A Visit to Chambord

The last castle that we visited in the Loire was the largest: the castle at Chambord. Built in the French Renaissance style, it boasts over 400 rooms. Its grounds cover the same area as inner Paris!

It was built by François 1er, who was influenced by the Italian architecture he'd seen. We found the ornate towers and chimneys very impressive.

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One of the most unique features of the castle was its double staircase. It was like walking up or down a double helix. Two people could start at the bottom, each at a different staircase and see each other at different moments in their ascent or descent, but never actually meet until the end of their walk. It is presumed to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

The beauty of the architecture can be seen in the photos below.

We lucked in with the weather, which afforded us beautiful views from the rooftop terraces.

All the walking in and around such a huge property was just too much for Michael at one point, so he just had to have a siesta. He will be a benchmark of our day's adventure!

Having already seen three other ornately-furnished castles, the interior of this one, scale aside, seemed like "just another one of those castles." We couldn't help but be impressed, though, with this portait of Louis XIV. In his day, he would have inspired shoe envy among all the drag queens!

Our two monkeys, Tristan and Joy, were especially excited to find portaits of THEIR ancestors among the artwork on display in the castle.

After a full investigation of this vast property, we were happy to relax at a cafe on the grounds before heading home.