French Countryside

We couldn’t help but sleep in this morning! The château accommodations were so comfortable!

We had planned to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant but everyone was so full from our fancy dinner last night we opted for an early picnic lunch later in the day.

Our first stop was straight from Beauty and Beast. When Belle sang about the provincial town she lived, Langeais had to be it! And Château de Langeais had to be the beast’s castle!

The castle was built in the 15th century and was the site of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany’s wedding in 1496. M must have felt the wedding vibes because she kept pointing out lovely places around town fit for hosting her future wedding!

I was mesmerized by the simple beauty of the medieval stone surroundings. Winding cobblestone streets. Tiny shops. Families peddling bikes around town.

I enjoyed exploring the Church of Saint John the Baptist from the 12th century while Josh and M finished their picnic lunch nearby. No one else was there and the silence felt heavy and peaceful.

I could have stayed here all day but we had more sites to see!

Next we made our way to Château D’azay-Le-Rideau. Built in the 16th century, it is renowned being a “marvel of the Renaissance.”

Specifically, it’s unique for being a French design with Italian and Flemish influences and for being located on a small island giving the appearance of floating in the middle of the surrounding courtyard.

The rooms were decorated with various pieces from throughout the centuries of the Château’s history, which was a fun touch!

At some point in day, M began a game where she was our “tour guide” leading us around the estate and then the town.

It kept her entertained during a less kid-friendly portion of the day. And, frankly, it entertained us as well! Her explanations of the sites and on-the-spot answers to our questions were often hilarious.

Who is that?

Oh, that’s Jesus. They put nails in him! It was very rude!

How old is this building?

Well, it’s so old no one really knows how old it is anymore.

When was this built?

Oh! It was built in 1980. It is 700 years old.

And as someone also built in the 1980s, I was feeling about 700 years old after two straight days of walking up spiral staircase towers and shuffling around uneven stone streets.

The ride to Chartres - our last destination for the night - was about two hours long and provided just enough time for M and me to take a decent car nap. Pretty sure this was the first quiet moment Josh has had the whole trip!

We arrived in Chartres in the early evening. We’ve got an adorable little apartment right next to the main cathedral. It’s quaint and very old, but the view is magnificent.

After a little trouble with our old-school key (it had been used for 17 years, according to the owner, and was finally worn down too much to let us in), we made our way to the cathedral.

Our Lady of Chartres Cathedral was at one time the tallest building in the entire world. It was officially opened in the early 1200s but was built on grounds that had been host to places of worship since the 4th century.

It is one of the most renown examples of gothic architecture remaining in the world. Its height is accredited to the use is “flying buttresses” and was the first known construction to utilize this feature in the Middle Ages.

The real beauty of the building lies in the humongous stained-glass windows! I was surprised to learned that the cathedral still has most of its original stained-glass which dates back to the 12th century. There are 167 windows made up of 20-30 panels each. The craftsmanship is outstanding. The oldest window is known as the Blue Virgin and features Mary draped in vibrant blue cloth while holding baby Jesus.

A few other notable features were the choir wall. This is an ornately carved stone screen that separates the choir from the main area. The stone is carved into various scenes depicting Jesus’ life and other prominent Bible stories. This part was added between the 16th and 18th centuries.

My favorite part of the choir screen was the astronomical clock! The clock was originally built in 1407 and was added to the choir screen in the 16th century.

This is one of only two surviving clocks of this type of mechanical make in the world and was a very rare piece in the Middle Ages. It would have been built by extremely talented scientists and touted as a sign of the progressive ideology of the church at the time.

Our time in the cathedral abruptly ended when M suddenly decided to “turn on super speed” and crashed into an offering box. This resulted in minimal injury but maximum tears and theatrics, which were incredibly amplified by the high ceilings and open arches of the cathedral. I could not get her out of there fast enough!

Exhausted from several nights of 3-hour long dinners (we forgot how long it takes Europeans to eat a meal), we opted for the full Americans in Europe Experience of McDonalds.

This took just enough time to get us to 10:00 pm, which is the when the Little Chart’train starts its evening route. This mini blue train runs a tour of the old town each night at dusk. The route features a 23-stop light show around town.

It was odd (some light scenes were animals, some were abstract, some were a little scary with fires and crumbling buildings). But, also really unique and well done in its own way.

M was very invested in the show which culminated at the train depot with a 30-minute long visual and audio experience on the front wall of the cathedral. We finished the show from the window of our hotel, which ended up being a perfectly fine view before bed!