Loire Valley

Toussaint Break! The children of France are all running around or sleeping or eating lots of bread while not going to school these days because we have two weeks off for all of the saints (Tous Saints = All Saints). I was MIA week one because I was in Loire Valley for a school trip, and then off to Carnac with my host family (but that's another post).

Loire Valley. We went château-fort exploring for three days, and it was superb. What is a château-fort (sha-toe)? Well, it's a strong, stately house - a military castle! After studying the architecture of these massive forts (and when I say fort this time, I do not mean it in the sense of the French adjective, but in the sense of an army post) for two weeks, we took a trip to Loire Valley - the valley of the Loire river, obviously.

We started at the Château Médiéval d'Angers. It was built in the 13th century, by Saint Louis:

'Twas old and big, this château.

And the classic. ©Teresa Chappell

And then we went on to the Cathédrale Saint-Maurice:

Next, the Château and the Jardins de Villandry:

Les Jardins

A 40-year-old-baby. He scares me, scroll on.

And then on to the hotel! On Tuesday, we started our day bright and early at Château de Chenonceau:

It's France. I tend to just casually stroll among the châteaux. ©Melanie Biles

And then we visited the big one, Château de Chambord:

©Laura Cassidy, Rennes Through The Lens

And then these 3 just always seem to be with me.. ©Teresa Chappell

On Wednesday, we visited the Cathédrale Saint-Gatien:

After a tour of the Musée de Beaux-Arts, we headed to our last stop, the Château d'Oiron. It was a château that is now a museum, and it was creepy and cool and had lots of dead animals in it. 

"Small Glass Pouring Light". This was in a tiny attic room, and it smelled horrible and it looked disgusting, these glasses all filled with old wine, but look - the shadows make light bulbs!

That was the end of our little trip. And later that day, I was whisked away to Carnac by my family...