No school Monday. We took advantage and left early in the morning to drive 2 1/2 hours to the Vallée de la Loire. This region has more than 1000 castles and palaces - Some of which are still inhabited by the French bourgeoisie and others that are open for the gawking public (that would be us). Before we started our journey Richard Ensign came up with a "game" to play during our visit. For each fairy tale story character or symbol we could find we earned points. If we wore the princess hats we brought from home we earned extra points. Richard was so enthusiastic he started with the hat. While he was purchasing his tickets to go to the chateau the ticket agent even commented on his attire. It was a great game and brought out the creativity in all of us. 
We chose three big chateaus to visit. The first was Chateau de Chenonceau. It is the most famous of the Loire and has been built over the river. There is an old Cinderella type movie called "Ever After" that was filmed at Chenonceau. It's an absolutely beautiful setting. They have fresh flower arrangements in every room and you can really sense the opulence of this place. 
After a good game of "chase" through the hedge maze we moved on to Chateau Cheverny. The family who owns this chateau still lives in one of the wings. Spencer thought this sounded dreadful. He is so glad that he does not have to live in a stuffy, fancy chateau! The highlight at Cheverny was the dog kennel. There are 70 hunting dogs barking, howling and begging for attention. The kids loved it. Right next to the kennel is a trophy room stuffed with antlers and wild boar. When Taylor suggested that we go see the trophy room Lilly said, "Are the trophies for the dogs who eat the fastest?"
Our last chateau of the day was Chambord. We opted to just view this one from the outside as we felt like we had seen enough rooms for the day - Just to put this chateau into perspective it is the largest of them all, with 440 rooms and a fireplace for every day of the year! Really it was so interesting to just study the intricate roof lines. This was a really fun field trip to share with our good friends and neighbors Richard & Jeremy. We all decided that we're glad we live in a simple little neighborhood with comfortable homes!
1 comment:
That is so cool and fun! I love the hats, and Lilly, you are so cute!!
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