Paris and the Loire River Valley

Châteaus of the Loire

The Loire river valley south of Paris is famous for it's Châteaus. I visited about ten of them, and there were more that I didn't see.

Here's Chenonceaux, which is built on a bridge over the river Cher.
Initial construction was in 1513-21, with later expansion and modifications. I toured the inside of this, and almost all the other châteaus listed here. Part of this one was occupied by a "modern art" exhibit that I thought was a bit strange. Other rooms contain old period furnishings. Maybe it's a matter of tastes, but I found some "modern art" that I thought was much better in a much lesser known and less visited location in Haigerloch, Germany.

I also visited Chambord, which is bigger, but mostly empty, having been gutted during the French revolution.
It was begun in 1519 and included ambitious plans to divert the Loire river to run past it (this plan was never carried out; instead, a smaller river was diverted to run past it). It includes a famous "double helix" spiral staircase. This was a self-guided tour, and there were so many rooms it was difficult to be sure I'd seen them all. Here too, several of the rooms were devoted to strange (to me) "modern art" displays.

Cheverny, this smaller one, has much more of it's original furnishings.
This tour, while self-paced, followed an assigned route, with plenty of staff assistance ("please go to this room next...").

Another one of interest is at Amboise, right along the Loire (most of the other châteaus of the Loire are actually not on the main river but on tributaries). Leonardo DaVinci spent the last part of his life at Clos-Lucé, a large home near this Château in Amboise.

Fontainebleau is a large estate near Paris that has a long history all the way back to the middle ages. I didn't take the tour here; I just walked around the grounds. A small section was built in the middle ages, and it's been added onto repeatedly since then by many of the most famous people in the history of France.

Other Châteaus:
I also visited:

Blois: There's a château in the city of Blois (where I stayed overnight) that I toured. Most of the others were not in cities.
Meung-sur-Loire: This is an older, less flamboyant castle that is not visited by lots of tourists. The tour included lots of old furnishings and even a dungeon, in a less prettied-up setting in a small tour group. A few of their "relics" on display were less than ancient; I spotted an electric iron on the shelf among the kitchen equipment.
Chaumont-sur-Loire: This is another château that doesn't get lots of tourists. I was there first thing in the morning, as the drawbridge was lowered to open the château to visitors for the day. This is also older than it's more famous neighbors. This was a self-guiding castle; no organized guided tour.
Azay-le-Rideau: A smaller château surrounded by water. This was smaller than those pictured above.
Ussé: This too is an older castle, and is the second of this group that I didn't tour the inside of (I arrived too near closing time, after visiting several others earlier in the day).

It became obvious that I wasn't the only tourist going château-to-château through France, I met 2 people at Meung-sur-Loire that I had seen earlier on the train from Versailles to Paris, and saw them a third time at a restaurant in the town of Blois. In addition, I saw a group of German tourists repeatedly at several different châteaus along the Loire.

I also visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral at Chartres, which was built in the 25 years following a fire which destroyed the previous cathedral on this site, in 1194. This one also suffered a fire in one of the bell towers, the one on the left is newer. This is particularly famous for it's excellent (and old) stained glass windows, many of which date from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Paris

I of course also went to Paris. One of the things I liked best was a nighttime boat ride on the Seine. The tour boats have rows of floodlights mounted on the sides to illuminate the buildings they're traveling past.

I'm not going to show you any more pictures of Paris because

You've already seen pictures of the Eiffel Tower, etc.
My roll of film, with most of my Paris pictures, got lost.

I spent about 2 days there, seeing just the highlights, including a side-trip to Versailles.

Created June 9, 1996
Updated June 27, 1998
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