There were just too many castles to see that we couldn't fit them all in just one day. So we added another day of castles. But first we managed to fit in two more castles before we camped for the night: Chateau de la Bourdaisiere

And the magnificent Chateau Villandry. 

These gardens were the most incredible I have ever seen. There are four or five individual sections including an herb and vegetable garden, a water garden and ornamental flower garden. This is the first salon of the ornamental garden.

The water garden.

The second salon of the ornamental garden.

The sun garden.

The wood.

Our next day began with a glimpse of Chateau Chaumont-Sur-Loire.

And then we went to the largest of the castles Chateau Chambord which isn't a castle at all. It is actually a hunting lodge...with 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases.

It is not certain, but speculated that Leonardo Da Vinci designed elements of this lodge such as the double helix staircase in the center of the building. There are two entrances to the staircase and if two people go up opposite stairs, they will never meet. 

The lodge is set on 13,000 acres of wood and fields for hunting. Amazing.

Some More Castles: Chenonceau and Amboise

Continuing on Mr. Finter's Castle Day, we stopped next at Chateau de Montpoupon and took a short walk around. We tried to capture a few photos with our little Fiat in it because that car was so small!

Then we were off to Chateau Chenonceau. We ate lunch in this beautiful garden (I love Mr. Finter's face haha! I think he was starving) and decided to see this castle we would canoe!

We canoed a few miles down the Loire river and enjoyed the warm weather and beautiful scenery. It was so gorgeous! We saw swans on the banks and fish below us. We dragged our bare feet in the water as we skidded the surface to cool down. And we talked about how sad we were that our trip was coming to a close. It was such an amazing experience to be traveling abroad together. We didn't want it to ever end. 

And then in the distance Chateau Chenonceau appeared!

We canoed right underneath the beautiful arches and caught the full grandeur of this castle. 

After completing our canoe journey, we drove to another castle in the city of Amboise. Amboise is known for their outdoor market so we spent a few hours eating and shopping below the castle walls.

I want this tandem bike!

Loches et Donjon

We made camp for the night in the city of Loches, which is in the Loire Valley of France. The Loire Valley is known for the beautiful Loire river which runs through it giving the landscape a look very similar to the English countryside. There are rolling hills, plush valleys, forests and best of all, castles! The French royalty loved the Loire countryside and build magnificent castles along the river as a summer homes. There are a total of 42 castles and we decided since Mr. Finter loves castles that we would have an entire day devoted to castle exploration! The night before this castle day we made camp in Loches right below the castle and went out for a small dinner in the medieval town. We ate French Onion Soup and Galettes and had such a marvelous time walking around the lamp lit streets. 

The next morning we were up at daybreak and off to our first castle: Chateau de Loches with a "donjon" (dungeon). Our first stop was the chapel which had this beautiful tree round you could put nails into for prayers for others. It was beautiful. 

Then we went and toured the main castle.

They had real armor.

And some steel cuffs.

Intricate door locks. 

And safes.

From the top, the view of the Loire Valley was incredible. 

We then went and explored the gardens and underground dungeon.

Then we were off the the separate dungeon house. 

What remained of the dungeon was the walls and staircases. The city had build wire platforms to stand on at every level so you could walk to the very top. It was a bit scary, but so cool!

They had a replica of a torture box.

And of course we locked each other up.

It got really high towards the top and even though there was a side rail, we still clung to the walls since the see through floor felt like we were standing on nothing!

Our first castle was great!