Amboise!

Note: Blogger decides where to put pictures, and how many, so I had to leave out some favorites and you will have to guess where in the story the ones that are here, fit.

What a delight! Have you seen the movie "Ever After"? It’s a revise of the Cinderella story with Drew Barrymore, and takes place at Amboise. The producers had to substitute another chateau that looks almost like it, but the main royals of the movie, King Francis I and Prince Henry II lived at Amboise. The similarities between the movie chateau and the real one is striking.

One of the funniest scenes has the great artist/inventor Leonardo da Vinci using his huge wooden shoes to “walk on water”. In so doing, presumably on the Loire, he surprises Drew Barrymore who is floating on her back in the river. Both are topsy-turvied by the encounter! See the movie – it’s pretty good.

To get to Amboise, we took a long and wide regional bus that had to navigate tiny streets and small-diameter roundabouts. The woman driver was excellent, keeping her sense of humor throughout. She let us off in the town, pointing out where to catch the bus back to Tours.

No signs directed us, but a glance to the west (I presume) left no doubt. On a high cliff, soaring above tall rock walls was a fairytale castle, oops chateau. There’s a difference. Chateaux are residences for royals, but so are castles. Castles are fortified, but so are some chateaux. The translation (per google) for chateau is “mansion,” but also “castle.” OK, chateaux are prettier, and Amboise is one of the prettiest.

Strolling down a narrow street (in every town/city, any older street is narrow), we came upon a patisserie, our favorite kind of store.

I was on a mission to test lemon tarts in every place we stopped. The Amboise tart, complete with a luscious creamy meringue on top, tied with or maybe even surpassed the Paris tarts in my unofficial competition. Mary’s choice had been a gorgeous chocolatey mound of meringue and cream which wasn’t nearly as tasty as my lemon. We ate our snacks on a bench at the foot of the chateau, gaining energy for the steep climb up the hill.

Look at the gorgeous wisteria flowing over the wall by the souvenir shop! Mary went inside while I stayed out watching the schoolchildren and other tourists, almost all French. None American.

Up a ramp from there, you come to part of the open spaces. I’m at a loss for words! It was a perfect day, as you can see. Everywhere were stunning views which I am sharing with you.

I mentioned da Vinci before. He actually did live in a nearby cottage, being a favorite of Francis I, and is buried in the Chapelle Saint Hubert (see photos).

Mary decided that a chateau is a castle, with fortifications, so there must have been soldiers’ barracks somewhere about. We didn’t see any, so she asked around without getting the answer she wanted. Finally, as we were leaving, she went into the souvenir shop and asked the knowledgeable bookselling lady there about the soldiers.

The gist of the answer was that no soldiers lived in the chateau. It was a residence, not a castle.

Mary still knew there had to be soldiers because the long ramp from the town was there to allow soldiers to ride or march in.

The soldiers would have lived in the town, explained the lady. Servants lived in the chateau, and some bodyguards, but no armies.

I’m still not sure Mary ever agreed, but certainly early on, say 1200s, long before Francis I and Henry II in the 1500s, there were battles nearby, and archers inside the “castle” defended it.

The French Revolution did the most damage to Amboise, destroying many of the buildings and artwork here, and also in cathedrals and important sites all over France. Though restoration was begun in the 1800s, these attempts were wiped out by the German army in the 1940s. Now Amboise is owned by the Comte de Paris and maintained by him and a foundation. Thank goodness! It’s a treasure for the whole world to enjoy.