LOIRE VALLEY

We spent the last few days visiting some of the chateaux in the Loire Valley.  Since we had to limit the number of places we could visit we went to Chambord, because it is so massive and impressive and we went to Chenonceau because it is my favorite.

The kids were suitably impressed when we drove up the lane to Chambord.  It is an impressive castle with turrets and a moat and lots of towers, chimneys and roccoco touches.  The grounds are extensive too.

The chateau was built as a hunting lodge by Francois I, but he seldom used it.  Such sumptuousness for a hunting lodge.  After Francois died the castle was abandoned for many  years and finally Louis XIV had it revamped and he used it to entertain sometimes.  At this time there was no furniture and everything was carried with the visiting party.  Also, food was a problem because there was no nearby village.  They had to bring everything with them when they came.  Over the centuries ownership changed many times until finally in the early 1900s it was sold to France.  At one time many of the valuable art in the Louvre was stored here

We went inside and had a self-guided tour of the first and second floors.  In the center of the sturcture is a double helix staircase. It is really two staircases entwined so that someone coming down and someone coming up never will meet, but they cansee each other as they progress.

The rooms were exquisite with old tapestries and fancy beds and desks and furniture.  There was also an interesting room with hunting trophies--animal horns and heads of wild boar.  Some of the ceilings are painted with beautiful scenes of godesses and flowers and fruit.  There was lots of carving with the salamander being a prevalent theme because that was Francois I emblem.  He chose the salamander because it is reputed to be able to live through a fire.  In the king's bedroom there was a fence, kind of like in a courtroom.  This is because the king would receive visitors and country folk who would petition him for a ruling or a favor as he reclined in his bed.  The king often slept in a different room and had a formal bedroom for receiving guests

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The most stunning part of the castle was from the terraces where we could enjoy the renaissance architecture of the castle and the beautiful estate.

From Chambord we went to Chenonceau.  This castle crosses the river Cher and was given to Diane de Poitiers, King Henry II's favorite mistress.  Diane did a lot to make the castle beautiful and also planted beautiful gardens.  But, Queen Catherine, Henry's wife, made her give it back after Henry died.

We entered through the Guard's Room which had beautiful tapestries depicting hunting scenes, a marriage proposal and other scenes of daily life in the middle ages.