this post is dedicated to chandler goeckeritz who, when i announced my discovery that my 13th great-grandfather was the king of norway, told me that there's no such thing as princesses. and that in fact, they were just something disney made up to suck in little girls.


false, elder goeckeritz. very false indeed cause I FINALLY SAW SOME CASTLES THAT LOOKED LIKE A PRINCESS COULD LIVE THERE. after fortress upon fortress i saw some real pretty, once in a lifetime stuff. so here are my brief thoughts on each.

mont saint michel: everyone in the world is about to tell me REAGAN this is not a castle it's a monastery you are a mess. and to this i say TRUE but it also looks like a castle. as in tangled. as in it's on a mini island in the middle of the ocean and looks fake and i love it. and there are a lot of stairs.

angers: highlight was the tour guide explaining that you could tell which armies were of the devil in the tapestry because their uniforms resembled that of england. i thought of tyler dodd. also we barely got to see that actual fortress so, tears.

ussé: TEN FOR TEN WOULD RECOMMEND. full blow sleeping beauty manequins set up, bit creepy, but the castle itself is charming and tucked away in the forest and i can 100% picture a slightly bewildered prince wandering through those woods and coming across a beauty fast asleep, locked in that tower. so so so pretty.

me not waiting for prince charming cause mission

azay le rideau: cute and little and if you stuck your head out the window over the river it smelled really good. ask micah. also very intrigued that it is a renaissance castle built on top of the remnants of a medieval castle. history upon history, literally.

chambord: J'AIME. J'AIME THE MOST. ask me if i was already emotionally compromised after finishing les mis for the first time ever, because i was. and then i played the beauty and the beast soundtrack instead of listening to our guide who actually spoke full blown franglish, and then went back to the les mis soundtrack because EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED. also this chateau had the most beautiful out of all beautiful photographs showcased here of the woods surrounding the castle. like, breathtaking. ah. dead.

amboise: ALL I WANTED WAS TO SEE SISTER ABIGAIL NEWELL AGAIN IN TOURS. but alas, it was not to be. but i did see leonardo de vinci's grave so you win some you lose some i guess.


blois: let's just take a moment to appreciate that this town/castle is literally pronounced "blah". or close enough. interesting. i ran past this castle in the morning and then liked it. and then went inside in the afternoon and really just wanted to get back to my sweet lil bus so wasn't overly pleased BUT more fun love triangles with Henry + Catherine +Diane. a baby girl with a disease that gave her hair all over her body. very fun, very fun.

chenonceau: i genuinely think i already wrote about this but because i LIVE TO BLOG and BLOG TO LIVE i'll hit it again real quick. (zero to a hunna real quick). cute castle. on the river. world war 1 soliders fishing out of the windows. kennan dodging pigeons. madeline and anneka assigning everyone their respective residences on the grounds. fresh flowers everywhere. more love triangle. YAY. seriously loved this one.





okay and NOW I AM HERE IN NICE! ALIVE AND WELL IN THIS CUTE BEACH TOWN! thank you for your time. also if you note the extreme lack of photos it's cause i LOST my camera memory card so there were some tears.