Loire Valley - Azay-le-Rideau and Ussé

November 1, 2013

When we got ourselves all packed up we headed towards the Loire Valley. This was roughly a 3 hour drive. We drove through many little French towns that were all very quiet and everything was closed. It did not hit me until we got near our destination that November 1st is All Saints Day which is a national holiday for France. The Loire Valley is south of Paris in the middle of the country. This area is the dividing line for the country - e.g. weather forecasters say, "north of the Loire…south of Loire." This region is home to more then a thousand castles and palaces of all shapes and sizes. The valley has many little historic towns. Our first stop in this area was Azay-le-Rideau (pronounced ah-say lug ree-doh). The chateau here gets all the attention in the town. 

This is a very cute street in Azay-le-Rideau 

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau

This is a 16th century chateau that is on an island in the Indre River. The building is an example of an early-Renaissance chateau. This was built for no defense purpose, it was built for luxury living in a luxury setting. The castle was so lavish that the king, Francis I, seized it and made the owner flee. The chateau survived the Revolution so the interior shows three centuries of royal styles. The French government purchased it in 1905.

Antechamber reserved for the King - Francis I, Louis XIII, and Henry III stayed in this room

Ceiling of the staircase

View out of the window

Lounge Room

Kitchen

The exterior of the Italian staircase 

After we did the tour inside we walked around the outside of the chateau.

leaving the chateau thru the gates - this was such a cute street!

By this time we were starving so we had a late lunch in this town. Joe and I had the famous French crepe for lunch and I of course had my beer with fraise syrup! Its so nice to have your husband as your designated driver the whole time in France! 

My yummy seafood crepe

Lauren so happy we let her order her own drink and not share

Then we headed to the Chateau Ussé. We did not tour this castle we just did a quick drive by to take a photo. The Chateau Ussé was famous as a inspiration for Charles Perrault's classic version of the Sleeping Beauty story. 

 Château Ussé

This is an aerial picture I found of the Chateau Ussé

Then we drove to checkin at our chateau for the night.