Princess Diaries

Today I got out of Paris and took a bus trip to the Loire Valley where I got to explore two castles and a medieval town. It was awesome to have a break from the busyness of the city and let somebody else do all the work of figuring out where to go. 

I splurged on this guided tour and I’m so glad I did since I’m still dealing with a bit of a cold. It was nice to spend a couple of hours sitting on a very comfortable bus looking at the beautiful landscape, once we got outside of Paris that is. The bus was only about half full so I had two seats all to myself. It was an English-speaking tour and my guess is that most of the people on it were American, though there was one group of women in their 50s who spoke English but with a heavy accent. They were very interested in shopping wherever we went. There was a sweet family from somewhere in the south, the Mom in particular had a very strong accent, the kids who were in their 20s had much more subtle accents. The mom actually spent the whole tour sitting on the bus while her husband and kids got off and explored. As we headed back to Paris at the end of the day she talked about how tired she felt and it sounded like she had some health issues that were making her very tired. But I guess it was worth it for her to be able to enjoy the views and hear about what her family had seen. There was also a young man who never said a word, but smiled a lot and used his selfie stick incessantly, and a group of four fashionably dressed young women in their late 20s who talked a lot about parties and bars. lol

The first place we stopped was the Château Chambord, a castle that was the inspiration for the one in Beauty and the Beast. The architecture was just amazing! It’s primarily known as a hunting lodge, King Francis 1, Henri 2 and Louis 14 all stayed here to enjoy hunting in the surrounding woods. I particularly loved the two double helix staircases inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. There was also a theater where Molière would put on plays during Louis the 14th’s time. The garden design was simple but pretty. 

The chateau is surrounded by a huge forest that is very popular for hunting. We were warned not to go explore in the forest, not because of the hunters, but because people have gotten lost in them.  A month ago a family was lost in there for 10 hours until the police finally found them. We only had an hour and a half to explore, which was barely enough time for a whirlwind tour of the chateau, so no one considered heading to the forest. I obsessed over the beds and the views from the windows. There was a beautiful stone bridge over the river, which seemed like a very relaxing spot to be.

Our tour guide told us we had come at a perfect time of year as none of the places we went would be very crowded, whereas during the summer everything is always packed and this summer in particular with the Olympics being held in Paris would mean that it would be even crazier than usual. We lucked out too because after a couple of days of on and off rain showers we had a beautiful sunny day that just kept getting better as it went on.

Our next stop was a medieval town called Blois, which was the place where Joan of Ark helped lead the French into victory. We did not go into the Chateau Blois, which has a stone carving of Joan of Arc over the door, but had a look at it from the outside. I stopped for lunch at a French restaurant and had a delicious bowl of soupe à l’oignon that came with absolutely delicious bread. Two old women were at the table next to me sipping champagne. One had a tiny little dog, exactly the stereotypical type you think of an old French woman having. He kept yipping and asking for treats, and she kept telling him ‘arrêt’ (stop)! It was adorable. There was some cool artwork in the café as well.

After lunch I went for a wander around town, including to the gorgeous cathedral and up to a big outdoor plaza, obviously very popular for people to hang out on, especially on such a sunny day. The views were over the Loire River, which I had found out earlier in the trip is only 22 cm deep at its deepest level. I guess that helped keep warships out since they couldn’t make it in such shallow water.

From there we went to our final stop of the day, the Château de Chenonceau, the most visited privately owned castle in Europe. It is owned by the heirs of the Menier chocolate founders, so they are obviously doing quite well. It is an absolutely stunning castle that spans the River Cher, and the views from outside are just as gorgeous as those from the inside. Catherine de Medici lived here – there’s a gorgeous garden that she designed as well as one by Diane de Poitiers, one of King Henri II’s mistresses. Many other women were involved with the design changes over the last 500 years so this is known as the ladies château. The first picture below with the handicap sign says ‘If you take my spot take my handicap’. I like it!

We did some wine tasting from the wine that is made on the estate and only sold there – rosé, Savignon Blanc, and Malbec. I didn’t like the Malbec at all, the Sauvignon Blanc was OK, but the rosé was delicious, and sold for less than €10 a bottle! I considered buying some but wasn’t sure what the rules were for liquids on carry-ons, and I didn’t want to check my bag just for a bottle of wine.

I found the kitchen in particular fascinating in the château. There were several different rooms, all beautifully set up with lots of flowers, a huge assortment of knives too. The chapel was absolutely stunning as well. 

I was very grateful that it wasn’t very crowded so it was very easy to get around and see everything. Again I was drawn to the beds and window views. On any furniture that they didn’t want people to sit on there were large thistles laid out. Seems so much nicer than a whole bunch of ‘keep off the chair’ signs.

There was a cool little labyrinth on the property, and some woods that we could walk through without worry of getting lost. I had to laugh at a sign that I passed that said the toilets are free so please don’t spoil the forest. Obviously, this has been a problem in the past!

We got back to our starting point at about 8 PM and I was feeling much better than I expected, I think because I had plenty of time to just sit and enjoy the scenery in between walking around the castles. So I went and checked out a couple more metro stops that I’ve been wanting to see, the first was Arts et Métiers, which was covered in a coppery Steam-punk type look with cool portholes that showed pictures of different sites around Paris. The next was Liege, which had some absolutely gorgeous paintings on the other side of the tracks. At that point, I’d had a very long day and was ready to head home and get in bed.