Second day of Castles

In case one day of chateaux was not enough, we had a second. Considering how many chateaux there are in France, we hardly saw a percentage. This was the last day of our trip to Normandy and Brittany. It was pretty, and even though it was supposed to rain all day, it just barely started when we were leaving our last destination. Maybe someone was watching out for us. . .

They used to carve homes out of the mountainside and people still live in them. Pretty interesting.


Chateau de Clos Lucé - Leonardo da Vinci's house. We weren't allowed to take pictures in his house, so I only have pics from the garden.


Some of Da Vinci's inventions


Chateau Blois


Chambord, from the front


From the back. When I was in high school, this was my favorite French chateau. It is also the largest, so large in fact that no one ever lived in it. It was originally built as a hunting lodge.


Ever After Bridge. They took a lot of locale from this chateau.


Double helix staircase, designed by Leonardo de Vinci


Cathedral at Chartres


By the time we reached Chartes, the clouds were setting in, we didn't see much of the cathedral, especially since we went to look at the stained glass windows and it was hard to see them well enough to understand the stories, let alone get good pictures. We went over the symbolism talked about here. Maybe because one of the directors wrote the article. Funny how things work out.