Loire Valley

As Karin's Facebook status put so well, we spent the weekend pretending to be princesses in castles. Our group took the bus to the Loire Valley. We got a lot of quality reading, sleeping, and giggling time in on the bus! After being so busy and pretty much forgetting that I had it, I finally finished East of Eden at the beginning of the week and then I read The Secret Life of Bees this weekend. It is so good! I have a whole list of other books that I'm so excited to read.


The Loire Valley was BEAUtiful! The weather was amazing too, probably around 65 or so. We loved being able to go without our coats! Unfortunately, I only had one sweater, so I just used my coat anyway, but it was nice knowing that I had to option of taking it off if I wanted. We visited 6 chateaux that all completely blew me away: Blois (pronounced Blwah, sounds like blah), d'Usee, Chinon, Chenonceau, Cheverny, and Chambord. I would've been happy to live in any one of them. Except maybe Chinon, because it was mostly just ruins. The best part about Chinon was that the city is built on a huge hill with cliffs and stuff down to what I think was the Loire River, so there was an outdoor elevator! Never thought I'd use one of those...and then of course, we found something that we had been looking for since we arrived in Europe...Mexican food!! We couldn't help but sit down and try it. It was very frenchified, but Mexican nonetheless! I can't wait to go home and have real Americanized Mexican food at Cafe Rio or Molca Salsa. In the mean time, I'll just keep on eating baguettes, camembert, Pierre Herme chocolate, and whatever pastries I see first.

I think Chambord was my favorite of the castles. We didn't go inside, as apparently it isn't all that exciting. It is huge though! I just wikipediaed it and there are 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. That is one fireplace for every day of the year. Wow! I think there were quite a few French nobles and kings who outdid themselves with their homes...but hey, look at how much I'm enjoying it centuries later! At least it was good for something :)

Here we go again with the impersonations...they opportunities are just too great.

She belongs at the monkey end too. Haha just kidding!

This gargoyle on the grounds at Blois was screaming to be sat on! Jill and I were happy to oblige. And the logical thing to do next was to spank it I believe...

The group at d'Usee, the Sleeping Beauty castle! Don't zoom in. I'm in mid-blink!

View of the beautiful French town and a little of the countryside from one of the towers at the Royal Fortress of Chinon.

Chenonceau. It is built over the river and has a beautiful view! My host mom has fits of laughter every time I talk about it because I call is "Clemanceau" every time, which is an entirely different thing!

Claire, me, Megan, and Jessica on a quaint little wishing well. Jessica spit into it to see how deep it was...we never heard it hit the bottom so it must've been deep!

Goofing around in the Chenonceau gardens. This is right before we played a quality game of sardines in the maze. WAY too fun!

Me at Cheverny. Just, ya know, a little hunting lodge.

The library that I aspire to own.

Me, Chris, and Karin in front of Chambord. Right after we ran into some BYU graduates, ate ice cream cones, and strolled/cartwheeled the endless grounds.