Today was an amazing day and I am not sure that our pictures will do it justice. We took a small mini-Van tour with 5 other folks and a gracious French woman driver. She drove us around the French countryside and narrated the many sights we passed. There are more than 300 chateaus in the Loire Valley, we visited three of them; Chenonceau, Cheverny and Chambord. Each had its own style, history and lovely gardens.
Cheverny 
Chenonceau 
Chambord
Chenonceau
Our first stop was about a 20 minutes from Amboise. It’s construction began in the mid 1400’s and had sections added to it through the mid 1500’s. It’s called the Ladies Chateau because in 1547, it was given to Diane, King Henri II’s mistress. When the king passed away in 1559 his wife Queen Catherine de Medici moved in and removed Diane. She added an Italian flair to it. She built the Gallery in honor of her son King Henry III and on the outside it was meant to replicate the Ponte de Vecchio bridge in Florence. It’s filled with beautiful tapestries and furnishings from the renaissance period, and every room had beautiful flower arrangements, which are changed out every season. There are two gardens on either side – Diane’s Garden and Catherine’s Garden. Both had a different feel and elegance to them. The chateau is now privately owned but remains open for tourists.
The Gallery 
Basement Kitchen 
Basement Kitchen 
Basement Kitchen 
Diane’s Garden 
Catherine’s Garden 
Catheine’s Garden 
Catherine’s Garden 
Diane’s Garden 
Cheverny
Forty minutes away was our second stop. This chateau is also privately owned and it’s been in the same family for six centuries, beginning in early 1500’s. It’s the smallest one we visited but still grand in architecture and grounds. The largest room in the castle was the Arms Room, which was filled with old suits of armor, swords and weapons from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Half of the chateau is closed off to visitors because the owners still reside there. The interior rooms were all decorated for Easter and the gardens had thousands of tulips and other spring flowers blooming. One great treat was, it’s owners have owned hunting dogs, French Hounds, for generations. There are still almost 100 dogs that they own housed in the kennels today, which we were able to see.
The Arms Room 
The Arms Room 
The Arms Room 
Kennels 
French Hound Dogs 
French Hound Dogs 
Chambord
The largest chateau we saw today was Chambord. The château has 440 rooms, 282 fireplaces, and 84 staircases. It’s on 13,000 acres of land surrounded by a wall which is 13 miles around. King Francis I had a vision for a castle – Chambord. Built in the Renaissance style with the Kings symbols everywhere the “F” and the salamander, it was enormous to say the least. He even asked Leonardo da Vinci to come and help him design aspects of it. One thing Leonardo designed was the double helix staircase. Located in the center of the castle it has two separate flights of stairs which go around, three flights up. In the middle it’s hollow with little windows. If two people begin at the same time going up each staircase they will never meet up but can see each other through the windows. It was extraordinary and amazing tomthing how it was built 500 years ago. Unfortunately Leonardo passed away in 1519, the same year construction began on the castle, so he never saw any elements of his ideas. King Louis XVI also used it as his hunting lodge and had stables built which could house 1200 horses. Today it’s owned by the French government and the surrounding lands are a protected park. The animals that we’re hunted 500 years ago still live there today, deer, boar and pheasant. It was a masterpiece to say the least. FUN FACT: The famous raspberry liquor, Chambord was first produced in the township of Chambord and presented to King Louis XIV when he came to visit. It is still being produced there and shipped worldwide. That’s why the bottle has a gold crown on the top of it, it was a drink of the kings.
The kitchen 
The kitchen 
The kitchen 
The salamanders, not any two are the same design 
One entrance of the double helix staircase 
The front entrance view from top terraces 
Back gardens 
Back gardens 
