It was a slightly chilly, sunny morning with some low cumulus
clouds forming early from yesterday’s precipitation. I could easily walk to the château and tried
to arrive around its opening time at 9:30 am.
The long "entrance boulevard" (driveway just doesn't sound right for a chateau).
Almost there...
One of the welcoming sphinxes with buildings like for support staff in the past.
The Château de
Chenonceau was built in 1514-1522 on the foundations of an old mill. Later a bridge was constructed to span the
river Cher and subsequently
a long gallery was built on the bridge.
In this context, we’re not talking a gallery like a room that displays
artwork, but a long narrow room, often with a high ceiling that were popular in
Elizabethan and Jacobean houses.
Another outbuilding. To the right is one of the gardens and a moat from the river ran around part of it.
The main entrance to the château.
The medieval keep near the entrance.
A smaller garden on the other side of the château.
Of course a château needs a chapel.
The first bedroom on the main floor.
The bridge with the gallery.
Inside the gallery. A popular place for hosting events. I imagine that there were some dances here in the past.
Checking out the gallery.
Not sure who this dude was...there were many faces lining the gallery.
A hallway in the castle.
On a lower level was the kitchen, which had multiple rooms.
The butcher area.
Not sure if this was a prepping area or where the dining room for the kitchen staff, or both.
The central room of the kitchen area.
The kitchen staff quarters.
One room was on the other side of this channel under the bridge. There were a few chutes that stuck out of the wall...probably an easy way to get rid of kitchen waste.
Multiple rotisseries.
A living room.
I thought this was an impressive flower arrangement.
Walking up to the second floor.
There were at least 6 bedrooms and there were probably more, but not every room in the castle was open to the public.
A couple of small rooms off of a bedroom were now adorned with a plethora of drawings and paintings of the château.
During WWI, the château was used as a hospital while in WWII
it was a means of escaping from the Nazi-occupied zone on one side of the River
Cher to the "free" zone on the opposite bank. It was also bombed by the Germans in 1940 and
then again by the Allies in 1944 as it was occupied by the Germans. The chapel was hit and the windows were
destroyed.
The upper gallery.
A fancy schmancy fireplace.
The hallway on the top floor. There was only one bedroom accessible, all the doors of the other rooms were locked.
And the one bedroom on the top floor was the decorated like someone had just died!
What a pretty palace...well, okay, it's not a palace, but it could be.
I think I like the outside more than the inside.
I sent this to Naomi and she said that it was "postcard worthy"!
It's had to see, but above that line halfway up the wall is the level the water reached in a flood in 1940!
I like the sign...although it's sad that they need it.
Every good château needs a hedge maze.
Sadly this one was stupidly easy with many paths leading you into the centre. It was the fastest I have ever solved a maze like this...about 15-20 seconds!
By about 11 am, it was time to get on the road. I hoped to get to the Cotentin Peninsula
in Normandy so I was within an hour’s drive of Cherbourg for my ferry tomorrow
evening. I’ve seen a lot of flooding
near rivers in the past few days and was detoured about 10 kilometres yesterday
due to an impassable road. With more
rain in the forecast, I didn’t want to take any chances.
Some rivers are overflowing...
Made it to the peninsula. The tide was out...way out at the beach on the Contentin peninsula, just north of the Utah Beach that the Americans landed at in 1944 on D-Day.
This museum was temporarily closed, not that I was going to visit it as it had been a long day and it was after 5 pm.
Octi's spot for the night. There were no other campervans or motorhomes and it was just a small patch of grass and gravel by the ocean, but there was a sign stating that I could stay there for 24 hours.
Through the gap behind Octi is the beach.
It’s my last night in France. I've had a great time in France, Portugal, Morocco and Spain but I'm looking forward to getting back to England to see my family and do a roadtrip to Scotland with Naomi who is flying out from Israel!
