2018 Spring in Europe: And Now the Rest of the Story

The following day, our destination was the beautiful chateau of Chenonceaux. The photos of it are very famous and are often in French travel posters. The history of the chateau's history is interesting.

In 1535, it was seized by King Francis I of France for unpaid debts to the Crown; after Francis' death in 1547, Henry II offered the château as a gift to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, while married to Catherine de Medici. Diane became fervently attached to the château and was the unquestioned mistress of it even though its ownership remained with the crown. After King Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed widow and regent Catherine de Medici forced Diane to exchange Chenonceaux for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then made Chenonceaux her own favorite residence adding a new series of gardens. So, that is how the two women ended up living in each other's chateaux. I somehow think there was no love lost between Catherine (who looks very dour in her portraits - not a a women to be taken lightly - while Diane looks quite lovely. One time I took a tour here it was pointed out that the initials D and H, which were intertwined in medallions and other decorations around the castle while Diane lived there, were immediately changed to C and H (by removing the straight side of the D) by Catherine when she took possession of it. Love hath no fury like a woman scorned as has been said!

We took some lovely photos of the exteriors and interiors of the building but it wasn't until later that i realized the best photo of the chateau needs to be taken on the other side of the Cher river which the chateau spans. I am just not sure how you get there though.