Chantilly in Chantilly!

Me and one of my friends decided to take a day trip to Chantilly since it is not too far from Paris and of course it has a castle! It is located North of Paris in the region of Picardie and it is a quick train ride from Paris-Gare du Nord. We easily spent an entire day here exploring the beautiful gardens as well as the inside of the castle which is the Château de Chantilly. There is so much history to learn about especially when you visit inside the castle which is a beautiful museum filled with tons of art work and preserved artifacts.When you reach the entrance to the land where everything is located, you will be overwhelmed by the massiveness of this place! It's so beautiful though, even on a cloudy day. Right before you get to the castle, you can visit the horse stables as well. Horses are big part of Chantilly so you will see horse statues in the area.The town of Chantilly itself is quite lovely filled with many shops, cafes, bakeries and a pretty big market going on in the main square. We wrapped up the day of course by having chocolat chaud with Chantilly! Crème Chantilly is a sweet whipped cream used in pastries as well as toppings for hot drinks like coffee and hot chocolate.

Entrance to all the gardens.

First view of the castle after coming from the horse stables.

Main entrance to the castle.

View of the whole castle from afar.

Side view of the castle.

Back of the castle.

Peaceful gardens...

Bridges within the gardens.

Inside the castle...

Beautiful halls inside the castle.

Inside one of the libraries that the castle has.

Day Tripping in the Netherlands: Zaanse Schans

Zaanse Schans was a short train ride away from Amsterdam and it was perfect for a little day trip to get to know the Dutch! It is a beautiful and peaceful place filled with many historic windmills and cute little Dutch houses. In Zaanse Schans we saw how traditional Dutch clogs are made, went inside windmills to see how they function in the manufacturing of products, got to taste cheese made at the cheese farm, and visited cute shops such as one very old antique shop filled with many treasures. Later that day we went back to the craziness that is Amsterdam!

Windmills!

Cute houses in Zaanse Schans

One of the many windmills we visited.

Inside a windmill where they make different types of spices.

Clog making workshop! 

So much detail on these clogs!

Clogs galore!

Little Dutch lovers!

 P.S. It was pretty cold here so dress warmly!