Creme de la Creme

I never finished blogging about our wonderful trip to Chantilly, France. In fact, I left off the all important second day when we actually visited Chantilly. By the way, that isn't Chantilly as in "Chantilly lace and a pretty face!" ala The Big Bopper...but it is said Shantee-ee. Oh yes! Make sure you get that right! Practice saying it.

Before we hit the bigtime Chateau we stopped and got a little breakfast...Yummy!

And then we rocked the castle!

After debating with David for a few days on what actually constituted a castle ... his response: A mote! We were finally able to see a castle. We won't discuss that the house we live in technically has a mote and it is definitely NOT a castle...

This is the outside of the beautiful church that is built into Chantilly. I want a church in my castle...sooo convenient!

I haven't said it yet...but pay attention...if there is ONE castle in all of France to take your children to see, this one is it! They even have toilettes specifically for the little ones down in the dungeon.

The insides were breathtakingly beautiful and well preserved.

Another feature that was absolutely beautiful were the stained glass windows.

After following a stained glass corridor you would enter into this small, very private and remote room which contained 2 pictures by Raphael. They were so close with no barriers. I could have touched them...I could have smelled them...I could have tasted them...there wasn't even glass between us. It was AMAZING. The picture I liked the best was called the Three Graces.

After spending a few minutes relaxing in the chapel, we were off to the horse stables where we were able to see some magnificent horses and watch a show.

We were pretty hungry at this point so we got on a tram (don't forget you have to buy your tickets seperately for this and since they don't believe in upselling, they won't tell you you need it until you can't get on, so purchase these at the start - you will be glad you did, the grounds are massive and there are lots of fun things to do!) We were torn over what to do first: eat or play in the maze! We chose food first which was located at the creamery. This little village, which included the creamery was built specifically for visitors to come and eat Chantilly Cream...which I expected to taste like whipped cream, but it was so much better than that!

While waiting for our order Parker was really hungry.

And this guy kept pestering us...specifically Parker.

But, Oh the JOY when it did arrive! It came in our hot chocolate, on our strawberry pie, on top of our gingerbread and just by itself. YUMMY! (a word to the wise...the cakes and hot chocolate ARE delicious, but a lot pricey. You can still have the experience of eating the famed Chantilly Creme by ordering the $4 version that comes in a large cup.) We had ordered way too much! BUT YUMMMMMMY!

The creme tasted like a cross between cream cheese and whipped cream...a velvety smooth and delicious treat!

After a brief potty break, because who knew how long the next portion of our journey might take, we were off to that labyrinth. It was massive and we were all bubbling with excitement.

The race was on! The winner would be declared soon!

or not...I would say it took us a good hour to get through the maze. Some of us were lost. Some of us, mainly me, cheated. Some had to be lifted with strong daddy arms over barriers. I stopped to take some shots of the beautiful flowers, so my can was getting kicked by the three gigglers running like mad.

In the end we made it out and decided to head through the wild flower garden which wound it's way around, but had only one path. This gave David and I an opportunity to wander slowly holding hands.

As we wandered the song, for the Beauty of the Earth was in my mind. It was a peaceful moment.

Before we left the garden area we stumbled upon a patch of these finger-numbing slugs. Ask us how we know!

Our day was finished, and we had no regrets for anything we chose to do, only for those things we didn't have time to do. We can't wait to have visitors who want to go so we can catch some of the things we missed like the lace museum and the princes rabbit farm.