After lunch we had to meet our mini-bus at 1.15pm out the front of the Amboise Tourist Office. Karen, Lindee and I were all on time but the four girls were nowhere to be seen. Our driver was literally calling the office in Tours to get permission to leave without them when they turned up. Fifteen minutes late which matters when you're on a tight schedule (and your passengers have paid good money to see all the sights for the amount of time promised at each one and not a minute less)! I'm sure you can imagine what I thought of this unpunctuality. They said they had been walking around the town and lost track of the time. However they all fell asleep on the 50 minute drive to our next destination so I reckon they went to the pub. Anyway, their loss as they missed the beautiful scenery and the views of the chateaux of Chaumont and Blois on the way.
Chateau de Chambord
Francois I began this chateau in 1519 intending it to be a hunting lodge but with its 17 towers, 426 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 77 staircases (including the famous double helix staircase) I think he might have got a bit carried away. He even wanted to divert the Loire River - only the biggest river in France - so that it flowed through the grounds but that proved to be a bit tricky so he had the Cosson River redirected instead. As you do. He also had his initial intricately carved on many of the inside stone walls, all the timber doors and on the vaulted ceilings of the hallways. After all that effort he only got to live in it for 72 days before he died in 1547. It is still a very beautiful and graceful looking building despite its massive size.
Chateau de Chenonceau
The last and the best chateau of the day! Everything about it was wonderful - the beautiful gardens, the superb flower arrangements in all the main rooms, the grand 16th century Flanders tapestries on all the walls, the splendid Gallery - I absolutely loved it all. It was amazing to be able to stand inside the bedrooms of Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici, and the Five Queens' Bedroom, all still containing some pieces of 16th century furniture. I usually avoid kitchens like the plague but I went down to the Chateau kitchens located inside the two enormous bases of the first of the archways built on the bed of the River Cher. And I was so very glad I made the effort. I actually really truly stood on the 'bridge' formed by the top of the arch and looked out the windows to the platform where boats were able to bring produce directly to the kitchens. So incredible I had to remind myself to breathe! Karen thought it was the "women's touch" that made this chateau so wonderful as Diane and Catherine were responsible for all the best bits. I feel that I can refer to these two women by just their first names now that I've stood right next to their beds.
