Mini Chateaux and Ice Cream!

Today we went to a park with all the castles in miniature size! It was called Mini-Chateaux. I felt like a giant walking around all the castles!

This castle is called Usse and it is famous because the story of Sleeping Beauty was written about it. It does look like a fairytale castle!

My second favorite food in France after crepes is ice cream! See if you can guess the flavors ....

Tomorrow we catch the train back to Paris. We'll be home to see you soon!

Now I Believe in Dragons!

Today we visited the Chateau in Blois. It was an important castle where lots of French kings and queens lived.

Next door to the castle is a magic house and there were dancing dragons popping out of the windows! They were pretty scary but I liked their gold color in the sunshine.

Can you see the dragon's tail sticking out of the top window?

A Castle with a Drawbridge!

Today we visited a medieval castle and watched them lower the drawbridge!



Here we are after the drawbridge had been lowered, ready to enter the castle.

Inside the castle we saw the King and Queen getting married. They needed lots of clothes to stay warm in the cold castles.

We walked around the top of the castle and saw where the knights used to shoot arrows and drop stones on their enemies!

There was a big treehouse for kids to play in too! I liked this castle a lot!

I wish we had this treehouse in our playground. It would be so much fun at recess!

French kids!

This is the hat that the French police wear. The police are called Gendarmes. Jackson has a hat too!

The captains on the boats on the river wear hats like this one.....

In the olden days the rivers were as important as roads, and boats used to carry people and things from one town to another.

This is the car we are driving in France. It is much smaller than most American cars, but that is a good thing because sometimes the roads in France are very narrow and crooked!

Sunday is Market Day in France. Yesterday we went to the markets in Amboise to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and flowers. We saw lots of different things to eat - even snails and rabbits!!!

Every morning we go to the bakery to buy fresh bread and pastries for our breakfast. I love French breakfasts. They are yummy!

Safari in France!

Today we took a break from visiting the chateaux and went on safari in France!
We saw some French animals - deer with velvety antlers and wild boar...

The big boars were a bit smelly, but the baby boars had stripes and were very cute!

We saw bison from the United States and wallabies and black swans from Australia.

There were also crazy ostriches who tried to bite our fingers.

We liked playing in the playground with the French children a lot!

I am glad you got to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch. It was even on the news in France!

Our Town - Amboise

This is the town where we are living in our country house. It is called Amboise and has lots of very old buildings.

There is a big white chateau on top of the hill which looks down over the town and the river. The river is called the Loire.

A king called Henry II lived in this castle. He had a very nice bedroom.

The king had lots of knights to protect him from his enemies. They wore suits of armour like this one. Sometimes their horses wore armour too!

The knights used weapons like this long pike to protect themselves and the king from their enemies.

I think it was dangerous to live in medieval times!

Thank you very much for sending me the class photo and telling me about the butterflies. I will be looking for them in case they flew a long way to France!

Chateau # 3 - Villandry

The chateau we visited today had a big white castle, but it is more famous for its beautiful gardens.

They keep the gardens looking the same as they were when the castle was built in 1532. There are lots of fruit and vegetables growing in the gardens, but no potatoes or tomatoes - they were unknown in France 500 years ago!

This castle also had a maze. It was a-maze-ing! Jackson and I didn't get lost!

Next Castle - Chenonceau

Today we visited a chateau called Chenonceau. I liked this castle because it sits on top of the river (but that meant there could be no dungeon). It had a big moat and 2 drawbridges and you could row boats on the river and under the castle.

There were also beautiful gardens with lavender and tulips, and a maze to find your way out of.

Inside the castle were big kitchens with huge fireplaces and lots of pots and pans.

My favorite part was the Queen's bedroom. When the King died she was so sad that she painted everything in her bedroom black forever.

I wish I lived in a castle over a river!

And look at the cool vintage car we found at the castle!

My First Chateau!

Today we visited our first chateau (which is the French name for castle). It is called Azay-le-Rideau and it has a moat around it to keep the bad guys out. Nobody lives here anymore, but it still has some furniture in it from the olden days.

There was no dungeon in this castle, but we looked for dragons and found 5! Here are three of them, all breathing fire ...