La Vallée de la Loire : Day 1

Our Loire Valley trip began with a train ride. We departed from Gare Austerlitz first thing in the morning. We saw some interesting vistas along the route to Blois, particularly a field of windmills and others of sunflowers (unfortunately no pics of those).

When we reached Blois, it was about a 10minute walk to our hotel on the main street.

We had hoped for a Logis or Auberge which are small inns, but our last minute planning didn't work in our favour. So, it was le Hôtel Ibis for us.  It had quite a bit of character - the building was probably built in the early 1900's but was last decorated in the 80's. Our room had an interesting view...

We spent the afternoon at the Château Blois, which is best described as not one, but four châteaux. There are 4 very distinct wings to the building, each built at a different time, and in a different style: the remains of a 13thC medieval fortress, a wing built by Louis XII in the gothic style, a wing built by François I in the Renaissance style, and finally a wing built by Gaston d'Orléans (brother to Louis XIII) in the Classical style.

The Hall of the Estates General in the remains of the Gothic fortress (built by 1220!!) was restored in 1861 - all the details are painted.

Aside from being a royal residence across the reigns of numerous kings, this Château is famous for being the site of the assassination of the Duke de Guise. 'According to tradition', says the English pamphlet (which we think means "according to legend"), this occurred in the King's bedchamber (Henri III, son of Catherine de Medici) on 23 December 1588. Cool, huh?

There was a huge display in the Château of original stonework that was removed during an exterior renovation. This was Danielle's favourite, a bust of Gaston d'Orléans which originally sat atop the Classical wing, directly over the door. Here, she is helping with scale.

We returned to the Château later in the evening to catch a history-filled light show. It was still almost 30C and the sitting on the hot cobblestones in the courtyard was a bit toasty. However, some light flashes we thought were part of the light show turned out to be part of Mother Nature's light show and before the end we were taking shelter from a deluge. We were happy to get to see the gargoyles in action.