The next morning we woke up and got moving very early (for our standards) to eat, finish getting ready (I always go to breakfast with bed-hair, no matter where we are), and get on the road. I made sure to tell Ahmee and Poppy something that did not surprise them: that this was one of my favorite Chateaus. My Momma loves coffee table books and has acquired a collection that has fed my mind for years with dreams and ideas. I'd seen this Chateau in one of those books. Actually, it was in two books (I think, I'm not sure). One was a garden book that Ahmee had gifted to me, and the other was a castle book that Momma had bought at Barnes n Noble (could spend years in that store and still not have enough). From both of these books I already knew what the Chateau looked like, and that it was famous for the feminine hands who had worked their magic on the history of the Chateau. While on the road I did not look out the window, I read the pamphlet.
In the pamphlet I learned about the two most famous women who had a huge effect on the Chateau: Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici. This was after I read that the Chateau was originally a mill-the builder created it as his home and made it so beautiful that when he died and the estate passed to his son and then the king: Francois I decided he wanted the Chateau and so imposed a huge tax on the inheritance so that the son had to hand it over).
Diane De Poitiers was Henry II's mistress who was given Chateau Chenonceaux as a gift (course he didn't outright give it because she was his favorite, he gave it to her husband for his services to the crown). She took over the running of the Chateau though and she was incredibly gifted at it, making sure that the Chateau produced it's own income and managing it so well that she was able to add on gardens and fountains and make the Chateau even more beautiful. Diane De Poitiers Emblam is the triple interlinked crescents...
Catherine de Medici (who obviously knew that Diane was her rival) forced Diane out of the Chateau and had her move to another one. Catherine then took on the role of the manager of Chateau Chenonceaux, just to prove that she was better than Diane. When Catherine came in she added another (smaller more "intimate") garden, more fountains, added on to the Chateaux, made vast improvements to the interior, AND held many events at the Chateau so she could show off all her accomplishments. 
Some other famous women who lived there were: Mary Queen of Scots (married Catherine de Medici's son Francis II and only stayed there for a short time), and Louise Marie Madeline Fontaine Dupin who is the woman who's credited for saving Chateau Chenonceax from the Revolutionaries due to her kindness and generosity. Quite funny really because I think that this woman was perhaps the most intelligent out of all the women I've mentioned so far. She never made a grab for the throne, the was perfectly happy with her Chateau, and she invited soooo many intelligent people to the Chateau. She surrounded herself with philosophers of her time and that gives her a huge plus in my book. All of the women I've mentioned so far though were incredibly sharp individuals.
After reading through the pamphlet once I put it aside (by the way what I've written so far is not even close to all of the pamphlet) to watch a bit of the countryside as we pulled into the Chateaus parking lot. First step out of the car greeted us with muddy shoes and a slight drizzle of rain. We've gotten quite used to this though and it didn't slow us down as we walked down the alley of trees towards the Chateau, stopping just once to go through a super-easy maze (where two boys were having an excellent time racing each other). Once we reached the cluster of buildings (has a farm, a museum, two restaurants, and a restroom in front of Catherine's garden)
Ahmee and I agreed that we needed to run to the restroom. We were greeted by one of the first signs that this Chateau is still very well loved. The restroom was clean, had seats on the toilet bowls, looked really nice (had marble tiles on the walls and counter top), AND we didn't have to pay to use it. Another tell-tale sign greeted us when we left the restroom to head back towards the Chateau.
The gardens were very, very, very well maintained. There were gardeners out raking the few leaves that had fallen the night before, there were gardeners out pulling leaves out of the roses that were growing along the stone walls, and there were gardeners out moving things to the compost. The first thing we saw of the gardens were these gardeners who were busy raking, and then just behind them the flawless, green carpet of grass. This wasn't even Diane's garden or Catherine de Medici's garden and it was well looked after. It really impressed me.
We walked over the bridge, crossing over the moat, and up to the main gate of the Chateau Chenonceaux. Once inside we pulled out our pamphlets to walk through the rooms and see the sights. There weren't too many rooms, and I never got tired of looking around in them. I was thoroughly interested in each room (except for the room dedicated to the White Queen-mourning her husbands death-that was just depressing). We first passed from the main hallway into the guards room where the amount of finery was really displayed to me. Guards rooms that I've seen so far have been fairly plain. The guards of the prestigious people were often given rooms that were fairly devoid of decoration. This room was not so.
You could see Catherine de Medici's influence on the ceiling (where her crossed C's were carved in) and on the floor where if you looked closely (they did not mention this in the guidebooks-I just saw it) there were ceramic blue and yellow tiles. The guards didn't just get heat, they got a fancy fireplace, a fancy ceiling, a REALLY nice floor, and a good spot to sleep-right next to the chapel. Within this room many many people were crowded. Why? Well, not only did people stop to warm themselves by the blazing fire, they also jumped in line to get an audio guide. Yet another sign that the Chateau was well loved was the audio guides they offered. They were ipods. I decided I'd stick with my pamphlet because: 1) I didn't want to wait in line when I could be looking around, and 2) I suspected that those things were expensive.
We moved on to the next room. This room was the chapel. My favorite part of this chapel was the graffiti. Some of you might raise an eyebrow at and scratch your head. I'll relieve you of your puzzling now: the Scottish Guardsmen who Mary Stuart brought with her when she stayed (for a short period) at the Chateau decided to scratch their names and two phrases into the stone entryway of the chapel. I laughed when I read that in my pamphlet that the Scotsmen had defaced the cute wee chapel of Chenonceaux. I laughed even more when the people who had their ears hooked up to their ipods didn't even notice the glass-protected graffiti.
The room after the cathedral was Diane's bedroom. I found this to be quite interesting. It wasn't the size of her bed or the paintings that she had around her room that really interested me (even though I did enjoy admiring them along with the view of the river). What interested me was the decoration of the fireplace and the ceiling. This time there were H's and crossed C's. These stood for Henry II and Catherine de Medici (obviously), but what I found almost comical was the letter that was formed when you put the two symbols together. When you put the crossed C over the letter H you end up with a D. Diane was "paying tribute to her Queen and King" but also at the same time putting the subtle influence that she had. It was a threesome reign (tis why Catherine felt the need to assert herself).
Connected to Diane's room was the green study, or the room that Catherine de Medici used as her office. From that room she ruled over France. In THIS room I enjoyed looking at the personalized ceilings (intertwined C's again- jeez), at the desk, and at what she had hanging on her walls. She had a tapestry in there that had huge amounts of blue and all kinds of "foreign" vegetation and animal life that had been discovered in the Americas. This tapestry was interesting because of unusual blue there. Blue doesn't stand up very long, and Ahmee and I found it interesting that this blue was not the original color of the fabric. The original color had been green. The other paintings I didn't look long at before heading into Catherine's library. This room was tiny! The only things in this room were a rough-looking desk, a bouquet (OH I forgot to tell you, each room had a bouquet and we never saw the same bouquet twice), and lots of people who were shuffling their feet as they looked at the Italian ceiling (nice change from the intertwined C's) and out the three windows that gave a spectacular view of three things: the river, the Chateau, and Diane's garden. I think I know why Catherine de Medici didn't put much emphasis on this room: it had a wonderful view of her rivals garden!
After this room we moved back into the central hallway and then into the ballroom. This ballroom is the part that most people would recognize: it's the section of the Chateau that jets out over the river. Under Diane this was simply a bridge, whereas under Catherine de Medici it became a fancy ballroom. Later on during the two World Wars the Chateau was used as a hospital. They had a picture up within the Chateau of the heater that had been placed in the middle of the ballroom floor and the beds filled with the wounded and sick lining the walls. Another interesting tidbit about this room was that the Chateau was used by some to get out of the occupied zone. They'd pass through the front doors (occupied zone), walk down the hallway, walk through the ballroom, and then walk through the doors and out to the other side where they crossed the river and where out of the occupied zone.
Clever people didn't even have to dodge a bullet, just had to walk through a hospital. Nowadays when you visit the Chateau you'll find marble plaques that Catherine de Medici had put up (she's the one who put up this entire wing so I suppose I shouldn't even bother saying that), black and white checkered flooring, and loads of windows that'll give you excellent views out both sides of the Chateau. Our pamphlet said that over 60 people would come to balls to dance and be merry, and within this long, thin room I was quite able to see it happening. Fancy dresses in motion, amazing hair styles being paraded around the room, gentleman chatting and dancing with the lady's, musician's stationed in the nooks where the windows were, and at the ends of the hall there were servants stationed for beverages and food (and to announce a newcoming person of course). I wonder if Catherine de Medici had any masked balls. I'm sure that if she did she made sure to get herself a mask that displayed quite clearly who she was.
After waltzing in the ballroom we went *gasp* out of order. Ahmee had to use the toilet again and dashed outside while Poppy and I got a looksee around another bedroom. I don't remember exactly who this bedroom was for... I've got a feeling it was for a King, unfortunately there where so many that played a role in Chenonceaux that I can't retrieve his name. Ah well, what was really cool about this room was the paintings. Yes, I actually do remember the paintings. Why? Because it showed the women (must sound pretty feminist right now, but come-on it's the Lady's Chateau).
(not the same painting but close as I could google) There was a painting of Henry II's, Diane as Diana the Huntress. My opinion: she was a wimpy Huntress. Another harsh opinion: she really looked like the court slut of the day. Her clothes are all breezy and wispy so that you catch a glimpse of body parts that are covered up, from her knees down you could see flesh (even the "undignified" feet; I wondered to myself just how scandalous it was for her to display her knees at that time), and her body language looked more like that of a sexy woman who's lounging on her bed waiting to have sex (rather than that of the Goddess of the Hunt). The only indicators I saw that she was Diana the Huntress were: the half moon on top of her head, the arrows that were on her back, and the antlers that she was standing next to. Children were sitting within these antlers (I have no idea what they were doing there-maybe suggesting she'd give birth to more heirs than Catherine de Medici would), and the arrows that were strapped to her back (by a flowing piece of blue cloth that was fluttering in the breeze) weren't accompanied by a bow AT ALL in the painting. The only part I liked about the painting was Diane's face. Her eyes showed just how intelligent she was (had quite a lot of intelligence there), and they were looking directly out giving off the REAL impression of the Diana. Now there was another painting of a woman in that room that was of a Diana, this one I liked 100 times more than Diane's painting. She was fully clothed, had on practical clothing that still managed to emphasis her figure and her good tastes, had both the arrows AND the bow (and didn't have the arrows attached by some flimsy piece of cloth-instead a red leather strap was used), she had the same intelligent eyes (that weren't staring you down quite as much as Dianes were even though this woman's painting was done at a full-front picture), and (the cherry on top) she had curly hair like Emma's.
When Ahmee came back in from the restroom we went back into this room where I then took an interest in the three graces. They were sisters and they were favorites of a certain king. No surprise that these women were put up in this mans room and right next to his bed.
After looking around this room we went into the next room which was the living room. Both of these rooms had incredible fireplaces and wonderfully red walls. In this room I spent most of my time looking at the face of Louise Dupin, the smart, generous, and caring woman who saved the Chateau and it's furniture from the raging people. Her portrait did not have her all dolled up like a goddess, in fact, her portrait didn't display her body at all. It was only a head shot and one where the viewer got her full face (you know that theory that one side of your face is better looking than the other side? yeah, well this woman had two good sides and she used them). She had intelligent eyes, but the incredible thing was that she was smiling. The corners of her mouth were turned up slightly, she had on a Mona Lisa smile but was WAY prettier than the Mona Lisa. I decided that I liked this woman more than Catherine de Medici or Diane De Poitiers.
We went downstairs to the kitchen/dining hall for the servants and got to see how it worked. It's surprising to see sometimes just how little we really have changed. These rooms were stifling though because there were tons of people moving around in a tight space. I was glad to get out of there, even though we were leaving some of the best bouquets behind.
After this we went upstairs. The staircase was noted in the pamphlet because it was not a spiral staircase. France is known for it's spiral staircases and this was one of the first examples of the strait staircase (not really-just in the fancy houses of the court it was fairly uncommon). On the first floor (in Europe you have the ground floor= floor zero and then what we'd call the 2nd floor is the 1st floor) we went into the 5 queens bedroom. I only know one of the 5 queens who slept in that bed: Mary Queen of Scots, I think that also the Queen of Spain slept in that bed (I'm sitting here beating my head in because I'm forgetting the names and they were just there). Anyway. All of the women who slept in that bed were either Catherine de Medici's daughters or were her daughters in law. It was great seeing the "learning to love" painting in this room where the queens had had their marriages arranged for by their parents/guardians. Another really nice thing in this room was the ceiling where the 5 coats of arms were plastered up.
The room immediately after that was Catherine de Medici's room. All of the walls in this room were covered in tapestries, and her bed had (a surprisingly low) canopy with lovely curtains. The ceiling had Catherine de Medici's characteristic entwined C's AND the Medici family symbol (which we'd seen when we were in Florence).
After this room we went up one more floor and looked around the room of the White Queen who spent the rest of her life mourning her dead husband the king, and also praying to God. Funnily enough the man who assassinated the King was a priest.
Of course, after going through all these rooms and seeing all these things we were ready to get out in the fresh air. We decided to head over to Catherine de Medici's garden first. Since it's November there weren't any flowers in bloom. We got to look at the roses that were about to bloom (I'm not a rose person, don't ask me when they're supposed to bloom), at the layout of the garden, and at the colorful orange and yellow leaves from the trees that were a wonderful background for the green of the garden.
We then headed over to Diane's garden which was only larger, had less color (in the pictures), and had a fountain that sprayed those who walked too close too it (the wind was doing it, not the fountain). We walked around the top levee that protected the garden from the river and got to see the layout of it and several very nice views of the garden and the Chateau. I think it won't come as a surprise when you all hear that I grabbed the camera at that point. Something I think I should note: gardens are meant for thinking. You walk through a garden and can think about philosophical things, can think about artsy things, etc.. Really you can think about anything and everything when alone in a garden. Gardens are also wonderful places to have parties-if you like the people who attend. I love the bog party that Mr. and Mrs. Barlow always had when they lived on Garritt street. I also loved how my neighbors, the Bennetts and Jobes would sit out in their yards and talk. Sometimes the Jobes would walk over to the Bennetts and they'd sit on the patio out there where they'd immerse themselves in conversation and relax in the garden.
After looking at the gardens we went into the Orangerie , a fancy restaurant where we got to sit down and take our time eating (rather than go to the packed self-service area). I decided I was going to order French sausages and hope that I wouldn't get the same nasty stuff I'd gotten before. I was disappointed. I got the same thing as before. I ate half of this sausage (with a bit more ease because the sauce tasted good) before I got to the point where I felt I was going to throw it all up and then I turned to the rest of my food. As I ate we decided that I was eating chitlins (pig intestines), and that this way of cooking chitlins was too dignified (they taste better fried and salted like potato chips). Poppy stated that the sausage was simply different, not bad. I have to say that while yes it was different, it was different in BAD way for me. I've eaten things that were vvvvvery different from the average meal and I've liked them. An example: moon cakes, and another example: aligator meat.
I ate a desert that made up for the nasty sausage and then we walked through the farm and the muddy garden there before heading out to the car to drive back to Amboise. Once back we went to the room where I typed like a mad person until it was time for us to go find a restaurant that we'd seen when walking through the back ally's. It didn't take Poppy long to find it, it took us a long time to eat our dinner because I was a chatter box, and it felt like it took forever to walk back to the hotel because I was really tired and cold. It did not take long for me to fall asleep that night.
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