David's Diary: Sunday, August 19, 2001

Loire Valley: Chambord

Today we left the Paris area for three days in The Loire valley. The region follows the Loire river, France's longest at 1020km, from which the valley derives its name. But The Loire is best known for the numerous Châteaux located throughout the valley. After driving from Paris and finding our accommodation we headed for Chambord, one of the most well known of all of the Loire Châteaux. With its 440 rooms it is the largest Châteaux in the Loire, its facade is instantly recognizable with the 365 chimneys (one for every day of the year) and corner towers.

Francois I emptied the treasury to complete Chambord, even denying Spain ransom money for his two sons so that construction could continue. The site at Chambord was chosen because it was only two days riding from Paris, but despite the proximity Francois I only stayed in the castle nine times. The Châteaux is set in a large forest, which was used for hunting in the past. Today most of it is a protected wildlife area.

Horse Show At Chambord

We arrived at Chambord later in the day and while Karalee and I were all set to explore the inside of the Châteaux a sign advertising a Horse Show at the stables instantly caught the attention of Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen. Realizing that another old building was nothing compared to a horse show, Karalee and I gave in graciously and agreed to the show.

We had an hour to wait so we walked along the canal next to the Châteaux. Francois I wanted to divert the Loire so that it would run next to Chambord, but the architects rejected such a task and diverted the nearby Cosson instead. After our walk we sat down to watch a splendid display of horsemanship by a group of six riders. The entire show was set to music and depicted four different periods in time and place with the costumes and riding styles of each period.

After the Show

Afterwards we stopped to watch all of the horses being washed down. Where moments before the riders had been dressed in an elegant costume they were now dressed in causal clothes as the work of the show away from the limelight carried on. We all enjoyed the diversion and after a short walk through the open air market we found a place for dinner and headed home for our first night in France away from Paris.