Princess Michelle--it has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Château: Castle
Jardin: Garden

I have decided I would like to be a princess. Well, I guess I knew this all along, but after seeing where real princesses live, it reinforced my wishes.

Last weekend, Kate and I met her parents along their 3-week France tour in the Loire Valley to check out some castles. The Loire Valley is given its name because it lines the river Loire, and apparently was a great place to set up many castles. I would love to know the history of each, but the who and why of French history is quite confusing. Most often it seems, there was a King, corrupt or not, with a wife Queen from some other country, as well as a mistress or two, and lots of children with the same names. In general, you can call the European royalty, Henry, Louis, Mary, Elizabeth, Phillip, Catherine, Anne, and then they just start recycling names. This makes understanding family trees very difficult.

Kate and I first stopped in the city of Tours, where we spent an afternoon because we had to wait for her parents to drive down from the North of France. We saw a beautiful cathedral and then anxiously followed signs to see our first “château.” We almost passed this so-called castle in Tours looking for the real castle. Sadly, the first castle I would see ended up being a small tower and a square building. Ok, so I guess the real royalty didn’t set up in Tours. The town was quite cute regardless. We happened to stumble upon a bunch of pedestrian streets, which led to a great square called Place Plumereau. It was full of cafés and small shops, and with the sun shining; many people were sitting outside, enjoying an outdoor lunch. We stopped for some gelato (yes, that’s Italian) and took in the scene.

When Kate’s parents picked us up, we journeyed to the small town of Villandry, which contains the first beautiful castle I would see. What was even more impressive then seeing the giant castle were the immense gardens surrounding it. We were able to ascend to an area where you could get a view of the whole gardens. To the left was a giant a pond with a few swans gliding across. The pond was the source for a moat that cut through the gardens to the front of the castle. In front of us was the “love” garden area with bushes shaped as hearts filled with flowers of pink, blue, and purple. There was a herb garden, as well as a huge vegetable garden—I think this castle could feed the whole town, plus some! There was also a small maze, although the sign proclaimed that there were no dead ends, the point not being to get lost but to find your way to “enlightenment” or such when you reach the middle. It did not take me too long to find my way to enlightenment. Then I took a picture.

My Mom laughed at me when I said I could imagine myself as you know, a princess, walking through the gardens (circa 1700s) with whoever the prince of the day that was trying to woo me, trying to escape the prying eyes of all those who worked at the castle or who were concerned about the whereabouts of the princess. She thought I was silly.

The next day we went to Chenonceau, a castle that actually sits atop the Cher River, with archways as its supports. We took a tour of the castle, and learned a bit more history. The castle was mainly King Henri II’s, who married Catherine de Medici, and his mistress was Diane de Poitier. Apparently Catherine de Medici was quite a glutton and did not take too much care of her body, while Diane, even being 20 years older, was much more svelte and athletic. This would be an aspect that would lead Henri II to prefer the company of Diane. Catherine obviously had a lot of influence in the interior design of the castle, called for ornate “C’s” to be carved all over, the floors, in the ceilings, etc. Apparently the Queen was a bit of a voyeur as well, having holes drilled into her floor above Diane’s quarters so she could watch the King and his mistress. Hmmm. The gardens of this castle were not quite as immense as those of Villandry, but quite lovely all the same, also including vegetable and herb gardens, as well as a maze. Interestingly, the castle was used as a hospital during World War II, and also being between a German occupied and free area of France, it was often a commuter area for those of the resistance. Apparently the Germans threatened to destroy the castle, ammunition ready. Thankfully they did not!

There are many more castles I would like to see in the Loire Valley…I hope to venture back up there soon!