Chambord & Home!

So I am finally home, showered, and relaxed at this point! I do want to apologize, I was intending to upload these posts with pictures that I've taken over the weekend. However, my computer informed me that it is out of storage and will no longer let me upload pictures from my camera....crap. I will do my best to figure something out, but I apologize for the pictureless posts. Let me catch you up with the last leg of my journey!

We arrive at Chateau Chambord which was by far the largest chateau we visited. It sprawled across the open fields with the small town surrounding it. This was definitely the most interesting architecturally, but it was a little bare inside. The best part was in the center of the main building, there was a double helix stairwell that is believed to be designed by Da Vinci. I promise when I can figure out this picture situation I will show you! The balconies were beautiful as well, and from them you could see the entirety of the gardens. We wandered through the rest of the castle until we were freaked out by the third floor. There apparently was a display for a contemporary artist who is a little....extreme. They were paintings depicting morbid scenes (i.e. suicide or a lady holding a disemboweled cat, that was the light stuff) in a very abstract but obvious manner. I don't think it wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't incorporated human hair in his "art work"....like I said, maybe I'm a heathen for having no appreciation for this, but my friend and I got out as quickly as we could. To escape, we went to the top floor that led to the terrace on the roof. This was the best area to see the tops of all the towers which were extremely intricate. As I was taking thousands of pictures, I started to notice all the shapes that painted on the building. There were circles, triangles, diamonds, semi circles all over. They were always appeared in 1, 3, or 5. It was very interesting to see something with so much geometry on a building during that particular era.

After the chateau we toured the little town nearby. We were lucky, and there was a row of local vendors that had set up stands for the day. I found a man who had a vineyard from the Loire Valley, and I bought 3 bottle pack of his wine that included a Sauvignon, a Rose, and another red....for 12 Eruos!!! I've paid for more than that for a single bottle back in the States! Needless to say, I will be very excited to try it all out.

The trip back home was uneventful, but I loved my weekend out in the French country side. It was nice to be outside the super busy city for once and take in the other kinds of beauty France has to offer. I promise the pictures will paint a better picture, and I will put them up as soon as I can figure out how! As for now, I'm getting ready for bed before I start my last week of class :)

Bon Soiree!