It's been a while since my last post, I have a lot to recap. The busy schedule of class continues as usual, and I've been seeing so much every day.

Last week we took a two-day trip to the Loire Valley to see some chateaus. The first day we saw Chambord, Chaumont and Blois, then we stayed overnight in the city of Blois and went to see Azay-le-Rideau and Chenonceau the next day. The castles were all fabulous, of course. Its hard to find a castle that is not fabulous. Chambord was a good castle to start with, it was one of the biggest, even though it was never fully completed. One of its features was a central double-helix staircase, which was designed (I believe) by Da Vinci himself. It was surprisingly graceful and airy for a stone staircase. Another wow-factor of Chambord was the fact that you can go on the roof and walk around between all the towers. The views from the roof were fantastic, nothing but French wilderness. Chambourg has a cool history too: during the German occupation of France in WWII, it was used to hide art evacuated from French museums. There was a resistance against Hitler's destruction of any art that contradicted his ideals. There were images of the castle rooms filled up with boxes and canvasses. I'm a little surprised that it was never discovered, since the castle isn't exactly discreet, but it successfully hid and protected artwork from destruction.

Chaumont was even more beautiful, it sat on a cliff overlooking a river, it the view went on for miles. In front of the castle was an enormous garden, and even the stables were picturesque. The castle itself was considerably smaller than Chambourg, but it was still rather large. It felt much cozier than Chambourg, because the rooms were mostly wood, not stone, and the grounds were covered in trees and flowers, not just green lawn. It was a more intimate version of grandeur.

Blois was....confused. That's really the best way I can describe it. It is a castle that was added on to over the centuries, and each addition was done in the latest style, so they don't go together at all. It was pretty big, and ornately decorated. The evening we spent in Blois was night, it is a relatively smaller town, much quieter than Paris and quite relaxing. We didn't have much time to spend there, but I got the impression that outside of the castle there isn't much to see.

The next morning we went to Azay-le-Rideau. This castle had a full moat, which was kind of fun. It was like something out of a fairy tale. As far as the actual castle goes, it was more along the lines of Chaumont.

Finally, my favorite, Chenonceau. This castle is actually built over a river. Perhaps not as secure as a full moat, but way cooler and much more beautiful. It also had two huge gardens, one which belonged to the queen, the other which belonged to the queen's mistress. The two gardens were sort of a competition between the two women, they both tried to one-up the other's garden (whoever decided it was a good idea for them to share a getaway castle was seriously deluded). There was also a hedge maze in the grounds, but the heges were only about 5 feet tall, so it wasn't much of a challenge. I suppose it may have been designed for kids though....

Back in Paris, my favorite thing I've seen in the past week in Parc Citroen. It's a large public park on the site of what used to be the factory for Citroen cars. A bunch of landscape architects collaborated on the project, so there are a lot of different types of spaces, from grassy fields to pruned gardens, to nature-like forests and bamboo groves. The main feature of this park are greenhouses. There are two large ones in a prominent space that are more public, and 6 smaller private greenhouses. The private ones are really cool. They are raised up one story, and are reached by a long ramp that slopes up between the various gardens. Despite the fact that they are glass boxes, they feel private due to the fact that they are obscured by foliage and relatively secluded by hight and the long ramp. It's a simple and brilliant idea. The park is also full of water features, most of them very subtle and elegant. However, when I was there they were all off, either due to construction or the current heat advisory. I'd like to go back sometime when they are on again.

Today was our day trip to Versailles. I didn't get to see the interior today (though I will definitely return to see it). The grounds were large enough to keep us busy all day. They're enormous of course. At the time of his ruling Louis XIV was the wealthiest man on the planet, and his gardens reflect it. We rented bikes so we could see more of it in the short time. It was like we were all kids again, cruising around the grounds on bikes and using our little bells way too much. After biking we went to the petit trianon, which is best known as the home of Marie Antoinette. Le petit trianon is much more intimate and pleasant that the rather ostentatious palace. We finished off the day with a soccer game on the grounds. It was so much fun to play soccer again, and really cool to play at a place like versailles. We'll get a few more games in over the course of the summer.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day, which should be fun. We'll get up early for the parade and spend the day enjoying the festivities, which will end with fireworks at the eiffel tower. I am really excited, this seems to be the be-all and end-all of French holidays. The entire city closes down so everyone can celebrate. I'm glad I'll be here to experience it!