So last weekend was Castle Quest 2009. It was one of the field trips that IES planned for us as a part of our program. We did 5 castles in 2 days, and it was amazing. And it was so amazingly French.
We arrived at the buses crazily early. And then we all scrambled on to them, obviously stressing about getting the best seating arrangement, and making it on the "cool bus" - evidently, we haven't really grown up since middle school. The bus ride to the first one was 3 hours long, but mostly spent sleeping. Then, we woke up, and we were standing in front of a giant castle. It was like time travelling. #1 was Serrant - it was where the Duke of (insert name of region here - I forgot) lived back in the day. They lived there until not that long ago (I'm gonna say the 1920's ish?) when the Duke died. His wife, the dutchess, had never had any children, so she decided to sell the chateau to an Irish family - the Welsh's. They were apparently pretty tight with the Queen...as in the Queen of England...so she now vacations there. It was pretty cool.
Then we took off to Castle #2 which was Azay-le-Rideau. It was for sure my favorite. We didn't get a guided tour of that one, so I don't know the background. But the grounds were absolutely beautiful, and we just walked around for a really long time, and explored. It was so beautiful.
We also were taught the Single Ladies dance and some lovely Renaissance dances and played in the leaves and had a lovely fall afternoon at a castle.
Then, chateau #3 was Villandry, which is more famous for its gardens than the castle. They made it into a maze, using all fruits and vegetables. But also, it was only fruits and vegetables that grew in the Renaissance times (i.e. there were no apples, because apples didn't come to France until after then). It was really cool, and also really beautiful.
Then we made our way to the town of Tours where we got to our hotel. We settled in and realized we were starving. Dinner finally came - it was good, but I don't think France doesn't do mass-produced food for 75 kids at once. Then we went exploring downtown Tours! It was a beautiful town, and I really wish I could have seen it in the daylight. But we had a great time, went to an Irish bar and met an Australian couple backpacking across Europe. You know, the usual.....and then Peter and I hung out and had quite the eventful night in my room. Don't worry, it's not at all like it sounds. haha.
Next day, we took off fairly early for chateau #4 - Amboise. This is where Francois 1 lived, who was married to Duchess Anne de Bretagne (who is originally from Nantes - the world was even small back then...probably smaller. ahah) and was also bffs with Leonardo da Vinci. da Vinci had his own palace, a ways away from Amboise, but we could see it from the castle...and apparently there's secret tunnels they used to get back and forth. But da Vinci was also commissioned to paint for Francois 1, which was who he painted the Mona Lisa for. He also died while he was living there, so the Mona Lisa wasn't ever finished, which means the commissioner doesn't technically own it, so the French state came into possession of it. In the Revolution, they destroyed a lot of da Vinci's castle (stupid war) so his tomb was moved to Amboise, where we saw it. It was pretty sweet.
The actual castle of Amboise was also really beautiful. It was still completely furnished from the Renaissance times, but you can rent it out and stuff for weddings, etc. which was pretty cool. Since it was cold, there were fires burning in the fireplaces, and that kindof thing. It was interesting to think of castles as being lived in - but some of them definitely are! We also got a language on olde French while we were there, and the transition from Latin to modern French. Mme de Pous (our grammar prof, who was also our chaperone for the weekend. And is amazing) was very proud of us for being able to figure out even ancient French. It was hilarious.
Finally, castle #5 was Chenenceau, which was huge, the most famous, and glorious. We had a LONG time to explore this one, and there was lots of history. This guy (a king of something, I forget) wanted to build it for his mistress -Diane de Poitiers, but then in the middle of construction, he "mysteriously" died, and then his WIFE - Catherine de Medici - took over, and totally kicked the mistress out. Most of the castle is built on one side of the river, but there is a long ballroom that acts as a bridge over the river too
This room was absolutely awesome, and had a lot of history as well. The castle actually served as a hospital during WWI, and the ballroom was the triage station. During WWII, the owner used it to smuggle people across the river, which was hugely important because (as my host father informed me later) the river literally was the border between Vichy-led France and free France during its regime. How cool is that??
The gardens were also beautiful, and my lovely friends Hannah, Emily and Peter and I had many great HP finds - the labyrinth, and the lake, and Hagrid's cabin...it was an all-around good time. Then, on our way back to the bus, we had the most perfect end to the weekend: a rainbow over the castle.
And it started POURING just as we sat down in our seats (which was awesome, because it had been forecast to rain ALL weekend. We definitely lucked out).
So that's castle quest '09. I hope you enjoyed the history. Since then, I have written a paper on NATO (OTAN in French - if I slip while I'm talking, it's the same thing haha), and pretty much nothing else. But Marseille is this weekend (already! I remember buying tickets and thinking how FAR AWAY the trip sounded!) and then my MOMMY IS COMING IN 9 DAYS!!! We have 5 weeks left, and I'm going to be making the most of them for sure!
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