Troll-Trek Series 1, Episode 14: Cheverny

 Welcome to the second castle in our Loire Valley adventure, the Chateau de Cheverny.

We had passed a better night. There had been little noise, apart from our hazard lights going off in the wee hours. No mozzies, no bugs, dormant kids. Sometimes called the calm before the storm. 

The morning though was decidedly wetter. 

All this damp stuff made walking outside less than ideal, so we spent much of the morning wandering the insides of this splendid castle, searching for clues and Lego. Obviously.

Many rooms were standard fair for the super rich.

Others contained some strange artefacts. 

There is a fixation on Lego here, many of which were built into forms indistinguishable from the original.

The king's bedroom was particularly over the top (although clearly Lego was beneath him), with so much detail in walls and ceilings that sleeping here would seem absurd.

For instance, this detail above the fireplace.

On pointing out the beheading of a baby, five year old Kaïly said "Of course! Babies are in a pain in the arse!" (English translation toned down for the more sensitive amongst you).

We ventured out again after lunch to see signs of a brighter sky. 

Now we could see more of the fixation on pumpkins and such.

Also Tintin is something of a superstar here. This chateau was made famous as Tintin's base of operations, Merlinspike.

Much space is given over to an exhibition of their adventures. Bizarrely, none of it made in Lego...

Oh look. More pumpkins...

After a long exhausting day we left the chateau all Lego'd out. All was reasonably calm and happy.

Except for the sky.

The calm was not to last. We drove south a short distance towards our next destination; the identity of which we kept as a surprise from the little angels. This may have been a mistake. Upon arriving at the site of our next adventure, our two ex-angels achieved a level of excitement that Einstein would have had difficulty explaining.

Tune in tomorrow (here) to find out the cause of this nuclear event and whether or not we survived it.