Amboise and Clos Lucé

Unfortunately I seem to have neglected my blog for too long now, so I'm going to publish this relatively outdated post and then I promise I'll post something new about my last weekend in Switzerland -- finals week is this week, and everything seems to have crept up on me really fast! It's crazy to think that we've already been here for over a month and that three of my classes will be over as of Thursday. It's even crazier to think that after that, I'll be traveling Europe for three weeks starting Saturday before I get back to the Abbey. I officially have tickets to Barcelona for my Vision Quest week and I cannot WAIT to go there. I may or may not be a little bit obsessed with Antoni Gaudí's architecture...

Clos Lucé

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Two weekends ago (I said I was out of date), we went to yet another chateau (believe it or not, they never get old -- honestly). Chateau Amboise belonged to King Francis I, and right next door was the house where Leonardo Da Vinci spent the last few years of his life. Apparently rumor has it that Da Vinci and Francis I were more than friends (if you get my drift...) and they literally had a secret tunnel built between their residences so they could get to each other at all hours (for a glass of wine or something probably... right? :P).

Secret love wine tunnel!

We got to see the bed Da Vinci died in as well as where he's buried, which was so cool. In the basement of Clos Lucé, models of Da Vinci's inventions were also set up on display -- I had no clue he invented so many things (the machine gun and double-hulled boat, for a few examples). We also walked around the gardens surrounding Da Vinci's house, which were kind of stark since it was so cold out, but still pretty cool.

Da Vinci's deathbed

and his grave!

Out in Da Vinci's garden

Interior of Chateau Amboise

Amboise exterior - it was up on top of a hill, so we had a great view of the city!

One of the chairs in Amboise -- apparently the royal court used to travel, so they would take these chairs with them, and the bottom part of the chair doubled as a trunk to take their belongings with them when they would visit other Chateaus!

Some gargoyles outside Amboise

Da Vinci monument in the Amboise gardens

The city of Amboise was also really cute: it was small, but there were plenty of chocolate shops open (and naturally I took full advantage of that).

Okay, that's all for Amboise. Switzerland post coming soon!