I am in France, and following Anne

But I have been having trouble trying to post to this blog as I had intended. My little Netbook is troublesome, and I have not had Internet, although it was promised, in several of my hotels. I have, however, been keeping up a journal and taking many pictures, which I will post as soon as possible.
I can fully attest to Anne's death: the first monument I visited, at Basilica St. Denis in Paris, was her tomb:

Blois was the favorite home of Anne's husband King Louis XII. It had been added to over centuries, and he made many additions and improvements when they lived there. This is known as the Louis XII wing:

This is the figure of the regal king over the entrance to the chateau





One important realization is scale: this small woman lived in a very large world. Each château  is really a small city, inhabited by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. The image below is the Chateau des duc de Nantes, and below are the main wings and tower walls.The rooms are large, the furniture I saw (with qualifications that most is not original) is massive. Distances are quite large. It is hard to understand how the court could have traveled so much, so far, so often. And she was frequently pregnant! My train rides from place to place were lovely and comfortable, through beautiful farmland and occasional woods, and took several hours each. Horses, carriages, litters, and even barges are much more cumbersome and slower means of transportation.

Anne's symbols at Blois

 The rooms are large, the furniture I saw (with qualifications that most is not original) is massive. Distances are quite large. It is hard to understand how the court could have traveled so much, so far, so often. And she was frequently pregnant! My train rides from place to place were lovely and comfortable, through beautiful farmland and occasional woods, and took several hours each. Horses, carriages, litters, and even barges are much more cumbersome and slower means of transportation.