Loire pictures, part IV: Chenonceau

The last stop on our Loire weekend was the Chateau de Chenonceau. We started with lunch in the beautiful Orangerie, and then moved on to visit the beautiful castle built on a bridge across the River Cher (near the Loire). This visit felt different from the tour of the nearby Chateau de Chambord in so many ways.

First... it was such a smaller castle comparatively speaking! It was also more crowded with tour groups... but we couldn't tell if that was really true, or if the smaller rooms simply felt more full with their more reasonable sized doorways, hallways, and ceilings.

Also... it was just such a pretty castle. This doesn't mean to imply that Chambord was hideous... but there were beautiful aspects of every corner of this chateau. Beauty seemed to be the main feeling here, while grandeur seemed to be the raison d'etre at Chambord.

Finally, these rooms were decorated with the beddings, window coverings and art that graced the walls when various important women lived there over the years (Henri II's favorite mistress, Diane, and later his wife, Catherine de Medici. Yes, clearly some great drama happened in this house as well.) I loved touring the wonderful kitchens, and you could almost hear the echos of cooks and butchers and courtiers and queens from the centuries.

It didn't surprise us that Katie, who when given the choice of any two things will always pick "both", said she loved both castles. But the rest of us agreed.

So finally -- here are some (yes, just some!) of the photos from Chenonceau. Enjoy!

Loire pictures, part III: Bourdaisiere

The drive to our "hotel" Saturday night took us along the Loire, winding back and forth across bridges old and new. The lushless of the land -- flowers on trees, green everywhere -- was almost too much to believe. With our eyes out for small and big castles along the way, the adults had a great drive (we even saw two golf courses along the way... and I have posted a photo below of one just for dad). The kids, on the other hand, were all sleeping, which was probably for the best, too.

And then.... we arrived at the Chateau de la Bourdaisiere. The hotel sat perched on the top of the hill and was surrounded by acres of forests and gardens. We were amazed by our lodgings for the night. It looked even better in person than it did on the Internet (the whole weekend was that way, really).

After checking in, we were shown to our rooms on the second floor... which were so beautifully decorated (fabrics on the walls, amazingly soft linens on the beds). Jack promptly went to sleep... his version of the Bug was not as fierce as the girls', but it did stretch out a bit longer. We read the history of the hotel -- past guests included many a king's mistress as well as Leonardo da Vinci (who designed the arch in the garden in the photos below).One of the later owners of the chateau built the amazing stone stables that are still on the property... but the project bankrupted him (a fate met by many later owners as well).

In the morning, they delivered breakfast to our room -- coffee and croissants and eggs and cheese... when we ran low on coffee, they brought a fresh pot up in a silver pot. Clearly, we were living like royalty. I could quickly get used to having someone bring me coffee and croissants in bed!

Jack was on the mend by morning, and he quickly joined his sisters outside exploring the gardens. We stayed until checkout, loving every single minute of it. And while we were there... we took just a *few* photos. Here they are.