Day 77: Chenonceau to Tours

October 6, 2015

Our hotel, and the other three or four that make up a lot of Chenonceau town, was located just a few hundred meters from the chateau entrance. So we left our stuff there and made our way straight to the ticket office at the gate. We were a little early, and were the first ones there. That did not stop a pair of rude Asian ladies from pushing in front when the doors opened. We are a bit torn by things like that. On the one hand, we can not change cultural practices that involve whole countries. On the other hand, it could be satisfying to ream somebody out. Being Canadian, of course, we said nothing.

Chenonceau has a wonderful setting, even more so than Chambord. It is on the bank of the Cher River, and as I will explain shortly, is actually built over the river. The river setting goes along with formal gardens and an on site vegetable and flowers farm. The flowers are used to put huge bouquets in each room daily, something that really set the tone of a beautiful country place.

Chenonceau has a fascinating history, and it is easy to get lost in the details. But basically, it was built about 1517, and was part of the Renaissance coming to France. Its timing is similar to that of Chambord, but while Francis I (of Chambord, Amboise, and Clos Lucy fame) was there, it was his son, Henry II who really kicked off its "modern" history.

The tower in the foreground is from the castle that was here before the chateau was built.

The salamander symbol of Francois I, on the front door

The history, though, is not really about men, like Francis and Henry, but is about six women, who owned or influenced the chateau from the 1500's to the 20th century (not including Katherine Briconnet who actually first built the palace with her husband.) It is the first three of these whose story is most associated with the chateau. Here are their potted stories:

Diane de Poiters, was the mistress of Henry II. She got Henry to give her Chenonceau and not only created large formal gardens, but also extended the castle that was on the shore of the river to include a bridge over the river. This long structure is the most distinctive feature of Chenonceau.

Catherine de Medici was the actual wife of Henry II. When Henry died, she gave Diane the boot and took over at Chenonceau. While Diane might have been the more artistic one, Catherine was more political. She installed a two floored gallery on the part over the river, making space for the court to be more in attendance, and was known for big parties. However she also created her own formal garden, one which we found to be the more attractive of the two.

Louise of Lorraine, was the wife of Henry III. When he died, in 1589, she withdrew to Chenonceau and went into an extended period of mourning. Her bedroom was so dark and black that I could not even take a photo of it (and didn't want to). The death of Louise marked the end of royal ownership of Chenonceau, which then moved to being owned by ordinary very rich people.

The last of these very rich people was the sixth lady of Chenonceau - Simone Menier (1881-1972). With Simone there was an entirely different kind of chapter in the chateau history. Just as we saw on TV with Downton Abbey, Chenonceau was turned into a military hospital during WW I under the ownership of Simone and her husband, who owned a big chocolate factory. Simone was in charge of the hospital.

Then in WWII, the Cher formed part of the Line of Demarkation, which separated occupied France from Vichy France. Because the chateau spanned the river, it was in a special position. Despite frequent patrols from the German side, resistance fighters were able to pass back and forth through the chateau. The Germans were ready to destroy the place, but did not. Again, Simone Menier played an important role during the second war as well.

The rooms of the chateau are all furnished, though not exactly completely. Still there is enough to get a fair idea of what it might have been like to live there in the 16th century. The bedrooms made the biggest impression on us, in part because of seeing how short the beds were. These were not really tall people!

Here is a selection of the bedroom scenes. They are all basically ladies rooms. Violet, Amelia, Evelyn - which bed would you choose?

Another interesting space was the long gallery over the river. This was presumably a ball room or dining room. Of course, it's fun to speculate on how we would use the rooms should we happen to buy this house. Clearly, the gallery would be good for grandkid's cycling practice!

The long gallery from the outside - the most distinctive feature of Chenonceau

The kitchen was in the basement, together with a staff dining room - that again was very reminiscent of the one in Downton Abbey. Dodie very perceptively pointed out that the massive iron stove could not have been a 16th century item, and indeed we later read that it was installed during the hospital days. A boilerplate on it said it was made in Tours.

The veggies here are fresh - a benefit of the still operating gardens

Here are some other shots - from a few other interior rooms:

Most rooms are hung with tapestries like this. Most are very large.

The tiles have been worn away, but you can still see what it was in the corners

a gift from Louis VIV - a portrait of ... him! (Modest guy)

Flowers in all rooms added a great touch

Back outside the castle, we strolled the grounds a bit, past Catherine's garden and the operating vegetable and flower plots. There was a mockup of the appearance during WW I, and also a display of general carts and carriages (not royal ones, though). Finally there was the donkey farm, which for some reason seems to be a part of chateaus hereabouts.

An original photo from WW I when the gallery was used as a hospital

Overall impression: I was very taken with the flowers and the views to outside from the elegant inside. Dodie, was more affected by the thought of the greed and waste of the people who had occupied the estate, and she was thinking that the Revolution was inevitable and a darn good thing. We both agreed, though, that the crepes from the onsite snack bar were yummy. (Even today, in 2015, we were too poor to dine in either of the real restaurants that operate here.)

Oh yes, the giftshop: Lots of good books about chateaux, kids' prince and princess stuff. Really fun.

Since it had started to rain sporadically we were pleased to note that Amboise is only about 15 km from Chenonceau. We took a fairly direct D road, which was not too busy until we got close to town. Then we diverted to a quieter road, which in fact passed right by Clos Luce which is the small chateau where Leonard da Vinci lived his last years. It is very close to the massive Amboise chateau, which is by the river. We did not actually see Clos Luce this time, even from outside, as it is well surrounded by stone walls. With this one, and Amboise Chateau too, we were taking the position that we had already visited our chateau for the day.

In fact we only took a fleeting partial look at Amboise chateau and town, before striking off down the Loire, in the direction of Tours. Amboise town did seem rather nice, with a lively cafe/restaurant scene near the chateaux.

a peek at Amboise - this shot taken from near Clos Luce

We were quickly back to the slightly boring cycle by the river routine, only enlivened by the rather strong headwind and frequent rain showers. Boring got replaced by a bit of terrifying as we declined to head up into the vines, east of Montlouis, and continued on the D road by the river. Traffic increased on this road, to the point that it would have been better not to be there. This was made worse by the appearance of a concrete wall to our right, meaning that we were really trapped on the roadway. When Dodie's pedal decided to fall off again, this did become just a bit of a problem. Fortunately it went back on quickly, but we still do not really know why it keeps doing this and the side of a busy road was not the place to try to figure it out.

Montlouis is a wine town, with numerous actual caves, cut into a ridge that runs along the river. The D road we were on was running by the river, and to our left were the caves, cut in to the ridge. The town, and presumably the safer roads, were up on the ridge.

At Montlouis there are lots of caves cut into the ridge

When we got to a tourist information, we stopped in to ask about places to stay in Montlouis. They had some, but they were up the hill. Dodie declared she would rather cycle another hour on the flat, than climb to the town. So, we proceeded to Tours (fortunately off the busy road by now). Booking.com had found us the Hotel Moderne (49 euros) basically in the centre of Tours.

Since Montlouis we had been on a cycleway, and it led us right into town and to the cathedral. It was surprisingly quick and easy to reach this central point. On the other hand, the cathedral seems very strangely to stand in all its former glory in the middle of sort of nowhere - with just normal buildings around it. It does not hold a place of honour in a massive square, with the mairie, bakeries, restaurants, and banks all around.

Still, the cathedral is doing its part. It has the requisite arched entrance, with a crazy number of carved figures all around the arch. And inside it is extremely tall and long, with beautiful stained glass. Begun in the 4th century, this is a really old place, though there no doubt has been considerable modification and additions over the years. A recent stained glass project, for instance, brought some very nice colour to the transept.

As with the Milan cathedral, a lot of the interesting bits of this building are on the outside. I noted just a few aspects of the amazingly intricate carving:

The cathedrale has the proper insane number of carvings around the door

Detail of carving on the outside of Tours cathedral

The outside of the rose window is very intricate

At the Hotel Moderne, the room we had booked was listed at 10 squre meters, and I was interested to see if we really would be able to walk around the bed. But the young man at the desk seemed really intrigued with the fact that we were from Canada, mentioning Toronto and Montreal. When we told him we were from near Vancouver he was really impressed, and asked if we had cariboo near our place. We had to disappoint him, though we have deer, and have at least seen bear and elk on our land, however briefly.

No matter, the young man assured us we would find our room as big as in North America, and he was true to his word. He also brought us up coffee and hot chocolate. Terrific. And guess what - our room has the same bathtub as we had last night. I am going to go practice getting in, and hopefully out!

Tours is a big town - with some wide streets and trolley cars

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 3,749 km (2,328 miles)

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