23 March 1999 Chateaux de la Loire, France

This is the main reason I had come to Paris. The French Chateaux are different from English Castles. Castles were built for security and fortresses against invaders; Chateaux were built for pleasure and beauty.

Chennonceaux

The tour bus company I selected was ParisVision, they picked me up at the hotel at 6: 15am in the morning and took me to their office where I boarded a large bus filled with other people. We took the highway to the first one, which was Chenonceau. This is the one that crosses the river and referred to as the Chateau of the 6 Ladies. A romantic looking site. Inside only a few rooms are decorated. The lunch was in town at a very nice/small French restaurant. I sat at a table with a couple from Montreal (a furrier/deja vu), a mother and daughter from Japan and one Japanese student from London. We had nice conversation during lunch. Lunch, we had no choice - it just arrived. We had a choice of wine or water, salad was good, main meal was baked salmon fish with butter sauce and carrots, of course more French bread, and for dessert chocolate crepe.

Chiverny

Then we were off to the second one, Cheverny. This is still owned by the family andis a business -wine and balloon rides. It's a more modern, classical building. We w
ere able to see the rooms on display and it's a very cozy and relaxing home. I like this place! There were dogs in a pin - hunting dogs. Riding through the countryside and small villages, we passed Amboise were Leonardo DaVinci is buried and another one way back off the road (this one they didn't announce) but I saw it as we
drove by.

Chambord

The last one was Chambord, the largest of the chateaux. It has over 400 rooms and 300 fireplaces. The kings hardly used it except to hunt in the park and it was given back to France as a museum of history (somewhat). Mostly empty, a few rooms are decorated on ground floor, I saw these. A lady who I sat with on the bus, Delores, said she and her family somehow made it to the downstairs and saw carriages. They got lost and had a difficult time getting out. The grand staircase was designed by DaVinci is a marvel, who was dead at the time of the chateau being built. It starts downstairs and goes up 3 or 4 stories and is a double staircase in which 2 people can walkup both sides and not meet or touch each other and come out at different spots on the top floor. Our guide was excellent, her name was Pascale. I really enjoyed it although it was a long day. I was dropped off at the hotel at 8:15pm.