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Published: August 19th 2007
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Chateau Chenonceau
You can feel the history of this place. TOURS - 3rd May 2007 (Thursday 26º Sunny)
Up and at em - for today we go to Chenonceau!
But first we seek out somewhere for brekky for I am not inclined to provide the Hotel Turone with one more cent of my hard earned. We find small local café where they dish up two wonderful 3-egg omelettes with the type of aromatic coffee that smells good enough to drag tea drinkers in off the street.
We navigate our way 17 kilometres out of town to visit one of the many chateau that are sprinkled liberally throughout the Loire Valley. We arrive and after buying our tickets we walk a half kilometre along the driveway. It is easy to imagine elaborate horse drawn carriages (having made the trip from Paris in a week - it took us two or three hours) trundling up this drive towards the Chateau. These carriages and coaches would be full of Aristocrats, powdered and wigged to within an inch of their lives, and they would be here for a Ball or a month long retreat from the rigours of Parisian City life.
Built on the river Cher, the unique beauty of Chateau
Chateau Chenonceau
Ma cherie in the grounds of Chenonceau. Chenonceau’s architecture is reflected in the river’s clear waters. Also known as Château des Dames, Chenonceau owes a large part of its charm to women: it was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, then made even more attractive by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis, and saved from the rigours of the French Revolution by Mrs Dupin.
It is breathtakingly beautiful (see photos) from the outside and beautiful restored and maintained on the inside. You can almost smell the roast boar cooking in the kitchen and the lutes playing in the drawing rooms.
After several hours enjoying the Chateau and surrounds we head back to Tours and check into our new Hotel (Best Western).
Once that is sorted it is beer o’clock.
We wander down to the old part of Tours and hang out in a student bar for an hour and marvel at the insouciance of the French youngsters. After these life saving refreshments we walk on and discover an action packed square that is bordered on all sides by restaurants and in the middle is (what looks like) the biggest beer garden I have ever seen. It is choc-a-bloc of people drinking and laughing
Chateau Chenonceau
It was Sunny on the River Cher! Tee hee. and we pick a restaurant not too far away in a lively little street.
The restaurant is called Le Picrocole and the owner teaches me to say “As full as a butchers dog” in French. He loves Aussies and tells us of the time he worked with some Australians on a Film in France and how they taught him to sing “Whale Meat Again” to the tune of We’ll Meet Again.
After dinner it’s home to bed. It is not getting dark until 10:00pm and rarely do we hit the sack before 11:30pm or Midnight.
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Chenonceau
Chenonceau was also involved in teh smuggling of Resistance fighters across the river during WW2. Forget the details but it was all very exciting stuff.