Ceil Entry #3: Chateau Visits

Weekends that have not been spent in Paris are usually spent exploring chateaus and small country towns (or going to school and birthday parties). Our first trip was to Parc & Chateau de Valencay http://www.chateau-valencay.com/. Being the first castle tour you would think there would be great excitement but the kids were not too interested in the audio/walking tour of the castle. But after a heart to heart talk they had a change of mind (there was probably some bribery involved about no more pain au chocolate) and grudging followed us. They weren’t too impressed by the elegant decorations, the story of Talleyrand life and his political connections to Napoleon or the magnificent paintings but by the time we hit the kitchens and wine cellar they perked up a little. After the inside tour we went outside and visited the Children’s Farm and fed the goats – not popcorn this time but real goat food out of a machine. There were also turkeys that were very happy to pose for pictures.

We had a picnic lunch in the park and a peacock enjoyed most of Lee’s lunch that she generously shared with him. After lunch we played on the playground and tested our skills in the maze. Napoleon’s Great Maze was large and complicated and at certain points they had questions and a keypad to enter the answer and unlock the door so you could continue to the end of the maze. They had the questions translated into English but you needed to know the answer in French for the door to open. This was ok when the answer was a numeric date but a little more challenging when you could not remember how to say sea in French. But they had the default push here button that automatically opened the door. Andy and Lee were ahead of Miles and I and they reached the end of the maze first. The end of the maze ended in a look out point where you could watch all the other maze goers attempt to reach their goal. Andy and Lee pointed and laughed at us but didn’t give away any clues. We reached the end without any help. By the end of the day the kids said they had a fun day and were looking forward to the next castle visit.

Our next castle was Chenonceau http://www.chenonceau.com/. This castle is a little more impressive than Valencay as it expands across the Cher River. Again amazing furniture, tapestries, and paintings. The gallery, the long room that extends over the river was beautiful. Looking out the windows we saw fish in the river and several canoes and kyacks. Outside the Chateau are two huge gardens and another maze. This maze was simple in comparison to the maze at Valencay and the race to the end took about 30 seconds.

Chambord http://www.chambord.org/ was next. Chambord’s highlight was the double helix open staircase where those going up never meet those coming down. They also said it was large enough for horses to go up and down. The rooms were large and drafty and it did not look like a comfortable place to live in. Miles favorite room was the room with all the deer antlers and the look out hut that looked like a loft bed/room. We also toured the 2,500 acres of the national wildlife reserve. The tour was all in French but enjoyable nonetheless. We didn’t see enough wildlife. Saw deer at a distance but didn’t see any boars.

Most recently was Chateau of Cheverny http://www.chateau-cheverny.fr/. Readers of Tin Tin may be familiar with this Chateau. Miles tells me that this is the house that Captain Haddock lives in, Chateau of Moulinsart, in the Tin Tin stories. This chateau isn’t as large as the others but is the most richly furnished and the most home like.