Chateaus, Leonardo and the Loire

A new month, and a weekend trip to the Loire valley - specifically to Amboise and Chenonceaux. Above is the Chateau Chenonceau, home to a variety of French noble, but most notably Diana de Poitiers (Henry II's mistress) and later Catherine de Medicis (his wife) - who booted Diana out after Henry died. It was quite a place. Not nearly so big as Versailles and Fontainebleau, but in excellent condition. It was a bit crowded, but still easy to get through it all, and gardens in a few hours.

Deb and I took the train from Paris Austerlitz station to Amboise (near Tours). It wasn't a fast train, but only took a couple hours and didn't stop too often. We learned how to buy our ticket (you must go to an office unless you have a European credit card, in which case you can buy it on line and pay/pick it up at a machine). One of my coworkers knew of an office in the Metro station at Le Defense, so we just walked over and got it. I also learned the website to check out the schedules and tickets (voyages-sncf - all in French). We learned how to figure out which line to find out train on (they only post it about 20 minutes before departure). And, we learned how to validate our tickets (in machines at the train station - although the tickets weren't even checked on our outbound trip). We arrived at Amboise train station and followed Rick Steves guidebook to our hotel (Le Bellevue) just across the Loire. We were able to check in, leave our bag and head for the Travel Info center just down the street. There, we picked up tickets for the chateaus, some walking tours, and instructions to get the bus to Chenonceau.

We had a couple hours before the bus (only 2 a day - next one was around 2pm), so we wandered around Amboise. It is a nice little place with lots of things specifically for tourists (restaurants, shop, pedestrian areas). We had a big salad and pizza under what was once the tower and entrance gate to the city. The streets are narrow with lots of medieval time frame buildings.

After our 20 minute bus ride to Chenonceau (on a big tour-type bus with only about 4 passengers), we walked about a quarter mile to the chateau. I think it was one of the best I've seen. Both inside and out were well preserved. And there is interesting history as it crosses the river Cher, which was the dividing line between Vichy and Nazi France in WWII. It also served as a hospital in WWI. It has working gardens and fresh floral arrangements in all the rooms. You can take a rowboat around the moat. The sun came out and we had some great weather.

The next day, we went to the Royal Chateau of Amboise - home to a number of French kings, including Francois I (who brought Leonardo de Vinci to live nearby). It was quite different from Chenonceau. Where Chenonceau was all fixed up and very glamorous, Amboise was more like a castle, complete with turrets, guardrooms and steep walls. It sits atop a hill above the city and overlooking the Loire valley. I like this one because it was more like a castle. As you walk around the base, there are housed now built right into the wall. There are also a number of doors that must have once lead into the castle. We spent the morning in the Chateau, and then went to Clos Luce - Leonardo's final home. This was ok, but more just touristy. We had a nice Brittany cuisine lunch (crepes and galletes - made from buckwheat) in a restaurant built into the castle wall.

We spent the last hour or so before the train walking around Ile d' Or (Golden Island) which is the only island in the Loire not subject to constant flooding. It isn't much of a golden island, but the sun came out as we walked through a large park on the island. Something that was quite nice in the area was the number of gardens and flowers you saw all over - in little planters along the road, at people's houses, and in the park - perhaps that's the kind of gold they mean!