Puffy white clouds with a light grey lining and the beautiful sky blue accumulated near the horizon from above while the vibrant trees, gushing river approached the horizon from below. The view from atop the Chinon castle in the Loire valley was fantastic. The spirits of the former Kings of the castle and the simple watchmen are alive and well in my imagination as I imagine them standing beside me on the top of the tallest tower of the chateau.
If I had known what was about to come, I would not have been so grumpy the morning of the departure. Waking up at 5:45 is not my favorite thing to do! This past Saturday, a couple of friends and I decided to go on an adventure to see the redoubtable chateaus of the infamous French kings. Our train ride to Onzain, a small town in the Loire valley was uneventful.
Despite a bit of trouble deciding which direction was north, we soon found our way to an International garden festival. It was typical of many art exhibits - the artists displayed a multitude of creative ideas while still spoon-feeding the novice art critic unnecessarily florid language and amusingly broad claims about the consequences of their work. For instance, a collection of plants in oil barrels was claimed to evoke a sense of awareness of the imminent shortage of oil. Regardless, I was pleased with by the creative idea of having trees connected to life support, yet I smirked when I read that such an expression was redolent of the fragility of our biosphere. However the beauty of the flowers was untainted by the trite descriptions that tarnished the rest of the garden. I enjoyed taking many pictures of the varied flowers.
Home to a forceful castle that has suffered the damages of time, the small town of Chinon was our next stop on our weekend tour of the Loire Valley. In addition to the awe-inspiring beauty of the valley, the dilapidated castle gave me an intense feeling of being in a place with a rich history. We proceeded to check into the Hotel named after Agnes Sorel. A mistress of one of the owner's of the chateau, she had the distinct honor of being just a secret passage away from the king. With an appetite for history already wet by this morsel of French history, I was excited to elevate myself to the height of the castle that overlooked the city. Joan of Arc's visit to the castle in 1429 where she gained the respect of the current Dauphin of France, Henry VII, was one of the most enjoyable pieces of history. By recognizing the disguised Dauphin among a group of his courtiers, she gained his trust, which eventually led him to accede to her wish of him declaring himself king. As I mentioned earlier, the view from atop the castle was marvelous.
After a rejuvenating night of at the hotel, we set out to visit another chateau. While this castle had pristine gardens and most of the extravagant decorations intact, the hordes of tourists at Chenonceau swarming like ants over a tasty morsel of bread inhibited my ability to imagine myself in the midst of the historical figures that once lived at Chenonceau. The castle had a rich history dominated by greedy kings and seductive women. Kings constantly repossessed the beautiful chateau, Diane de Poitiers exercised power using her womanly ways on King Henry II, and Catherine de Medici who eventually overcame Diane's siren-like influence over the King.
After a nice trip back, I have resigned myself to more GRE studying. I am pleased about my improvement on the verbal section but more importantly, I feel like my writing has improved significantly in the course of practicing for the GRE essay sections. While not vital, varied sentences, sophisticated language and clear structure can allow one to achieve higher scores on the analytical writing sections. I take the test Wednesday. I expect to achieve a score that will not hurt my physics graduate school applications. I wonder if I will continue to write in this fashion after the test has passed. Hopefully the enjoyment of writing in a florid manner will help me continue to write well.
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