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BY FRANCIS MILTOUN
Blois, among all the other cities of the Loire, is the favorite with
the tourist. Here one first meets a great chateau of state; and
certainly the Chateau de Blois lives in one's memory more than any
other chateau in France.
Much has been written of Blois, its counts, its chateau, and its many
and famous hotels of the nobility, by writers of all opinions and
abilities, from those old chroniclers who wrote of the plots and
intrigues of other days to those critics of art and architecture who
have discovered--or think they have discovered--that Da Vinci designed
the famous spiral staircase.
From this one may well gather that Blois is the foremost chateau of
all the Loire in popularity and theatrical effect. Truly this is so,
but it is by no manner of means the most lovable; indeed, it is the
least lovable of all that great galaxy which begins at Blois and ends
at Nantes. It is a show-place and not much more, and partakes in
every form and feature--as one sees it to-day--of the attributes of a
museum, and such it really is.
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