chateau de chenonceau

PSA: all of these blog posts are going to have a million pictures because i love all of them and i'm probably not going to edit the posts either because i'm really tired so sorry about typos, etc., etc. one day.

on monday we took a bus ride to the chateau of chenonceau. luckily, it was a pretty nice bus, and there's only 17 of us and then Monsieur and Mrs. Erikson (our professor and his wife), so we all got our own row. pretty much immediately everyone fell asleep because JETLAG. seriously jetlag may be the worst thing in the world. we stopped at a gas station to get food and french gas stations are so much nicer than our gas stations. especially their bathrooms. just saying

we arrived at the chateau, and BEAUTIFUL. it was pretty much the most perfect day to go. correction, it looked like the most perfect day to go, it felt as hot as the heat of a thousand suns.

^^^catherine de medici's garden

we were given headphones and an audio tour for the chenonceau, but i found myself distracted by only listening to the tour, and not actually looking at the things that i was learning about, so i stopped listening. i went through each room, and when we got to the top, there was a big room that was designated to telling the history of the chateau. it was so interesting to read. the chateau was pretty much built under the direction of the women of the french royalty.

pretty much the whole castle was a competition between mistresses, wives, and mothers-in-laws. the castle now works as a bridge over the river, and during world war two, the front of the castle was in occupied vichy france, but the back was not because it crossed the river. people would go in the front door and escape out the back door in order to get away from the german invasion of france. 

one of my favorite rooms was the kitchen. basically it was actually a lot of rooms, but animal heads and copper pans for days. i was in love with it. also sorry these pics are a little blurry because i was just learning how to use my camera, so.

^^^more pigeon friends

also, it was so hot and humid that my hair just kept getting bigger and bigger and frizzier and frizzier, so don't mind the mess.

seriously though, could it be any more beautiful? 

^^^also, french humor in the forest-y area outside the chateau.

the chateau de chenonceau was stunning. i loved it, and it was unreal to think that i was actually there. i learned a lot about the french monarchy, aka that they were all miserable and jealous and did everything to show they were better than everyone else (okay, so that is a blanket statement, i'm sure there were a few nice people)

that night we drove to Blois because we were going to see the Chateau de Blois the next day. after dinner a few of us decided we wanted to walk around blois. blois is incredible. it's this stone medieval town. everything reflects the style of the chateau de blois. huge rock walls, moss, and cobblestones were everywhere. we wondered around, walked through some parks and just talked and laughed. we heard some singing, so we took a corner down an alleyway right next to a church, and were able to see some lights and hear monks singing. we go to these amazing places, expecting to see just them- which they are incredible themselves- but then we get to see and hear things like the monks singing at night, or feeding the birds at notre dame. we have been so blessed our entire trip for these experiences.