Oh no, wrong chateau!
We can't quite believe it, but today we visited 3 chateaux. It seems a bit odd, because you
can get into "seen one, seen 'em all" mode with things like temples, chateaux etc. We started in town, at the Saumur Chateau - nice courtyard,
but the interior was closed for renovation. The second one was a mistake - we were heading for the 'Sleeping Beauty' chateau, the
inspirational setting for the original fairytale story. But we blindly ended up going straight to the chateau in the middle of Azay-le-Rideau,
without realising we were 10 miles away from the proper one.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until we'd paid up and completed
the interior tour that we realised that the chateau didn't look anything like the one we'd seen on the brochure. And the girls kept saying
things along the lines of "Daddy, when are we going to see Sleeping Beauty's bedroom? You promised it would be here!". By the time we'd
realised we were on the wrong track, we'd lost an hour and a half. Amazingly though, we were still smiling enough to pose for a photo (just in
case you're wondering - we're the upright ones, I reckon the building must be angled because of subsidence. Fancy building it over a moat.)
Later on, after following the directions properly, we did get to the correct Sleeping Beauty chateau, at Ussé. As
there are so many chateaux around this part of the world, each of the owners works very hard to come up with their own unique reason to visit.
After the normal look-at-my-two-hundred-year-old-dining-room tour, we were let loose into the round tower, with rooms arranged to tell the
story of Sleeping Beauty. As you can see from the photos, it was incredibly realistic (I think the Sleeping Beauty dummy had been dragged
straight out of the window of the French equivalent of Matalan, or given the state of her, perhaps even through the window!).
We all had a good time, but we've probably seen enough chateaux to last us the rest of the year now!
Unfortunately, it wasn't until we'd paid up and completed
the interior tour that we realised that the chateau didn't look anything like the one we'd seen on the brochure. And the girls kept saying
things along the lines of "Daddy, when are we going to see Sleeping Beauty's bedroom? You promised it would be here!". By the time we'd
realised we were on the wrong track, we'd lost an hour and a half. Amazingly though, we were still smiling enough to pose for a photo (just in
case you're wondering - we're the upright ones, I reckon the building must be angled because of subsidence. Fancy building it over a moat.)Later on, after following the directions properly, we did get to the correct Sleeping Beauty chateau, at Ussé. As
there are so many chateaux around this part of the world, each of the owners works very hard to come up with their own unique reason to visit.
After the normal look-at-my-two-hundred-year-old-dining-room tour, we were let loose into the round tower, with rooms arranged to tell the
story of Sleeping Beauty. As you can see from the photos, it was incredibly realistic (I think the Sleeping Beauty dummy had been dragged
straight out of the window of the French equivalent of Matalan, or given the state of her, perhaps even through the window!). We all had a good time, but we've probably seen enough chateaux to last us the rest of the year now!