Blois pour un jour

Yesterday, we took a trip to Blois. I think you'll notice a pattern when I say we visited a castle there! Château de Blois which was the home to several kings and their families resided since the 13th century. It's crazy to think that we enter some places that are older than when America was discovered!

 Château de Blois

The architecture of the château actually combines four different styles - Gothic, Flamboyant, Renaissance, and Classicism. You will notice quite a bit of horse implemented in the design as well. The beautiful reality is that they have horse carriages all around the town! Immediately upon arrival into Blois, we say horse carriages with so many people enjoying that attraction.

 Flamboyant architecture (I believe) at entrance

 Renaissance architecture & François I Great Staircase

 Gothic architecture dating back to the 13th century 

The castle was reconstructed as a museum in several of the rooms. However, they did keep the King's Chamber the same. Rumor has it that Duc de Guise was assassinated in this room - spooky! 

 The King's Chamber

We visited both floors of the castle and got to enjoy the grand staircase, the chapel, galleries, dressing rooms, and even a very modern room full of interactive videos of the castle's history & a place to be king or queen for a moment...

 The Queen of the Night! 

We visited a very unique room - the Studiolo. It is the only remaining royal Renaissance study in all of France with the original wood panels. Our french teacher was telling us that Catherine de Medici used to hide her poison.

 Studiolo

Our french teacher guided us (in the rain) to St. Nicolas & got to see the dazzling interior of that church. Afterwards, we did some shopping around Blois & I got gifts for some of my family members and a few friends. Another cool, but successful day in the Loire Valley. Tomorrow will be a full-day excursion to Azay-le-Rideau & Villandry.

'

St. Nicolas

Un voyage à Amboise

Oh là là, I am a little behind in updating you on our latest fun in the Loire Valley. On Tuesday (the day after we returned from Paris), we headed off to Amboise to explore both 2 castles: Château d'Amboise and Château du Clos Luce. Both places did have a connection to Leonardo da Vinci. The chapel found at Château d'Amboise is where Leonardo da Vinci's body is supposedly buried. According to our French teacher (who is also an awesome tour guide for us), France and Italy have an agreement that says that they both have the body of da Vinci. No one truly knows where he is buried, but some speculate that he's still in France.... but others think his body may have been stolen and is now in Italy! It remains a mystery for all of us, but at least we can safely say that we saw the original tombstone/area of Leonardo da Vinci. Château d'Amboise and Clos Luce are actually connected by an underground passageway so da Vinci was able to travel between the two during his lifetime.

Château d'Amboise

 

The chapel of Saint-Hubert where Leonardo da Vinci is buried

 The tomb of Leonardo da Vinci

After looking around inside the chapel, we decided to go inside the château. It was build entirely of stone and literally looks like it is attached to the Earth on the side of the river. It was built upward and rises above the rest of the city; the view from the top is spectacular as you can see the entire town! 

This is the castle where King Charles VIII died after hitting his head on a door lintel. I must admit that some of the passageways are quite low in these castles, so I would believe that such could occur. We were also shown where those who committed felonies were hung. It was right above the Loire river - such a beautiful place to endure a horrid death!

 On top of Château d'Amboise

Clos Luce was a smaller estate just a short walk from the château.  Here, we got to see the chamber of Leonardo da Vinci, where he spent his time between 1516 and 1519. One section of the residence is dedicated his inventions. BMI worked with his blueprints to create small-scale models of his ideas. He was incredibly talented and cannot believe how creative he was! The château was, of course, decorated quite lovely with tapestries and other Renaissance decor.

The chamber of Leonardo da Vinci

 Windows inside Clos Luce 

Sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci in Clos Luce 

After visiting the two castles, we spent some time just exploring Amboise.  They had quite a variety of boutiques and stores - everything from organic food to Swarovski crystal to handmade jewelry with dried flowers. Of course, there was an Amorino across from the Château d'Amboise, so we stopped in for de la glace - I had a cup with caffé, cioccolato, nocciola and caramello. Très délicieux! 

It was a very successful first day back in the small towns. 

Store that sold SO MUCH Swarovski crystal

Paris... je t'aime!

4 days... that's all it took. 4 days to fall irrevocably in love with Paris all over again! You would think that returning to a city you visited just 2 years ago would wind up giving you a similar impression, but I shockingly had different results! I can safely say that my opinion of France is quite different than what I once perceived back in 2011.

We started our venture to Paris by taking 2 train rides (approx. 1 hour long each) from Onzain to Orleans to Paris. Once we arrived in Paris, we got off St. Michel metro station and walked to our hotel. Although it was raining, I tried my best to look around to "familiarize myself with my surroundings" and noticed that we passed Université de Paris - Sorbonne, the Panthéon, the Jardin du Luxembourg, and even a Quick - which is the popular chain fast-food restaurant in France (anyone who took French in high school probably recalls that!). Our hotel was just a little hole in the wall and just across the street from an organic food store and sushi bar. We threw all of our luggage into one room and went on our way.

 On the metro

We picked up our Paris city passports - For future reference (my traveling friends), this pass costs 72 euros. It included 3 days of unlimited access to transportation: metro, bus, tram, & RER. It also gives you 2 full days of museum visits to many popular destionations - we went to Château de Versailles, the Towers of Notre-Dame, and Sainte Chapelle. It also gave you a voucher for Bateaux Mouches. Other places you could have gone include: the Louvre museum, Musée d'Orsay, the Panthéon, Arc de Triomphe, Château de Vincennes, and so much more! Since we had such rainy weather and did other excursions (such as Montparnesse Tower), we made out almost even with the pass, but it was definitely worth it! If I ever go to Paris again, I will probably get this pass and explore other museums and places like the Tomb of Napoléon I and inside the Arc de Triomphe! Speaking of the Arc de Triomphe, our first sight to see "up close and personal" was just that...

We walked down the Champs Elysees until we reached the Arc de Triomphe. I couldn't help but think of this rather old french song - Aux Champs Elysees by Joe Dassin; it has to be at least 40 years old.  We listened to it back in middle school (I believe?) and believe it captures the perfect atmosphere of the area. Here's the link in case you want to feel like you're in Paris, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9V-zUlrhEE

Spurts of showers came pouring down on us, but something in the distance distracted us...

When we made it to this place, I knew exactly where I was at. This was the first place I set my American feet on in Paris (outside CDG airport) when I came in 2011. Now, I was able to say that I officially retraced my footsteps! Half of our photos were us under umbrellas, but we managed to get a few great shots.

We picked up chocolat chaud at a café to warm up. Later on, we had our first dinner in Paris before our boat ride. Natalia & I decided to have quiche Lorraine avec la salade. Amazing choices!

It turned out that we did not get onto the boat until 10:30pm (the last boat tour of the night!) It worked out quite well as we got to watch the sunset and explore the landmarks that sit on La Seine (river) when it was REALLY dark! We saw everything from Musée d'Orsay to the glistening Eiffel Tower to several boats that transformed into night clubs. Of course, there was a group of teenagers sitting near us on the boat singing classic American songs like Adele & Bruno Mars.

We returned to our hotel very late, crashed, and got up to start our next day! Our first stop was at St. Chapelle - a small, but mighty Gothic chapel on the île de la Cité. The stained glass windows are quite a sight to see! They depict both the old and new testaments of the bible. The detail is mind-blowing!

Sainte-Chapelle

Notre Dame was just a short distance away. After taking photos outside, I got to (for the first time) explore the interior of this glorious cathedral. I snapped a few photos of the famous Rose Window, and we all agreed that it would be an extremely worthwhile experience to go into the Towers of Notre Dame. To get to the Towers, we had to climb up 387 steps of spiral staircases. Out of breath, your breath was taken away even further by the beauty of the city. So many amazing shots were taken up there. The skies cleared up just in time for us, too!

 Outside Notre Dame

 Towers of the Notre Dame overlooking Paris

High in the Sky - Towers of Notre Dame

After returning back to ground level, we made a stop at Shakespeare & Co. bookstore & explored the bridge full of locks - They are called "Love Locks" and located on Pont de l'Archevêché. Couples put on a lock on the bridge to signify that their everlasting love. 

After eating dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant, we headed to Montparnasse Tower - the 2nd largest tower in Paris. The top floor & terrace are open to the public to view the city from above. Once again, we decided to go around the time of sunset, and after 10pm, we caught the Eiffel Tower glistening (The Tower glistens on the hour starting at 10pm on)! The terrace is such a beautiful outdoor area as you can view the entire city at every angle! Clear skies allowed us to enjoy the beauty of the city...

The next day began with a longer train ride out to Versaille to visit the Château de Versailles. I had already visited this château before, however, the castle is so gigantic that we visited so many new rooms; It felt like visiting a brand new castle! Of course, we made our way to Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors). Some made a quick visit to the gardens of Versailles (even though it would probably take hours to explore the entire greens of this estate!) for photos; others sat by and watched people from all around the world explore the castle.

We decided that 4 hours of Versailles was enough and headed back to the Louvre for just photos (since it closed by the time we returned). We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant not too far from our hotel (thanks to our French teacher for making reservations) and then enjoyed ice cream at Amorino (thanks to Kristen for the amazing recommendation)!

 Tossing pennies into the fountain of youth (-;

 Tasty of treats recommended by our French teacher!

All of us enjoying Amorino ice cream!

Our final day was to visit the icon of France - the Eiffel Tower! We made sure to get there before it opened so we would not spend hours waiting to get to the le sommet (the top!) It was my first time to le sommet (last time, I only made it to the 2nd floor) & it was such a beautiful sight with the sun casting a shadow of this beauty. How magnificent that it all worked out!

La Tour Eiffel

Looking out toward the city

Shadow of the Eiffel Tower

View of the Seine from le sommet

We took some last minute photos down the Champs de Mers and grabbed lunch before making our way back to our hotel; we picked up our luggage and caught the metro one last time to our train station - Gare d'Austerlitz - which would send us back to our "home away from home," the Abbey in Pontlevoy!

In all honesty, the Parisians atmosphere did not come across as "rude" as I once perceived back in 2011. I just recall how we used to get shoved around by the locals in all of our locations. I felt like this was a unique experience with so much more land covered. I will love to come back AGAIN in the future as I feel comfortable hearing both the native language and the mixture of world languages scattered about - from the British accents near the Eiffel Tower to the Chinese language at the metro!

The reality is that I hardly even began to share the tales of our trip to Paris in this post! I guess we will have to have un rendez-vous to hear more. Hope you all got a magnificent glimpse of our weekend in Paris!

...et Joyeux Anniversaire to ma maman! (Happy Birthday to my Mom!)

Beaucoup de photos!

Greetings from Pontlevoy! Our schedule has been jam packed with events, excursions, and even homework - so I am still slowly uploading photos from Paris. Now, I am behind with the photos from Amboise! 

Here are just a few photos from the first 2 days in Paris. Can you guess where these pictures are taken? Captures done tomorrow!

Au revoir, Paris!

After a 4-day weekend in Paris, we have returned back to Pontlevoy (or as many have called "home"). Although it was my second time in Paris, the experience was 100% new, fresh, different, fun, and breathtaking! We mastered the metro system, explored several regions of Paris, and fell irrevocably in love with the trip. Although it rained and was quite cool (highest temperature it reached was 65 F), we made it work out and accomplished so much on our itinerary. 

We are extremely exhausted, and our shoes & feet can definitely attest to that & we all need plenty of sleep and relaxation for tonight. Some are already in bed (and the clock is only striking 9pm right now), but there are so many stories and pictures to share. 

Here is just a glimpse of what we encountered on the trip to the City of Love... (first day)

 Awestruck - La Tour Eiffel

 Carousel

 At night on the Seine

Expect more tomorrow - after our excursion to Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci spent several years in his life. Did I ever mention how fast time flies here?