thought for the day . . . French Chateaus

The 1500 Renaissance almost overshadows the great sea voyages that discovered the Americas(and the world really). The wealth that came from this discovery powered the Renaissance into the modern era where it might have stalled like most social movements.  Conversly, the wealth brought by the sea voyages paid for everything back home that was inspired by the Italian renaissance.

here's some of what's inside the "Ducal palace" of Urbino,

there's a waterworks under the castle/palace,

and perhaps the most famous part of the Ducal palace, is the formerly warlord's library,

I bring up this Ducal palace of Urbino, Italy because it's an example of a castle turned into a palace before all the French Chateaus.  And since the French Chateaus are inspired by Italian everthing, it seemed a good place to start!

Here's the Château de Chenonceau . . . I like this one because of the arches in the river.

The Château de Villandry . . . this one has very elaborate gardens including waterworks; this picture doesn't do it justice.

Here's a pretty good video of it

And here's the Clos Luce,

Doesn't look like much . . . but, it did house one rather famous historical figure in his dieing years - Leonardo Da Vinci! He brought the Mona Lisa with him(maybe why it's in a French museum today!).  Today, engineers have made working models of various Leonardo Da Vinci machines.

Here's a pretty good video of it!