| Thursday, June 20, 2013 -- Château de Chambord -- Biking Day 2 |

We arrived at Château Chambord the day before a large hunting exposition, and there were lots of people setting up for the onslaught of hunters and their dogs. We parked the bikes and then went straight to a row of shops and restaurants set up for tourists to grab some lunch. And of course, ice cream (la glace). Afterward, we toured the château. Chambord was built in the first half of the 16th century by King François I to serve as a hunting lodge. The renaissance style architecture is impressive, and the building is enormous. And while not heavily fortified like a medieval castle, it is completely surrounded by a moat. The interior rooms are filled with lots of period furniture, tapestries, and paintings. The kids all liked the wide use of salamanders as stone imagery in the building, as this was the person emblem of François I, also known as François au Grand Nez (big nose).