Day 5: More castles and Chartres

As we were leaving the next morning, I snapped a shot of Eurah and Sarah with all their gear. They're going backpacking together after the semester.
This sign in the hotel made me laugh. Smile! You're being watched!
Clos-Lucé
We got back on the bright pink bus we've all grown to know and love and went to this castle, most famous as the former home of Leonardo da Vinci. (We actually passed another castle walking to it, just a few hundred meters away, which is connected by an underground passage!)
These little witty/profound quotations from Leonardo were hanging all over. (Then I found out you're not supposed to take pictures inside. Dang it.) This one says "What can stop hate except love?" We decided that Ben Franklin must have stolen everything of Leonardo's and put his name on it.
It was built in the 15th century by a guy named Étienne le Loup (Stephen the Wolf--what a great name). Later, good old François I (been hearing that name a lot lately) got his hands on it and invited Leonardo to come stay there. Da Vinci brought three of his paintings, including the Mona Lisa, which is why it's in the Louvre today. He spent the last three years of his life at Clos-Lucé and died there in 1519.

There were Leonardo contraptions all over the gardens, like this flying machine.
It was so pretty! I spent most of my time outside here too, like at Villandry.
A spinny thing. That's the technical name.
Is that kinda creepy or what?
Adorable bridge.
The front of the house.
Those of us who were on time waiting for the rest of the group, who were still out frolicking in the gardens.
Blois
On to the castle with the funny name. Yes, it sounds like "blah." Any one of the girls could say it and we'd all start laughing. Ironically, I thought this one was one of the less exciting castles. :) It has three wings built by the first three kings to live in it: Louis XII, François I and Henri III, who had his enemy the Duke of Guise and his brother killed here. Nice guy. After that, Henri IV moved in, and on his death, his widow Marie de Medici who had been kicked out of her son Louis XIII's court for too much political meddling. In 1626 Louis gave Blois to his brother as a wedding gift--nice gift! By the time the Revolution rolled around, it had been abandoned for over a century and in true revolutionary style, they ransacked it and stripped it of anything valuable. It was saved from demolition when it went back into use as a military barracks. In 1841, it finally became a historical monument and museum under King Louis-Phillipe, who was all about historical preservation.
Just how many fleur-de-lis can you stick on the inside of a castle? Here at Blois, I think they tried to answer that question.
A really old piano!
The Louis XII wing.
Does that golden salamander above the fireplace look familiar?
No, they didn't just bring in the horses and costumed guys for ambiance...
They were filming a TV movie! I'm practically famous.

It was also here that Joan of Arc came to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before taking her army to chase off the English at Orléans.
We walked around town a little to find some lunch, and as usual, I found a window to photograph. Chocolate chicks and cows, okay, but fish?? I'm not sure I'd want to eat them even in that form.

We lunched at this little park, which I'm pretty sure is the most beautiful green spot I've ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice. I really wanted to climb all over the trees.
Part of our happy little group: Janae, Susie, Jeff, Serena...
Diane, Sarah, Nicole, and Cassandra.
The church next to the park.
Possibly the funniest picture ever of Rochelle, Emma, and Jacqueline.
Chambord
The biggest castle ever. At least the biggest in the Loire Valley. And there were quite a few people there. It's a miracle I got a shot without any of them. This one was built by--guess who?--François I, for some countess in the 16th century. He didn't actually live there--the only person who did was Louis XV's father-in-law, a Polish king--it was just his hunting lodge. Its ginormous size and location nowhere near a village made it too impractical to inhabit, even for a king. His permanent residences were Blois, which we just visited, and Amboise, the one right by Leonardo's house. Some say Leonardo himself designed Chambord (including the really cool double-helix staircase that you'll see later), but no one knows for sure. François hosted Holy Roman Emperor Charles V here when it was nearing completion. The castle has 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases, and is surrounded by a 13,000-acre park and game reserve enclosed by a 20-mile wall. It is mind-bogglingly huge! Louis XIV later added a 1200-horse stable. During the Revolution, the furnishings--even the floors--were sold, and the wall panelings were removed and burned for warmth in the process. It was passed down some more, used a field hospital in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), passed down some more, and finally became the property of the French government in 1930. In 1944, an American bomber plane crashed on the lawn.
Roommies!
Logan picked this one. Ask him why it's cool.
The back, with its flag and little tower guys.
I have no idea what was up with this car. It was just sitting in the courtyard in its bubble, minding its own business--talk about random and incongruous. And why is the "made in Chambord" in English?
More turrets...François wanted Chambord to look like the skyline of Constantinople.
and a whole hall full of antlers!
Haleigh and Elizabeth waving from the opposite tower...
and a whole wall full of antlers! What's with these people and their obsession?
Those three girls goofing off again. Again, I was paranoid about them falling off. I'm sure you'll be glad to know they didn't.
More tower. There was graffiti everywhere--even Victor Hugo signed his name in the stone. I didn't see it, but Wikipedia told me.
Molière, the playwright we're studying this semester with Mme Welch.
His play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, which we just read, was first performed by him and his troupe in this room for Louis XIV. That's the really cool double-helix staircase.
Bro. and Sis. Welch being adorable.
Mike and Susie acting out one of our favorite scenes from the play.
One of the beautiful rooms we saw. (Looks just like your red room, Kace!) Most of the castle was unfurnished, though, because they had to bring all their stuff for hunting trips, including food.
Goofing off outside while the king's guards weren't looking.
Chartres A little history...according to legend, since 876 this site has been home to a tunic of the Virgin Mary that someone got from a crusade and gave to Charlemagne, and hence a popular site of religious pilgrimage. When the church here burned down in 1145, the relic was thought to be lost until three days later (interesting) when some priests emerged from the rubble with the tunic intact. A cardinal from Rome, who just happened to be visiting, announced it as a miracle. Construction on a cathedral was begun soon after, and although the first few attempts burned down, a craze of religion and buildin' overtook the locals. These people were not to be discouraged! Donations poured in from all over France, people started bringing in food and building supplies and even volunteered to haul the stone needed from a quarry 5 miles away. This was started in 1194 and finished in 1220--pretty impressive! Chartres is famous for its beautiful early 13th-century stained glass, especially the vivid blues. Amazingly, 152 of the original 186 windows survived. They were taken out during WWII and hidden in the countryside to protect them from German bombers. Also amazingly, the cathedral was not destroyed or looted by revolutionaries! They did want to blow it up and asked a local master mason to help them, but he saved it by pointing out that the rubble from the explosion would take years and years to clear away.
We were a little road-weary by this time, but I was really excited to see Chartres, which is according to some the greatest of all French Gothic cathedrals. I don't know about that--I have a special place in my heart for Notre Dame, but Chartres was really cool.
I found this adorable little heart near the church.
Its famous mismatched towers. The Flamboyant-style tower on the left is 377 feet tall and dates from the 16th century. The one on the right is 349 feet tall and from the 1140s. The west facade (what you see here) is what remains of the previous church after the 1194 fire that also destroyed much of the town. That's when the people got a-buildin'.
This is the most famous window, known as the Blue Virgin. Even though it's very dark, you can still see the bright blues around her. No one to this day can duplicate Chartres' amazing blues (insert your own pun about the musical genre here). Bro. Welch had lots of fun telling us about the Good Samaritan parable illustrated on one of the windows. And like at Mont-St-Michel, we also got to sing here--"Lord, I Would Follow Thee," which we were working on for our Easter program. It was really cool. The place was pretty crowded, but everyone stopped to listen. Afterward, a woman stopped me and asked where we were from, so I told her a little about BYU and our program.
Mary's tunic, the relic that caused all the fuss.
One of the rose windows--they're so beautiful! Too bad it was so dark inside.
This was pretty much the only light source in the place. Is it really bad that every time I see candles in a church (which is a lot) I have this urge to blow them out?
Mike, Jacqueline and Emma ready to go back to Paris. What an awesome trip!