Father and Son's campout

Manderscheid Castle, where the boys camped in the dungeon.  Noah has been telling us all how he killed the dragon and saw a skeleton. I think the conclusion can be safely drawn that camping at a mideval castle delights a young boy's heart.  (I'm wondering if the lizard the boys hunted for on the steps  became the dragon in the No's imagination. . . )

Mercredi--Blois and Chaumont

Wednesday morning we once again hit the bakery to get breakfast and lunch.  We were lucky enough to also find parking (and use all my dinky change to pay the parking) right next to the Blois chateau.  Joan of Arc once stayed there; it is built in a square in four differing styles.   The picture is of the famous staircase, I forget why it is famous; it looks just like Chambord's to me!  Chaumont was our last chateau and it was a terrible disappointment.  While is is quite beautiful from the outside, the inside was a confusing hodge-podge of art and pictures from the 20's combined with modern art.  Even in the gardens were strange exhibits of trees wrapped in black plastic strips.  It was interesting to note that our favorite castles were owned by individual families and our least favorite were owned by France.  Seriously, who goes to an ancient castle to view modern art?  

Mardi--Chenonceaux and Amboise

Tuesday morning dawned cloudy, but not rainy!  We made a quick trip to the bakery to procure breakfast and baguettes for lunch before heading out.  We'd saved the most anticipated castle for this morning so we could have plenty of time exploring the castle and the grounds.  Chenonceaux is built literally over the river and has wonderfully large grounds and gardens.  The bridge gallery was used as a hospital during WWI and the soldiers used the windows to fish out of.  It was a little disappointing to see the front covered in scaffolding and an odd fabric with the castle depicted on it (this is what you would be looking at if all the scaffolding and draping wasn't here:  enjoy!) but even the construction didn't lessen the beauty and our enjoyment of the gardens.    On our way way out of the village we even found a cheese shop to make our lunch complete.  Amboise was the last castle of the day, picked because we saw postcards and were impressed with it.  Unfortunately the postcards depict the town more than the actual castle.  Oops!  A cold, windy day led to a short visit.  The people in front of Amboise were some fellow tourists who took our picture in front of the castle.  Unfortunately, the picture wasn't taken with my camera and I have yet to get photos from everyone else. 
And now I have seen the grave of Leonardo DaVinci in the chapel at Amboise.  Apparently he was quite the favorite of the French king Francis I.   The end of the day saw us in a cafe eating a tart tatin with pear sorbet and drinking lovely hot chocolate.  I have to say, we met very few French people on this trip but started lots of conversations with fellow tourists.  

Dinner very nearly made up for the disaster of the first night.  It was simply delicious.  Luckily the waitress was very patient with us and our lack of French. 

Loire Valley Chateaux

Within 30 kilometers of Blois, France there are 6 major chateaux.  We visited all of them in six days and the rain only poured down on us for our visit to Chambord, the biggest castle we visited.  It looks like a hodge-podge all organized around a square courtyard.  The spiral staircases were lovely, and the double staircase at the center is famous because two people can ascend at the same time and never see each
other.


After Chambord we traveled to Cheverny, which was my favorite castle to visit.  It is still lived in by the family and the tour pamphlet was well organized and informative.  Cheverny is known for its hunting dogs.  They have 51 who are all fed at the same time in an enclosed yard.  The smell (clorox mixed with dead chicken) was horrific.  Cheverny is also the inspiration for Marlinspike Hall (home of Tintin).  I was more interested in the gardens, which were being manured that day and therefore smelled nearly as bad as the dog enclosure.   That evening brought the challenge of locating our hotel, then the receptionist, and then finding a place to eat.  I have learned the lesson that French food, when done badly, is thoroughly disgusting.


Chateau Chambord, center staircase.  The rest of the photos are all of Cheverny.    

 

Also at Cheverny we found the cute couple who took our picture at Chambord.

Signs

The construction workers in Germany and Belgium wear jaunty little hats (berets?).  Not so in Holland.

All along the canal were these signs, and unfailingly a little pile of dog leavings under each and every one.

At the seashore

Friday morning we realised that we are not terrific travelers.  About 3 nights away from our comfy beds is where both Ben and I begin to be a little short with the kids.  Also, when the GPS tries to route us around a '5-min traffic delay' only to take us an hour out of our way?  That's when I started sassing the GPS with 'I don't believe you any more, lady!'  The kids laughed their heads off at my incredulous 'WHAT THE HECK?' when the GPS told us the next step was:  board ferry.   Arcen was chosen as our last overnight because it is next to a huge garden/castle.  Unfortunately there was nothing for the kids to do, and the garden would have been way too expensive for us.  So we went home.  The end.

                                            WHOA!  Our car is on a boat!

Ben teaches Emma how to make clogs

Haarlem

Day 3 of our spring break trip.   We took a canal boat tour, toured the Corrie Ten Boom house, the Grot church (St Bavo's), and wandered all around and even through the red light district, which was very quiet at 10am.