loire

i am writing this under a dolphin-print blanket on the pull-out couch in the living room of our apartment, where i have been ostracized due to my new best friend forever, sickness. somewhere between taking the last metro home on friday night and the first metro on saturday morning to gare montparnesse, i contracted one of those colds that i know will inevitably end up with me hopelessly addicted to afrin. luckily, the amicable pharmacist on boulevard belleville offered me "rhinedrine" for a pitiful 4 euros, which looks just like afrin, but is french. also, it doesn't work.

this weekend i traveled two hours south to the loire valley, where our group went on a "chateau-and-wine" tour, which means we drank a lot of wine and then had a lot of 45-minute bus rides, which means at least one of us was bound to throw up in the bus bathroom. here are some chateaus for you to look at; one of them was surrounded by a field of lavender, which i cut several sprigs of and are now spread throughout my drawers and closet, in the hopes of obtaining lavender-scented clothing in the morning. i don't know, it would be nice.

chateau villandry, chenonceau, azay-le-rideaux, and chaumont-sur-loire respectively.

the gardens were really the most incredible part of the chateau visits. each chateau had its own little disney-land of gardens, with vegetable, herb and flower gardens shaped like leaves, hearts, crosses, and other aerially impressive shapes that require several maps to navigate; expanses of grass with exotic hedge shapes, labyrinthes, moats, and the occasional enchanted forest. the weather was sunny and only a bit chilly, so we spent hours running around in these places, quite literally feeling like the princess i thought i was when i was eight. okay, i still sort of do.

additionally, there happened to be an outdoor jazz concert starting at les jardins de la châtonnière as soon as we arrived. it was one of the more perfect moments in my life; molly and i sat on the roof of the chateau, sketching some of the architecture and flora, with live jazz playing in the distance. the sun was just beginning to set, and the wind smelled like lavender. i am not sure how often moments like that occur in life.