Chateau Chenonceau

This past weekend I was able to go to a couple places, the first being Chateau Chenonceau located along the Loire Valley in France. It was a beautiful old chateau built in the 16th century by King Henry II of France. While it was beautiful, it was also smaller than what I would expect for a king of France. On the first floor it had what I assume was a parlor of sorts, a dining room and a study. All were beautifully decorated with tapestries and wallpapers of various sorts. I don’t know if those were original to the structure when it was built, but they were still beautiful and preserved very well. One interesting thing I noticed about the tile in the main parlor was that in most of the room it was this simple stone tile, but as you looked towards the edges of the room you could see that it once had a beautiful and intricate motif that was worn away over time. There were two other levels above the first floor filled with bedrooms with beautiful fireplaces and woodwork along with balconies that overlooked the river and the gardens surrounding the chateau. My favorite level, however, was the basement. The way the kitchens were set up and decorated were beautiful with all the old copper pots and pans, the wooden sideboards and curios filled with kitchen utensils and the flowers and dried herbs hanging around the place. In places like this, I often don’t get to see what the kitchens or servants quarters looked like and it was really cool to see. 

The gardens themselves surrounding the estate were also gorgeous. They were smaller than most gardens I’ve seen and definitely not on the grand scale of a place like Versailles but I almost like that more. You could see the design of the garden a lot better and allowed the chateau to be the main focus of the property. The river behind the chateau was also beautiful. While we were there, there was a boat parade of sorts going by. Each boat had a different theme and different boat style to it. Some looked like old pirate ships and some looked like ancient roman vessels. I don’t know if it’s something that happens regularly but it was cool to see and very unexpected. If I’m ever in France again, I would love to just go up and down the Loire Valley to visit the many chateaus that are spread along the river.