Three Castles in a Day! Le Chateau d'Azay le Rideau, Chateau de Chenonceau, et le Chateau d'Amboise. 
Thursday, June 9.

 
Maddie imitating Audrey Hepburn. Classy, isn't she? There's a random giant basket on the side of the road!!!!!! Just add that to my list of giant things. There was also a giant horse made out of wire, but I couldn't get a picture of it.

 

 
The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau is located in the town of Azay-le-Rideau in the French département of Indre-et-Loire. Built between 1518 and 1527, this château is considered one of the foremost examples of early French renaissance architecture. It's built on an island in the river, so it's surrounded by water. A canal is now on one side of it and the river on the other. The castle is quite lovely and was built for the treasurer general for the king, Francois I. His name was Gilles Berthelot,

 

 
This painting depicts the feast of Balthazar on the night before he died. It's a story in the bible in case you aren't familiar with it. I really like the painting.

                                                               Some fining dining. :)

 
This is the river Indre. Very picturesque.

 
Le Chateau Chenonceau is Le Bras favorite castle. It's quite lovely and surrounded by equally lovely grounds.  There's a maize on the grounds, but it was too flooded to go to. Too bad. It is a French château spanning the River Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux in the Indre-et-Loire département of the Loire Valley in France. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire valley. The current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river. The bridge over the river was built (1556-1559) to designs by the French Renaissance architect Philibert de l'Orme, and the gallery on the bridge (1570–1576) to designs by Jean Bullant. The castle passed through three families before being seized the king, Francois I. His son Henry II gave the castle to his favorite mistress Diane de Poitiers. After his death, his wife, Catherine de Medici forced her to exchange it for le chateau Chaumont and made it her favorite residence. You can see the H mixed with the double C to form a D in several rooms of the castle.

 
The castle is built partially on an island and partially on a bridge turned gallery. The effect is that it looks like it's built on the river.

 
The chapel added by Catherine de Medici, and the gallery built on the bride crossing the river Cher.

 
Madame Dupont was one of the later residences of the chateau after the royal family. Her husband's work took him away from the castle often and he died before his wife. She was a very intelligent women and beloved by the surrounding town. She held many literary salons which attracted many famous people such as writers Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Fontenelle, the naturalist Buffon, the playwright Marivaux, the philosopher Condillac, as well as the Marquise de Tencin and the Marquise du Deffand.  Jean-Jacques Rousseau was Dupin's secretary and tutored her son. He was enamored with the widow. She is the reason that the castle was spared during the revolution; because the people loved her so much.

 

 
The grounds are quite extensive because of the additions from the different owners over the years. There is a garden, a donkey field, a small village for the workers, a carriage house, garage, and woods besides the gardens.

 
I thought this roch sculpture was fun. Also, pay attention to the picture on the right. The signs on the left say cat crossing and Hedge hog crossing. I found this funny.

                                                                            See?

 

Us trying to be their friends. :) I can't remember their names, but there were signs with their names on them.

The donkeys are much smaller then I imagined. Look at them showing their love for each other.

Carson let McKenna do his hair. It has two braids in it.

Le Chateau D'Amboise is also in le Loire valley and was a popular royal residence until the royalty stayed closer to Paris and stopped moving around as much, so around Henry III. Confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century, it became a favoured royal residence and was extensively rebuilt. King Charles VIII died at the château in 1498 after hitting his head on a door lintel. The château fell into decline from the second half of the 16th century and the majority of the interior buildings were later demolished, but some survived and have been restored, along with the outer defensive circuit of towers and walls.

Isn't Jessica so Pretty? :) The chapel is small, but pretty also.

 
Leonardo De Vinci spent a large amount of time here once he was invited by Francois I in the 1515 He requested to be buried here when he died.

 

The castle is on the cliff/hill by the river Loire and has a magnificent view of the surrounding city. More stairs. Yay.

 
This castle was a favorite among the royalty and is where many of the royal children were raised while their parents traveled the country going about their royal business, such as Francois I.

 
The grounds are very Italian because of all the Italian influence that Francois I brought into France during the renaissance.

Tara Kay and I hanging out with our buddy Leonardo.

The view from the top wall of the garden. Beeaauutiful! :)

 
I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think a group of Arabic people were killed and buried here. The writing on the stone on the right is in Arabic, while the left stone is in French. Just a list of names as far as I could tell.

An entrance to the city from the top of the gardens.