June 15, 2024
A Day in Chenonceaux
In 2018, Dave and I visited the Loire Valley and stayed in Amboise. On one day our group rode to Chenonceau Chateau. Unfortunately,my ankle was really bad (I had surgery two months later) so I stayed back (and sulked). So, for Jill, seeing Chenoneau Chateau was unfinished business.
The town of Chenonceaux itself underwhelmed us. After two lovely towns (Angles and Loches) we had taken the charming French town thing for granted. Dave’s observation was that it felt like the town had not recovered from the pandemic. Several hotels were closed and eating was pretty hit and miss. Some large patios were not open.
Our opinion on this contrasts sharply with how much we liked our inn, Auberge du Bon Labourer, a Rick Steves recommendation (from his 2018 book, which is the latest one I have) and which we had planned to be our fancy hotel experience of the Loire Valley. It had large, clean, fancy rooms, great tubs, calm gardens with vegetables, roses, a goat, sheep and chickens. It had a “gastronomique” restaurant where we dined the first night, and it was the signature meal of the week. Dave knows wine (and French) so he is a very value-added member of the group when we are doing fine-dining! The restaurant was fancy enough that we felt underdressed (jackets and dresses were in evidence, but not on us) but the lady at the front desk assured us said casual dress was not a problem and we took her at her word.
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That evening after dinner we discovered we had a rare French hotel with Netflix. The Tour de France series “Unchained” had just dropped and Dave and I watched the first two episodes in genuine joy . We have watched virtually no tv for the past 6 weeks and unexpectedly watching a series we love and revisiting the fun and crazy moments from last year’s Tour made us giddy. Hmmm - do we need to get a life?
The following morning the four of us split up. Eric and Melinda rode 15 km to Amboise to visit Clos de Luce, the home of Leonardo da Vinci between 1516 and 1519. Eric is a mechanical engineer and I thought he would enjoy seeing all the models and inventions. Dave and I saw it in 2018 so we planned to see Chateau Chenonceau that day instead.
I had pre-purchased tickets to Chenonceau Chateau for 9:30, the earliest entry, in the hope of avoiding crowds and tourist buses. We were unsuccessful in that effort. Both crowds and buses were in full force when we had our ticket stamped at 9:29 am. It wasn’t awful, but we were happy to escape the building itself after an hour and enjoy the various grounds and gardens, including the vegetables, flowers, maze and donkey field. Eric and Melinda had visited the Chateau the previous afternoon and reported it was much quieter; I will keep that in mind for future travel planning - late afternoon is apparently better than early morning for these major sites.
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Chenonceau Castle has a fascinating history, especially of the women that have owned it or ran it over the past 5 centuries. The current building was constructed in 1515-1521 by Katherine Bricconet when her husband was away at some war. It was famously deeded to Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of King Henry II, in 1535, and she extended the Castle by building a bridge from the castle across the River Cher. When Henry II died his wife, Catherine de Medici, kicked Diane out in 1559 and Catherine put her own stamp on the place by building a gallery over the bridge. The bridge and gallery are very distinctive and beautiful and the most oft-photographed feature.
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In WW I a local family that owned the castle financed a hospital in the gallery for wounded soldiers and 20 years later, during WW 2, the same family allowed the castle to be used to smuggle out Jews and others fleeing nazi occupation. The demarcation line between German-occupied France and Vichy, France (the remaining state) was the River Cher, so the ability to cross the river and demarcation line in the Chateau was unique and valuable.
That night the four of us had a wistful and reflective dinner, knowing that we will go our separate ways the next morning. Eric and Melinda ride to Tours, return their bikes and take the train to CDG airport where they will fly back to Central Oregon. We continue east. It’s not like we won’t see them - they live across the street from us - but the riding has been really fun with them and we enjoyed the change of pace. It was great seeing new converts to cycle touring experience their first tour.
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