Visiting Chenonceau Château
with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Our
little wedding party headed out to Chenonceau Château to see the castle with
three arches spanning over the Cher River (a tributary of the Loire River) with
Italian gardens for strolling.
The
château at Chenonceau merited a voyage all by itself as the Michelin Guide described
it. The masses of tour buses there
reminded me of Disneyland. We found
parking spaces at the way outer edges of tour bus territory. They can block you in, if you are not
careful.
The
attractive setting of Chenonceau made it a favorite of kings’ mistresses and
wives, who often fought over it with their fingernails flying.
Thomas
Bohier, a finance minister under Charles XIII, Louis XII, and Francis the
First, built the château between 1513 and 1521.
Bohier
died in 1524, but the financial sins of the father passed on to his son
Antoine. Scrutiny of Thomas’s tax accounts
revealed that he owed large sums to the royal treasury. To pay this debt, Antoine Bohier gave
Chenonceau to Francis the First.
When
Henri II ascended to the throne in 1547, he gave Chenonceau to his mistress
Diane de Poitiers. Twenty years older
than Henri, Diane used her beauty and managerial talent to marginalize the
queen, Catherine de Medici (who really was not ugly or naïve – clue – Medici surname).
Henri
even went so far as to decorate several of his châteaux with a composed “H” and
“C” monogram that really looked like an “H’ and “D” together.
When
Henri II was killed by a lance at a tournament in 1559, the regency and revenge
of Catherine de Medici began. Catherine
knew that Diane loved Chenonceau and made Diane give it to her despite the fact
that Diane owned it. (This is what life
is like under tyranny sometimes. Vive la France Royal.)
Other
women owned Chenonceau, but none matched Diane and Catherine for their parties
and glamour. Catherine even had mini
Naval battles on the Cher while guests nibbled hors d’oeuvres and drank
cocktails in the gardens.
(Crémant de Saumur probably even reminded Catherine de Medici of Asti Spumante from what is now the Piedmont region of Italy. Asti Spumante is a lightly carbonated, sweet white wine from the region next to Tours. The people in the Touraine like this wine with pork products like rilletes spead on toast and rillons pork belly cubes or slices.)
(Crémant de Saumur probably even reminded Catherine de Medici of Asti Spumante from what is now the Piedmont region of Italy. Asti Spumante is a lightly carbonated, sweet white wine from the region next to Tours. The people in the Touraine like this wine with pork products like rilletes spead on toast and rillons pork belly cubes or slices.)
“Is
it always crowded like this?” I asked Laurent.
“No. The French like this château for more than
its beauty. Did you know that the Cher
River here was the dividing line between Free France and German-occupied France
during World War II?” Laurent asked.
“No,
but that makes this château even more interesting,” I said.
That
kind of information is important to know, because wars determine which language
you will speak, what kind of legal system your country will have, what kind of
money you will use, what kind of water you will drink, and what languages
children will have to speak and learn subjects in at school.
When
Germany occupied France during several wars, French children had to learn all
their subjects in German.
So,
the French still want people to speak French even though they are probably
fluent in Italian (especially in the Touraine), Spanish, and German. (The Germans have slow, steady highly reliable
financial products. Clue – utilities and
railroads in Monopoly).
Enough
of exploring the land of Valois castles for today!
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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