Castles Part III

    On Sunday morning we started off the day at the Fontevraud Abbey. I was surprised by how big and gorgeous it was; the first buildings appeared in the 12th century and it has been expanding ever since. It was important for several reasons. First, it was a double monastery, which means that both nuns and monks lived there (although they were separated, of course). Eleanor of Aquitane spent a good amount of time there, and was eventually buried there along with her son, Richard the Lionheart. 

   During the revolution, many religious sites were destroyed in order to fulfill revolutionary renunciations of religion in France. However, this particular abbey's conversion into a prison saved it from this fate. The size and relative beauty of the buildings demonstrate their importance. 

This is the main church. 

The abbey is famous for the size and shape of its kitchens, this entire tower-like structure used to be where all the food was prepared. Notice the array of chimneys; inside, there are multiple fireplaces for preparing multiple dishes at the same time. 

For a place that was supposed to be devoted to piety and modesty, there was a surprising amount of ornamentation.

Interior view of the main church. 

Monuments representing the dead royals...

The woman on the fair side represents Eleanor of Aquitane. It's a little bit difficult to see, but she's depicted holding an open book. This idea was actually quite revolutionary at the time (early 13th century), because it was essentially the first time a women was represented as being particularly scholarly.

Side view of a chapel. 

The main gallery. 

The man in the front is Richard the Lionheart. 

Doorway to another ambiguous room.

The room was notable because of the huge murals depicting the life of Christ. As my Catholic friend Kevin explained to me, pretty much every old church in Europe has some sort of visual summary of Jesus' life to help out the ordinary people who couldn't read. In this photo below, I believe the image on the left is the last supper, and the image on the right is Jesus' ascension into heaven. 

This is clearly the crucifixion. 

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem? 

Washing the disciple's feet.

The abbey still has a huge, well-tended garden where the nuns and monks grew all their food.

More views of the gardens, it was a perfect day.

Another view of the kitchens. 

This is an inside view of the ceiling in the kitchen.

After the abbey, we returned to Chinon (where our hotel was) to eat lunch. My friends and I just ended up buying a baguette, some apples, cheese, and desserts, and bringing it to the river to sit and enjoy the view!

Some street views in Chinon. 

This alley looked so picturesque and perfect that my friend and I decided to walk down it, road less traveled and all that jazz. Turns out it was littered with dog crap, so it quickly became much less exciting and actually quite "shitty" (pun intended). 

After lunch we visited our last castle - Azay-le-Rideau. It was built during the French renaissance in the early 16th century, and differs from Chenonceau by the design of its gardens. If you remember, Chenonceau has huge, lush gardens in the French style (think Versailles). Azay-le-Rideau, however, has gardens that are designed in the English style, which means they're less excessive and more practical, but still gorgeous. 

This is the adorable little town that is built next to the castle; you get the feeling that it sprung up to meet the needs of the castle's rich inhabitants. 

Initial view of the castle itself. 

Bridge and moat. 

One of the towers. 

Another example of a staircase that is open to the outside. Our tour guide explained that it was fun for the castle's owners to stand in the windows and wave at arriving guests, just to show off their extravagance. 

Beautiful wooden fireplace in the renaissance style.

I was really shocked when I saw there was actually a billiard room with a pool table, but then I read the plaque which explained that Europeans have been playing pool since the 19th century. Who knew?

This room was set up with a complete table setting, it was interesting to see a realistic image of a room that could actually be useful. 

Another fancy fireplace.

Some furniture. 

These doors were discreetly built into a corner of the castle, I thought they looked very cool.

Side view of the castle, with some of the water that surrounds the back. 

This is the famous image of the castle, but it's actually the back side of it, behind the entrance.

This little chapel-like building was set into the wood-sy English gardens.

Waterfall around the back. 

Another garden, full of vegetables and flowers!

After exploring the castle, my friend and I checked out the village, it had some of the most picturesque views. 

This is the village church... I wonder if the families who lived in the castle would attend the same services as the townspeople. Something tells me that would be very taboo.

After visiting the castle, we headed back to Tours to the train station ("gare") that would take us back to Paris. We took the TGV both ways, which is the famous French high-speed train. It was quite comfortable and surprisingly quiet, especially considering how fast we were going! It was nice to get out into the country for a few days, and overall I had a great weekend.