Cal and VA | Adventures

Saumur sits on the Loire river and the hotel was on an island, Ile Millochau. In Saumur is the famous Cadre Noir cavalry school, renowned throughout the equestrian world. There is a French cavalry officers training school founded in 1768 in Saumur - now it teaches tactics and strategy of tank warfare. During WWII the cadets of the cavalry school held the Germans at bay for three days.

Hotel Info:
Hotel Du Roi Rene
Address: 94 Avenue du General de Gaulle Phone: 033-2-41 67 45 30
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This was a good day for exercise. The Loire Valley has a castle or chateaux on every hill top. We drove to Chambord to begin our adventures and worked several other castles on the way back to the hotel. Near the late afternoon after several castle tours, the group was beginning to lose excitement in visiting yet another boring castle (ABC). The entire day Cal was busy snapping pictures only to discover the next day that the film was not advancing - alas no pictures for 36 hours.

The first castle was Chambord, built by Louis XIV as a hunting lodge with over 360 fireplaces. Over 2000 craftsmen worked on a building with 450 rooms, 365 windows and over 70 staircases. It was fun exploring especially the double helix staircase designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

The next castle was the Chateaux de Chenonceau. This Chateaux was built by noblewomen as their residence when their husbands were off hunting, earning the name - le Chateau des Dames. Built over the Cher river it is a beautiful building. The chateaux was used as a hospital in WWI and in WWII the southern exit was in the free zone and the entrance was in German occupied territory.

Chateau Amboise is a castle overlooking the Loire river. It was a great building offering defense of the town. The chapel has a mural depicting the final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci. An alluring part of the castle is the horseman's tower that has a spiral staircase which allows for a horse to go from the river level up 150 feet.