Up early for a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, fresh breads and jams and butter and good coffee, and a small tour of the chateau. It has clearly been the work of decades for them to restore this building.
We headed out to Chambord, our next stop, a home of François, though he never finished it (it took another 200 years!) and did not spend much time there. It has an unusual Greek cross design with extremely ornate windows and it an impressive, soaring presence. The special double-helix staircase design of da Vinci (who was close to François) means that two people can walk up different sides of the staircase and never meet, though they can see each other through the openings, as we did.
We went through the decorated rooms, each one more beautiful than the last, including one with a tree decorated with teacups and teapots, and ended up on the top terrace with a breathtaking view. We had a nice lunch at a cafe on the road from the chateau.
After lunch, we headed to our last stop, Vaux-le-Vicomte not far from Paris, a truly stunning place with a difficult history. The owner and builder, Nicolas Fouquet who was Louis XIV's finance minister, brought together architect Louis Le Vau, landscape designer Andre le Notre, and decorator Charles le Brun to put together a stunning place to honor the king. Unfortunately, the king saw it as competing, and had Fouquet arrested by his successor (Colbert) and imprisoned for life. Louis XIV then went on to use the same three luminaries to design his new place, Versailles. The gardens are enormous and particularly spectacular. The interior was even more amazing than the other we had seen. The animated polar bears, the undersea-themed giant tree and huge anemones, and much more We arrived in time for the wonderful light show on the side of the building, which was of course stunning, and then had the chance to tour the interior. Like the other châteaux, it too was decorated beautifully with different themes in every room. Afterwards, I got a squirrel ornament for Larry, the squirrel being Fouquet's symbol and a favorite of Larry's.
That night, we stayed in a fairly modern B&B Nathalie had selected, and had dinner at a local place near an 14th century tower and fort in Entourloupe. Again, we were the only English speakers in the room, which was great, and we did our best to stay in French with Nathalie, Thierry, and Margaux. Barney has the chocolate volcano and we share the paté maison. Back to the B&B for a good night's sleep, after 17,000 steps!
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