chenonceau et blois

we had our second bucknell excursion on saturday to two more châteaux of the loire valley. it was quite rainy and cold but i think i managed some decent pictures nonetheless.

catherine de medici was pretty big on her monogram being plastered everywhere (think ceilings, fireplaces, beds, floors, etc.). it bears a remarkable similarity to the chanel logo, non?

the great hall at chenonceau.

the ceiling of one of the staircases.

pretty room and pretty flowers.

moat! my new favorite feature. mom and dad, may we build a moat around our house?

the queen's gardens. i can only imagine how much prettier these would be on a sunny spring day.

chenonceau was built on the water of the cher river.

more of the moat.

the entrance to blois.

the staircase was built on the outside of the château so as not to take away any space from the living quarters inside the building.

this bed looks like it came out of the latest anthropologie catalogue. thoughts?

the interior of the exterior staircase, if that makes sense.

the great hall at blois — really cool ceiling in royal blue with gold fleurs-de-lys.

a view of blois from across the street.

a quick tour of a chocolaterie on our way out of town.

villandry

i already posted about this adventure on my main blog but the pictures are so pretty and the experience so unforgettable i just had to share the rest.

there was lots of this on the first leg of our trip. french maps are not as straightforward as they ought to be!

there were lots of bike breakdowns (thank you, rental shop!).

but it was all worth it when we arrived here.

and had the castle and the gardens to ourselves to revel in the sunshine and take these pretty pictures.

super cool moats. i love them!

our first glimpse of the gardens. the 18 mile bike ride was worth it!

alice in wonderland-esque gardens.

happy valentine's day!

absolutely breathtaking.

reflecting pool and lots of topiaries.

i couldn't help but imagine a wedding or some other festivity taking place in this waterside venue.

adam and valerie (fellow sole survivors of the bike trip) at the entrance to the hedge maze... a little anticlimactic considering we could see through the hedges.

the castle and my favorite — the moat.

the little french woman who complimented us on our french, served us coffee, and rescued us from having to make the return trip in the dark. such an adventure!

amboise et clos lucé

fun-filled first excursion today with the bucknell en france group: first to amboise, a onetime residence for french royalty, and then to clos lucé, leonardo da vinci's home for the last three years of his life. lots of snow at amboise then, miraculously, beautiful perfect-for-picture-taking sunlight at clos lucé.

the quaint and slightly dreary view from the courtyard outside amboise.

the chapel at amboise where leonardo da vinci is buried.

pretty chapel ceilings.

colorful amboise bedroom.

da vinci's last home.

pretty windows with heart cutouts.

one of the towers surrounding amboise.

gorgeous sunset — seems to be a trend in my travels!

view of amboise from the other side of the bridge.

for future reference

1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms

therefore, if you weigh approximately 100 pounds, you weigh approximately 45 kilos.

therefore, do not respond to your host father’s hunting story about killing a 100 kilo pig by saying, “that’s what i weigh!”

no matter how many crêpes you eat in france, you will probably (hopefully) never weigh 200 pounds.

learning the hard way

la gare = the train station, pronounced la gar.

la guerre = the war, pronounced la gare.

le coeur = the heart, pronounced le ker.

le corps = the body, pronounced le kor.

le cours = the class, prounced le kur.

(so easily confused and yet people will think you're crazy if you mix them up.)

weekend recap

i had the most wonderful weekend in london. it was so nice to see michael and meet all of his new friends — not to mention to explore london when, for once, it wasn't gray and rainy! i feel like that counts as a once-in-a-lifetime. michael seems to already have mastered the tube so we made a stop at buckingham palace, witnessed a protest at the national gallery, stopped by the park where michael played when his family lived in london, and watched a spectacular sunset from the london eye.

in front of buckingham palace.

national gallery, scene of...

...this protest. apparently the british police have been confiscating cameras and forcing people to delete digital photos of public places for fear that they are somehow contributing to the next terrorist attack. these people had gathered in trafalgar square, taking pictures of anything and everything and sporting signs that said, "i'm a photographer, not a terrorist."

first glimpse of big ben (many, many more to follow).

amazing view from the london eye — we could not have picked a better time to go.

london and sunshine? two words that don't normally go together.

i know i got a bit carried away...

...but i promise i did take some time to turn off my camera and just take it all in.

last one i swear!

traveling by myself was actually much more pleasant than i had anticipated. it's not to say that i mind having company on the road (and god knows i got my fill with our routine family car trips with six people and two dogs packed into one vehicle) but there's something to be said for figuring it out all on your own. this was really my first experience venturing out on my lonesome (obviously short of local car trips to places like the dentist's office, to which my father will attest i still need directions) and i already feel much more independent. the experience forced me to read maps (never a strong suit) and think on my feet (in french — because practice makes perfect).