After leaving Chambord our next destination was the castle at Chenonceau, which is literally built over the Cher River (in French, "cher" means "expensive," it's not just a weird testament to Cher the pop star). The castle was originally built and rebuilt by private owners starting in the 1400's, but by the 16th century the French monarchy had seized the property as compensation for unpaid debts. The castle became scandalous in 1547 when Henri II, King of France, gave it as a gift to his famously beautiful mistress Diane de Poitiers. She was responsible for expanding and improving the castle and its gardens, but after the king's death the queen Catherine de Medici jealously reclaimed the property, adding her own improvements in the process. Today the castle is owned by the Meniers, a family of chocolatiers who chose to list it as a historical monument and maintain the buildings and grounds as a tourist attraction. After seeing the castle I can only imagine how much chocolate they must sell to be able to buy a property like that...
This photo is a little bit difficult to see, but as part of the grounds there's a giant outdoor maze made of neatly tended hedges. It kind of felt like we were in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, except no one died at the end.
Path leading up to the castle...
The castle itself is guarded by two of these sphinxes, it was an interesting aesthetic choice.
First full view of the castle!
These gorgeous vaulted ceilings are the first thing you see upon entering the castle.
I wish I had a fireplace this elaborate in my house.
Even the doors are intricately decorated.
I have no idea what this piece of furniture is even supposed to be, but it's gorgeous.
Ditto with this one... is it a dresser?
Downstairs are the kitchens! This giant stove has a basket of apples inside to show how big it is.
Kitchen table where the staff would eat (again, looks just like Downton Abbey).
My mom would be very impressed by this collection of cooking pots.
This is the main gallery on the first floor. Windows on both sides look out directly onto the river.
View from one of the windows.
Another gorgeous fireplace.
Stained glass windows in the chapel (which, again, is just a room built directly in the castle).
More chapel images.
Yet another fireplace.
Exterior image of how the river flows directly through the castle.
Ceiling fresco in one of the rooms, a lot of the rooms either have a mural painted on them or they have beautifully painted beams like the second photo below.
This tower sits off to the side of the main building.
This is what the gardens look like from the balcony of the castle - this garden is on one side of the castle...
...and this garden is on the other side.
More randomly beautiful wall paneling.
This is what all the castle's staircases look like (with the exception of the plain stone one going down to the kitchen and servant's quarters, of course).
Two main doors to the castle's tour.
These giant flower pots are all over the gardens.
Images of the gardens.
This adorable little house is set into the garden, I got the feeling that it's just a glorified garden shed.
Wine cellar!
More garden pictures.
The castle also has a little farm for tourists, these donkeys were very happy to say hello.
After visiting Chambord we went to a vineyard for a wine tasting. The cheerful owner gave us a taste of at least 5 different red wines, all of which more or less tasted the same to me. The vineyard was beautiful though.
The vineyard has its own giant cave full of barrels and bottles of wine.
The sun was just setting as we left, it was absolutely gorgeous.
And that pretty much sums up what I did on Saturday! More pictures/stories to come.
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