From Boots to Battlments

One could call the last few days a mixed culture week. From the magnificent gardens of the Villandry Chateau in the Loire Valley, to a swap meet, or what the French refer to as a BOOT sale, meaning people sell stuff out of the boot (trunk) of their car, we did it all.

Villandry is considered to have the most beautiful gardens in France. Although originally built in the 1500's it wasn't until the 1800's when a guy with a very green thumb named Carvallo bought it. He, and his American wife, spent their lives creating this incredible environment.

These are the vegetable and herb gardens.

This section represents 'fickle" love

The gardens were not just symbolic romantic creations... although there are many sections, each of which is designed to represent the various stages of love... there were also huge vegetable and herb gardens.

Small kitchen for such a large villa

Speaking of love ...

French fashion .... hmmmm?

Bocce ball, very popular

John with St. John... see any resemblance?

Ahhhh French profiteroles!

The largest Chateau in France, Chambord

Ever wonder why the French had such a violent revolution? It's what happens when the King (or president in our case) spends more time hunting (golf?) and partying than taking care of business. King Francis and his sons built this hunting lodge in the Loire Valley. It is 511' long and 183' wide. It has 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms. The King spent a total of 72 days at Chambord over his 32 year reign. Needless to say it was this sort of extravagance by the royals over time that really pissed off the ordinary people, especially when one said "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", or... let them eat cake. This showed how out of touch the royals were assuming that the peasants could eat cake instead of bread... sort of like... let's spend two nights in Paris even though it will cost the taxpayers a million dollars.

This is truly a magnificent place. The center of the structure is dominated by a six-story double helix staircase designed by Leonardo DaVinci, at least that is assumed to be true, as just before Chambord was built DaVinci lived nearby and drawings of a similar staircase were found among his artwork when he died. There's another link to the great master at Chambord. Just before the Germans invaded Paris many of the paintings in the Louver were smuggled out of town and stored at Chambord including DaVinci's Mona Lisa. It's an amazing design. Jill climbed up one side while I did the opposite. We could see each across the hollow core as we ascended to the top. She came out on the east side of the top floor and I on the west. We circled around and met on the south. Incredible!

The designer wanted the image to match the skyline of Istanbul

The 'Lodge" was empty most of the time. When, on the rare occasion the King would visit, he brought his furniture with him along with 2,000 court members.

Surf beach a few miles from our place

Princess of Vendee

As I said in the beginning it's been a week of cultural variety. We learned many things one of which is that people in France have the same junk in their Boots as we do in our garages!