History is written by the survivors. And I am surely that.
 – Queen Catherine de’ Medici, Italian noblewoman, queen of France from 1547 until 1559, by marriage to King Henri II

On the drive from Mont St-Michel to Amboise, we showed Isabella and Jacob pictures of the châteaux of the East side of the Loire Valley and asked them to pick their top two. Jacob picked Amboise and Chambord, while Isabella selected Chenonceau and Cheverny. When we decamped in Amboise, we saw Château Amboise, down the street from our AirBnB house. Today, based on proximity, we paired up Chenonceau and Chambord, which was about an hour’s drive through the leisurely Loire Valley countryside.

Château de Chenonceau
Château de Chenonceau is a 16^th-century Renaissance palace that spans the Cher River – and one of the most-visited châteaux in all of France. We got there mid-morning, after traversing the countryside and stopping for more bales of hay photo opps, and the tourist situation was not bad at all. There were a few buses and tour groups, but nothing like the other big monuments in Paris. We counted ourselves lucky. Like Château d’Amboise, Château de Chenonceau is a grand castle, but Château de Chenonceau took my breath away.

I was taken by the stories of the past owners and occupants of Château de Chenonceau. Thomas Bohier and his wife Katherine Briçonnet tore down the fortified castle and mill belong to the Marques family who owned it before. The Marques tower was all that was left, and Bohier restored it to the current Renaissance style of the 16^th century. The château is built on the piers of the old fortified mill. The Château has been nicknamed “the château of the ladies,” as it was home to many notable women, including the most famous – Catherine de’ Medici, who married King Henri II. In 1547, King Henri II donated Chenonceau to his lady, or mistress, Diane de Poiters, who was known for her beauty, intelligence, and business acumen. Diane, who was a French noblewoman and courtier at the courts of King Henri II and his son, King Frances I, or François I, wielded enormous power in her position. She created spectacular and modern – at the time – gardens. After Henri II’s death, however, Catherine kicked out Diane, banishing her to Château de Chaumont-Sur-Loire, which we visited in the afternoon. Such banishment couldn’t have been all that bad if you think about what she ended up with – it’s not the Château de Chenonceau but it’s still a castle. At any rate, Diane lived an interesting life. Simonne Menier, of the Menier chocolate factory family, was the “last” lady of Château de Chenonceau and matron at the time of WWI. She was in charge of the hospital installed at the château’s two galleries and equipped it at her family’s expnse. More than 2,000 wounded were treated here up until 1918. Simonne also was part of the French Resistance during WWII. How appropriate that she be the last lady of Château de Chenonceau.

Back to the actual château: The rooms are sumptuously decorated with paintings, tapestries, elaborate ceilings, lush wallpaper, and grand furniture. The downstairs kitchens are a chef’s dream, which includes a pantry with fireplace and bread oven, dining room for employees, butchery with hooks to hang game and blocks for chopping, and lots of polished copper pans.

The grounds are so massive, we didn’t get to everything on the property. We appreciated Diane’s Garden and Catherine’s Garden. While we did make our way to the center of the Italian maze, created with 2,000 yews, we didn’t get to the carriage gallery, the 16^th-century farm, the Orangery (tea room), and the vegetable and flower garden, which supplies the beautiful arrangements that adorned many of the rooms in the château.

Amazingly, 10 gardeners grow more than a hundred different varieties of flowers, which two full-time florists source for the interior floral decoration, and more than 400 rose bushes! I was so inspired by the floral arrangements; while David was taking photos of the rooms – the furniture and paintings and wall and ceiling decorations – I was mesmerized by the floral arrangements. I had so many photos that I had to severely curate my flower photos. What a heavenly position to secure as full-time florist for Château de Chenonceau!

This château was a family favorite in the Loire Valley; it was going to be difficult to top this place. After lunch at the restaurant on the grounds, we headed for our next château.

Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire
The Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire is tucked away in the quiet town of Chaumont. The grounds are quite expansive and require a bit of an uphill hike to reach it, but the effort is worth it and the view of the Loire River is spectacular. The château was founded around the year thousand by Odo I. Later, a Norman knight shored up its fortress, but he and his son, who had no heir, passed it on to his great-niece whose family by marriage, the d’Amboise family, retained the château for the next five centuries. In 1465, Louis XI had Chaumont burned to the ground to punish Pierre I d’Amboise over an aristocratic revolt against the king. Once pardoned, Pierre and his son – and later his uncle – began rebuilding the château. In 1550, Catherine de Medici bought the chateau, which was profitable from the toll on the Loire and numerous farming plots. She used Chaumont-sur-Loire as a hunting ground and stopping place when she traveled between Château d’Amboise and Blois. After Diane de Poitiers was given Château de Chaumont after surrendering Château de Chenonceau to Catherine de Medici, Diane continued with Chaumont’s construction – though she rarely stayed there – up until her death in 1566. The château’s current appearance is credited to de Poitiers’ hand in its restoration.

The château survived many owners during the Age of Enlightenment and the Romantic Era. Another interesting, though tragic story: The last private owner, Marie-Charlotte-Constance Say, heir to the Say sugar refineries and princess by marriage to Henri-Amédée de Broglie, implemented many changes to the château, making it grand for receptions for many European and Eastern sovereigns. Through reckless speculation by the director of the Say sugar refineries, the de Broglie family lost a third of its fortunes. After Henri-Amédée’s death, his widow Marie-Charlotte-Constance mismanaged her remaining fortunes, which was further decimated by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Despite marriage to another royal, who was 31 years her junior, Marie-Charlotte-Constance and her husband encountered numerous financial setbacks and were forced to divide up the Domaine de Chaumont. In 1937, the French State launched an expropriation procedure “in the public interest” and took possession of the property in 1938, including the tapestry collection and furniture that the State deemed historical. A national monument, the Domaine became regional in 2007.

The expansive grounds include stables, a model farm, greenhouse, vegetable and children’s garden, gardeners court galleries, bee farm, among other structures and points of interest. The Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire is the “foremost Centre of Art and Nature entirely devoted to the relationship between nature and culture, artistic creation and the impact of landscape, our heritage and contemporary art.” From late March to early November, contemporary art exhibitions and installations are set up in the château, Prés du Goualoup, farmyard, stables, and historic grounds. For the Domain de Chaumont-sur-Loire International Garden Festival, which runs from late April to early November, this year’s theme was Gardens of Thought. The garden festival is “a mecca of garden projects and landscape design” – installations by contemporary artists, photography exhibitions, and gardens of creation. Just walking the length of the gardens would require half a day. We loved exploring the gardens, finding one surprise or treasure after another. One can’t rush through the garden and fully appreciate the beauty of nature and art entwined and the inspiration of these artists. Well, we did rush through it, though we did appreciate the gardens. I would absolutely come back to Chaumont and spend a day here.

We had to rush through the gardens to get back to Amboise in time for Isabella’s horseback riding lesson late in the afternoon. A horseback ride was the request, but a riding lesson was just as appreciated by our horse-loving daughter. David, Jacob, and I were content to hang out and try to avoid the heat of the day while Isabella trotted around with Flo, her French horse.

Exhausted from a very full and warm day, we got lazy and had another dinner at home, which I didn’t mind since our Amboise home was the most inviting abode we’ve had on our vacation.