2dimes wrote:Hoping for more "Update from Paris" style content here, 2dimes wrote:How was Versailles, Chambord and Angers?
I presume Paris was quiet when you got back.
Yes, Paris was quiet on our last two days in France. So were we, after our long road trip. Went to the Louvre. Managed to eat foie gras three more times in our last 40 hours or so.
Chambord was somewhat disappointing. But the wife liked it. She hasn't been to as many castles as I have, so she's still fairly easy to impress.
Interesting things in Chambord:
[*]The great staircases, designed by Leonardo da Vinci when he worked for Francis the 1st. Leonardo was fascinated with the double helix, centuries before Watson and Crick.
[*]The ovens. There are four great ovens in the kitchen, each of them about 500 cubic feet. I think you could cook a feast for a regiment of cavalry.
[*]The Wolf Pack: An interesting piece of modern art, The Wolf Pack is a life-size statue of a pack of wolves. The entire thing is made from dust bunnies that the artist picked up in the stairwells of the Paris subway. The wolves look dirty and rough, which I think is intentional.
Versailles is beautiful. But overcrowded. Even worse than the Louvre. At least in the Louvre all the bad crowds are going to see Mona Lisa and Winged Victory. If you stay off the beaten path, there are actually chambers in the Louvre that allow near-solitude. In Versailles, the crowds are everywhere. In the chambers, on the stairwells, in the toilettes even. You can't move in or near Versailles without fighting crowds.
Chenonceau: We didn't go inside. The beauty of Chenonceau is the view from the river, so we took a boat cruise and went past. The history of Chenonceau is fascinating reading, but there's no point in getting a bad precis from me when you can look up the full story elsewhere.
Angers was impressive. So many of Europe's castles are effeminate 17th century monstrosities, built mainly for show. Angers was a man's castle, built in the 12th century, when castles were still the centerpieces of war. When you feel the massive walls and close your eyes, you can almost hear the thunder of hooves and the rat-a-tat-a-tat of arrow volleys. The classic fortified-hill-overlooking-the-river, it was occupied in one sense or another since Neolithic times, until eventually the Dukes of Anjou built their enormous fortified home there. From those walls, semen flowed forth that spawned the greatest kings of England and France.
Like Chenonceau, I didn't go inside Angers castle. The exterior is the impressive part. I walked around the walls and thought about the great tragedies of the rise and fall of the Angevin Empire.
Also in Angers is the cathedral of St. Maurice. Very beautiful. My wife reminded me to light a candle for my previous wife. My wife often pays homage to the ghost of her predecessor. It's hard to explain.
Also in Angers, an art school. Several interesting sculptures. Descriptions only in French, but they have signs in English saying "please do not climb on the sculptures." Apparently English-speaking tourists are notorious for feeling a need to mount artwork.