that is when it's blooming.
The gallery that Queen Catherine built, which was turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers by one of the chocolatier guys during WWI. It was used in WWII to escape from the Nazi-occupied zone into the Vichy zone.
What's with all the stags?
In the Louis XIV room. This fire-breathing salamander is everywhere--it's the royal emblem of François I.
I don't know...I just thought this picture was funny. We were all looking in the mirror...well, I was looking at my camera.
When Louise de Lorraine heard that her husband had been assassinated (by a monk, no less), she went into mourning for the rest of her life, some 12 years. She became known as the "White Queen," because white is the royal color of mourning, and decorated her room in these lovely shades of black. Charming, eh?
We finished with a quick turn through the wax museum--quick because it was small, and let's be honest, who likes wax museums? They kind of creep me out. But it was fun posing with the creepy wax people. Lauren had been coveting a yellow dress, so she liked this lady.
Personally, I think this gal's stylin. I would totally wear that dress.
And the most WSFD/best wig/outfit/creepy face combo goes to...this guy!
We were all excited to find this maze afterward, only to discover that it's about four and a half feet tall. And, as you all know, I'm 5'4 1/2". Some maze.
Chilling at the end of the maze--I mean, the clump of yew hedges. I've never met Jessica Romney, but I've seen a picture with that exact expression on her face somewhere. I think Jacqueline looks just like her here.
Then we discovered this fun little nook...
and started playing a game of my own invention: Everyone-balance-on-a-pillar-while-Summer-takes-pictures. Great game, you should try it sometime.
I like Emma's Spiderman look (on the end).
Jacqueline's trying to plan her next move without falling off her little precipice...
So they switch places and try to spell something out...
Emma decides she can't do the E, so more switching ensues...
LOVE! Oh that was fun.
We went back to Tours, where we had stopped for lunch, to spend the night. Ready for a magic trick? Building at night...
...and in the daylight! (Thanks to Sarah's camera's really sweet night setting.)
Eurah, me, and Sarah, one-night roommies. We had fun walking around town.
Grrr! Sarah was hoping to find a fresh, young scene where we could hang out, eat pizza, and listen to live music, but I guess that was too idyllic. It is a college town, but there was no pizza or live music to be found.
Instead, we stopped at this interesting kebab place (do you notice something strange there?), where the crepe Eurah ordered was more like a tortilla and the kebab guys (can't really call them cooks) thought I was crazy for taking a picture of the menu outside. We went back to the hotel and to bed earlyish, tired out from the day's adventures.
2 comments:
Cool, cool, cool.
5' 4.5"? Hmmmmm....
I love those gardens. It would be so fun to have something like that in the backyard. Well, if I could pay someone to keep it nice.
And, really, you're that tall? You're a giant!
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