Chenonceau and Versailles

After visiting the chateau of Chambord, we moved on to Amboise where we checked into our beautiful French Manor for two nights.  We were off the next morning to see the chateau of Chenonceau. . .in the rain!  Here's a picture of our lodging in Amboise.

 

Although Chenonceau began as a castle in the 1400’s, it wasn’t until the mid 1500’s when King Henry II gave the chateau to his mistress that it became the unique bit of architecture that it is today.  She added the arched bridge across the River Cher to its opposite bank as well as the beautiful gardens surrounding the chateau.  [It’s bad enough that these kings were so naughty, but some of them let everyone know how naughty they were by giving their mistresses really nice houses to live in.]  Chenonceau changed hands several times over the years, but was known as the “ladies chateau” since the owners were typically the mistresses or queens of kings.  The portion of the chateau that crosses the river was used as a wartime hospital during WW I and over 2,000 wounded soldiers were treated there from 1916 to 1918.  Some of the wounded fished from the windows of the arched bridge to pass time. 

 

The best way to share the beauty of Chenonceau and the gardens is with pictures, so here you go…enjoy.

We arrived around noon on Friday in Versailles.  It took a few tries to squeeze through the streets to our hotel, and even a tighter squeeze to get into the parking garage.  After dropping off our bags, we headed for the Palace of Versailles which was right across the street.  Visiting Chambord and Chenonceau is a good way to prepare for the unbelievable sight of Versailles.   One look at Versailles, with its rooms that housed 10,000 aristocrats and servants, and you understand why Louis  XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads.  The sheer size and amount of gold leaf ornamentation is staggering.  However, the beauty of the architecture and art work contained in and outside of the palace is exceptional.  And the gardens, filled with sculptures and fountains of every size, stretch as far as the eye can see.   Luckily, we caught a good sunny afternoon to visit the extensive gardens. 

In addition to the palace of Versailles, we visited the Grand Trianon, which is a small palace in the back of  Versailles built by Louis  XIV to allow him to flee the stiff court etiquette and spend time with his mistress (how naughty can you get….keeping your mistress in the back yard).   The day we visited the palace, it was pouring rain and in the mid 50’s.  While we thoroughly enjoyed the palace tour, it was about a 20 minute walk from the palace to the Grand Trianon.  The walk was wet, cold and windy.  We stopped off for a hot lunch and a cappuccino at a crowded restaurant near the center of the gardens.  It felt so good to be dry and warm for an hour.  Then it was off to the Grand Trianon.   This small palace was beautiful in its own right, and was completely furnished in décor and furniture of the period. 

We also had tickets for Marie Antoinette’s hamlet, which was a little farm village she had built in the back of Versailles where she and her lady friends could pretend to live in the French countryside (this was when she still had a head).  While we were searching for Marie’s hamlet, the sun came out.  This really helped to lift our spirits and dry our soggy clothes.   It took a few tries down various dirt paths in order to locate the hamlet within the huge Versailles estate.  However, it was worth the effort.  The village was just “too cute.”  Here are snapshots of Marie’s farm village.  By the way, farmers lived in these little houses and grew vegetables that were used by the cooks in the palace of Versailles.

 Our next post will be our last two days with Diane in Paris.

Happy trails,

TNT