Château de Chaumont – Part 2

August 8, 2016December 13, 20161 Comment

The is the second post in my series of posts about Chateau de Chaumont. The first post focused on the outside of the chateau, and this post features photographs from the stables.

The stables at Chateau de Chaumont were designed by Paul-Ernest Sanson and were built in 1877. At the time, they were the most modern stables in all of Europe; to me, they even looked modern for today’s standards — they were also beautiful. The stables were divided into multiple sections — there were stalls for “half-blood” horses (carriage horses), saddle horses (full-blood horses), and ponies. There was also a small, indoor riding arena where horses could be worked on lunge lines. The Chateau de Chaumont website has a ton of information on the stables.

This is what the stables look like from the outside, as you approach them from the chateau.

The round “thing” to the right of the photograph below is the indoor arena.

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Château de Chaumont – Part 1

July 25, 2016December 13, 20162 Comments

After we finished up at Château de Chenonceau, we headed over to Château de Chaumont. At Château de Chaumont, we bought tickets for both the chateau and the International Garden Festival (which is adjacent to the chateau).

Château de Chaumont is located in Chaumont-sur-Loire, a small commune in France’s Loire Valley. According to Wikipedia, the chateau was founded in the 10th century by Odo I, Count of Blois. In 1560, the chateau was acquired by Catherine de Medici. When her husband, Henry II died, Catherine made her husband’s mistress, Diane de Portiers, give her Chateau de Chenonceau in exchange Chateau de Chaumont. In 1840 the French Ministry of Culture classified Chaumont as a historical monument. Marie-Charlotte Say purchased the chateau in 1875. She restored the chateau and planted gardens, and her husband commissioned the stables. The donated Chateau de Chaumont to the French government in 1938.

I’m planning on creating several posts with photographs from Chateau de Chaumont. This post will feature photographs from the outside of the chateau. A second post will feature photographs of the chateau’s beautiful stables. A third post will feature photographs from the International Garden Festival (that one may actually require two posts).

The buildings that we passed as we made our way to the chateau were lovely! This building, covered in beautiful, red and white roses, caught my eye.

The grounds around the chateau were beautifully landscaped. I was particularly excited to see these entirely white foxglove. I planted one foxglove in my garden a few years ago, and it did well that year, but it never came back.

The photograph below was taken just outside of the chateau — you can see part of the chateau on the left-side of the picture.

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Château de Chenonceau – Part 4

June 21, 2016June 21, 20161 Comment

One of my favorite things about Château de Chenonceau was all of the fresh flower arrangements that could be seen throughout the chateau. Many, if not all, of the flowers used in the arrangements are grown in the chateau’s gardens. The arrangements are also put together at the chateau. I don’t really have anything else to say about the arrangements…except for pointing out the fact that they’re absolutely beautiful! I figured this would be a good time to try out WordPress’s “gallery” feature. Some of the thumbnails are rather small, but I think that you should be able to click on each photograph to open it up so that you can view a bigger version of the photo.

Also, if you’re interested in Château de Chenonceau, be sure to check out my other three posts on the chateau!

Château de Chenonceau – Part 3

June 20, 2016December 13, 20162 Comments

I’ve previously published two other posts about Château de Chenonceau – one post with photographs of the outside of the chateau and a second post with photographs of the inside of the chateau. This post features photographs from the grounds surrounding the chateau. In addition to the chateau, there were several other buildings and gardens on the grounds that we spent some time looking at. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about the grounds, so this post will be somewhat lacking in terms of information. I do, however, hope that you enjoy the photographs despite the lack of information.

I have no idea what this building was, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen something oozing with so much whimsical charm. It was also a picture well-suited for Instagram’s signature square format.

Unidentified Incredibly Charming Building

Much of the area surrounding the chateau is devoted to maintaining the many gardens. They were in the process of digging up the spring flowers and replanting the gardens with summer flowers while we were there. These crates contained the summer-time plants for the gardens.

Crates Full of Fresh Flowers

Firewood

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Château de Chenonceau – Part 2

May 30, 2016June 21, 20162 Comments

Château de Chenonceau was the first chateau that we visited during our time in the Loire Valley. If you’re planning a trip to the Loire Valley and are trying to decide how many chateau to plan on seeing, I recommend planning to spend about half a day at each chateau. We could have easily spent longer than half a day at Chateau de Chenonceau (the inside is still furnished, and the grounds are lovely), but we really wanted to have ample time to see Château de Chaumont and the International Garden Festival that day, as well.

I took so many pictures during our time at Chateau de Chenonceau. I won’t be able to include all of them in one blog post, so I’m splitting it into three parts. This one will include pictures from the inside of the chateau. The first post includes photographs from the outside of the chateau, Diane’s garden, and Catherine’s garden; it also includes more information on the history of the chateau. The third post will focus on the grounds, and a fourth post will include photographs of some of the beautiful flower arrangements from inside of the chateau, as well as photographs of paintings of Chateau de Chenonceau.

Immediately when you enter the chateau, there is a small chapel on the left.

Chapel in Chateau de Chenonceau

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Le Mont-Saint-Michel

April 5, 2016June 21, 2016Leave a comment

Le Mont-Saint-Michel is a 247 acre island community (population: 44) in the Normandy region of France. The island has been inhabited since ancient times, and has been home to a monastery since the 8th century A.D. From Wikipedia (because I cannot say it better myself): “The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers.” The island is accessible by foot during low tide but is completely surrounded by water at high tide. There is a 46ft difference between high and low tide. Le Mont-Saint-Michel is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is visited by 3 million people each year.

One convenient thing about the main highways in France is that there are many signs for common attractions, so we always knew whether or not we were going the right direction.

Road Sign for Le Mont-Saint-Michel

As fans of Band of Brothers, we were excited to see a sign for Saint-Lô, a town mentioned in one of the episodes.

33 Miles to Saint-Lô

Wagon & Flower Pots

Pretty, Yellow Flowers

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Bayeux

April 2, 2016June 21, 20161 Comment

We stayed at the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux while we were in Normandy. It was the hotel that Winston Churchill stayed in when he was in Bayeux. Bayeux was the first city to be liberated on D-Day (by Great Britain), so today it looks much like it would have looked during WWII. The population of Bayeux is ~13,000, so it’s a decent sized town. Bayeux was founded during 1 B.C. as a Gallo-Roman settlement named Augustodurom, in honor of Emperor Augustus. I wasn’t a fan of the food in Paris; however, I did enjoy the food in Bayuex. I ate a traditional Norman chicken dish, Poulet Vallée d’Auge, at two different restaurants in Bayeux.

There is one iconic building missing from this blog post — the Cathedrale Notre Dame de Bayeux. Photographs of Bayeux’ beautiful cathedral can be seen in this blog post.

The Churchill Hotel is on the left of this photograph. The grocery store, Carrefour, where we purchased our picnic groceries is adjacent to the hotel.

Rue Saint-Jean

L’Aure & Waterwheel via Place aux Pommes

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Omaha Beach – San-Laurent-sur-Mer

March 21, 2016June 21, 20161 Comment

We had initially planned on only spending one day visiting D-Day-related sites during our time in the Normandy region. We quickly discovered, however, that one day was going to be enough time to see everything that we had hoped to see. We changed up our itinerary and, rather than driving to Mont St Michel in the morning, we visited Omaha Beach in San-Laurent-sur-Mer first and then headed on to Mont St Michel. There was quite a bit to see in San Laurent, so the detour was definitely worth it.

We didn’t stop at the D-Day museum, but we did make a quick stop to get a good look at the Sherman Tank and the Czech hedgehog. It was neat to see them in person after having seen them in movies.

Sherman Tank & Czech Hedgehog

We were surprised to see that the name “Omaha Beach” had stuck — it was the Allies’ code name for the beach. I’d assume that the beaches had other names prior to the D-Day invasion.

Entrance to Omaha Beach at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer

I was surprised to see so many remembrance crosses — I think they were at every D-Day sight that we visited during our trip. It was very touching to see how appreciative they are — to this day — of the men and women who fought for their freedom.

Remembrance Crosses

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Pointe-du-Hoc

March 15, 2016June 21, 2016Leave a comment

The fourth and final stop on our Normandy D-Day road trip was Pointe-du-Hoc. The Fighting-Texas-Aggie in me had been looking forward to visiting Pointe-du-Hoc all day, as it was Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder who led the Army Rangers to victory at Pointe-du-Hoc. Rudder retired from the Army as a Major General and was the third president of Texas A&M University.

Pointe-du-Hoc was an important strategic location for the Germans, as it was the high point between Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. A victory at Pointe-du-Hoc was crucial for the Allied forces in order to prevent the Germans from using Pointe-du-Hoc for observing both Utah and Omaha Beaches. The 2nd Ranger Battalion was to scale the cliffs by using ropes, ladders, and grappling hooks. Out of the 225+ American men who landed at Pointe-du-Hoc, 135 died. The Americans were at a clear disadvantage — imagine being expected to scale cliffs while enemy soldiers stood atop them, armed and shooting downward at you.

Ronald Reagan Quote

Grappling Hook

“The officers said everyone that even gets close to the cliff out to get an award.”

Lieutenant Colonel James Earl Rudder

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Musée d’Orsay – The Building

March 5, 2016June 21, 2016Leave a comment

Musée d’Orsay is housed in Gare d’Orsay, an old train station (and hotel) that served as the terminus for the Paris-Orleans Railway. Gare d’Orsay was the first electrified rail terminal in the world and opened just in time for the 1900 World Fair (Exposition Universelle). By 1939 the station’s platforms were too short to accommodate the the longer trains now used for long-distance travel; however, it was still used for some suburban trains. The hotel closed in 1973; the building was reopened in December 1986 as a museum, Musée d’Orsay. The building is beautiful, and after learning it’s story, I’m so happy that the French government decided to give it new life.