Exploring!

Forgot to mention, when we got back from getting pizza, our friend at the front desk told us that Air France had called and they had found our luggage.  It would be waiting for us at the Hilton in Paris.  Yeah, a huge sigh of relief.  Day 3, we were good to go!  I didn't have a cell phone because that was still in our luggage so I was a little nervous but I had the gps and I wasn't about to just hang out in Orlean when there were castles to explore.  Orlean is the gateway to the Loire Valley.  I found a map that had 57 castles on it in the Loire Valley.  Our first stop was Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Usse.  I had read that Disney used this castle as their inspiration for the movie.  I hated driving in Paris and on the freeways, but I loved driving in the French countryside.  There were so many things to see and it all looked like it was out of a magazine.  I was zipping along a very narrow little 2 lane road and it actually had the mile and town markers to the side of the road and they looked like tiny little gravestones.  Do  you know what I'm talking about?  Like in Oliver Twist.  Very cool!  Here's some pictures from the castle:

The town of Usse from one of the castle windows.

 I LOVED this color of blue.

They had some scenes from Sleeping Beauty in some of the upper rooms that I knew Ava would love.

 The carriage house

 I think this has got to be one of my favorite pictures from the whole entire trip.  We found this little old Renault outside the carriage house.  It's just so European!

 The church.

 Inside the chapel.

The town of Usse.  Don't know where everybody was.  Maybe they heard Hayes was in town and headed indoors to batten down the hatches.  But I loved it, just so quaint.

The next castle we went to that day was probably my most favorite one... ever!  It was called Chateau de Chenonceau and I loved everything about it.  I would love to go back to France in the spring or summer and if I ever did, this would definitely be a place I would visit again.  I can't imagine how beautiful the gardens would be.  This castle was so inviting.  In a lot of the rooms with fireplaces, they actually had huge blazing fires in them.  There was a greenhouse there so they had amazing fresh floral arrangements in every room.  I loved it. 

I can only imagine what all these trees must look like in the spring and summer. 

The chapel.

Chateau de Chenonceau was right on a river.  This is a view from one of the windows.  Look at that green wallpaper.  I'm in love!

In the main hallway.  That's one of the fresh floral arrangements.

One of the massive fireplaces.

More fresh floral arrangements.  There's me and my little buddy in the mirror.  I loved the color of blue in this room as well.

The staircase.

This was once a grand ballroom and during World War II, the whole castle was used as a hospital with every room in the castle being used.  This castle is built on the River Cher, which was the line of demarcation.  The entrace to the Chateau was in the occupied zone.  The gallery where the South door gave access to the left bank made it possible for the resistance to pass large numbers of people into the free zone. 

My favorite part of the whole castle was the servant's quarters in the basement. 

The kitchen.

The servant's dining room.

This was a very cool part of the kitchen.  You went up some stairs and this whole part was higher than the rest of the basement.  This part was right on the river and boats could pull up with food and unload it right to this part of the kitchen. 

This mother of all stoves was put in during the two world wars when the castle was used as a hospital.

A funny story about this picture... I asked a teenage boy that was with his family to take our picture.  When he was done, I said, "Thank you."  To which he replied, "You're welcome."  But it sounded more like this, "Yowr Walcomb."  After he said it, his 2 sisters that were with him just busted up laughing and teasing him in French.  The poor guy was just taking an opportunity to use his English but I guess that's what sisters do.  Funny.  That alcove right by my right shoulder is the part of the kitchen where the boats could unload the food.  I loved this place!  It just spoke to me.  Hopefully, some day, I'll be able to go back.