Oh, just castles...

After another rushed morning/breakfast, we headed for Blois to see a chateau that was built essentially by 3 different kings and a Duke. The castle is made, literally, of 4 different parts, all in a different style. The drive to Blois was BEAUTIFUL. We drove along the Loire River, and passed several quaint towns and grand chateaux. For example, we passed the town where Leonardo da Vinci died.

But back to the chateau de Blois.

The oldest part of the castle dates to the 13th century, and is early gothic style. The second oldest part is gothic with a hint of renaissance.

The third part of the chateau is full blown French renaissance. I love it.

The final part of the chateau was built by a Duke who's brother was King. He got on his brother's nerves, so he was given this chateau so that he'd be out of the way and less annoying. I find that hilarious. The final part is in the classic style, much more simple than renaissance.

But, imagine all those kinds of styles forming one chateau. You can kind of see that in the picture above.

The inside of the chateau was interesting; all the walls and ceilings are painted. Too much color for me though.

We ate lunch at a really delicious, really well priced restaurant (3 courses for 14.00 euro, thank you Madame/Wake Forest/Mom and Dad). I made the mistake of getting something spicy, and because I was already feeling kind of tired and blah, a stomache hit me full swing as we headed to Chenonceau.

Can I just say I am unbelievably bummed that my first real sick day since being in France fell on the day we went to Chenonceau. I've seen pictures of this place since middle school, and I was so excited to see it. Needless to say, I did not enjoy it as much as I could have/should have. Major frowny face.

Regardless, I am still glad I got the opportunity to go. Chenonceau is built across a river. My pictures aren't the greatest, so google it if it peaks your interest.

Several queens and mistresses lived at this chateau, although it was originally built by a no name family who used all their money to build it and thus had to sell it to erase their debt. The gardens were beautiful, though sadly I didn't take any pictures of them because I was just feeling too gross at that point to do anything but sit on a bench.

There was also a labrynth (like in the TriWizard Tournament!!!) and that was cool.

We then saw donkeys in honor of Kara. Because she sounds like one when she laughs. Its precious. We met an older American couple and talked with them for a bit. They live in California and are definitely rolling in it. They've only been married for 3 years, but the gentleman had three grandchildren who went to Chapel Hill. The woman worked under the Reagan administration and now manages some 9,000 grants a year for different things in California. Active!

I luckily felt much better by the time dinner rolled around, and enjoyed tarte fine avec poivrons et mozarella (a tarte with peppers and cheese), le lapin (rabbit), and chocolate mousse (which actually was eaten mainly by the others at my table).

Since then, its been a nice, relaxing evening at the hotel, which is exactly what I needed.

And now its time for bed.

Bonne nuit!!!