On a day trip to the Loire Valley, our first stop was Chateau d’Amboise. It was perched high on a cliff over the Loire River. What became after this visit, one of my favorite chateaux, Amboise was originally built some time before 900. Confiscated by the monarchy in the 1434, in 1498, King Charles VIII died at Amboise after hitting his head on a door lintel. That must have been quite a blow. But then, the door lintels are all made of stone.
One of the interesting features of the place is an enormous circular entrance from below the castle up to the courtyard. It was designed to allow horses and carriages to climb up a cobbled, interior road inside of a tower. Sometimes though, during revelries accompanied by a great deal of alcohol, people would race their horses up and down the circular entrance. I have to say that I’m surprised nobody lost their life during one of those races.
King Francis I invited Leonardo da Vinci to come and live at Amboise. He gave him a house in town called Clos Lucé. Da Vinci died at Amboise in 1519 and was buried in the chapel on the grounds of the chateau.
King Henry II and his wife, Catherine de Medici, raised their children at Amboise, including the future Francis II and his wife, Mary Queen of Scots. They were married in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris as teenagers (Francis was fourteen and Mary sixteen), but had been raised together at Amboise from the time that Mary was six and Francis was four. Francis became king at the age of fifteen, when his father died while jousting. He only reigned for a little over a year before he died.
Next was Chateau de Chenonceau, which had been built 1514 – 1522 on the foundation of an old mill and later extended to span the River Cher. King Henry II seized it from its owner and gave it to his mistress, Diana (who was twenty years his senior — atta girl, Diana!). Once Henry died, his queen, Catherine de Medici, took the chateau from Diana and gave her Chateau Chaumont instead. Fortunately for Chenonceau, its owner at the time of the Revolution, Madame Dupin, was popular with the people, so it wasn’t destroyed.
The third chateau we visited was Chateau de Chambord, which was built as a hunting lodge for Francis I 1519 – 1547. It has over 200 rooms plus a double circular staircase in the center of the house and two outdoor circular staircases in the courtyard. The building was never fully completed and was emptied of its furniture during the Revolution. Then, it was abandoned for many years. The majority of the rooms are still empty, although some have been furnished with pieces from museums. During World War II, much of the art from the Louvre (including the Mona Lisa) was stored at Chambord for safe keeping. We were allowed to go up on the roof, which was like its own little village.
Another day trip was to the town where Van Gogh died and the town where Monet lived. Auvers-sur-Oise was where Vincent Van Gogh spent the last two months of his life and painted 70 to 80 paintings. Our tour began with the church, where we saw the graves of Vincent and his brother, Theo, side by side. We back-tracked from the church to the field where Van Gogh shot himself in the chest. From there, we followed the route that he would have taken from the field back to the inn where Van Gogh had his room (and where he died after the fatal gunshot wound).
Theories abound as to just what was wrong with Vincent Van Gogh. Some have said mental illnesses of various kinds. Some have said Menieres (which is a balance disorder) and some have said Tinitis (which is a ringing in the ears and often exists with Menieres). Nobody really knows. But it seems so sad that someone so very talented suffered so badly. He also never had much financial success during this lifetime.
Traveling to Giverny, we began with lunch at the American Impressionist Museum. We also viewed the paintings there, which included several masterpieces.
Quite a contrast with Van Gogh, Claude Monet was very successful during his lifetime and his house and gardens at Giverny (to which he moved in 1883) reflected that success. The house was pink with green shutters on the outside and blue, white and yellow inside. It had a cottage feel to it — albeit a large cottage. Mom was so taken with the bright and sunny interior that she changed the color palette of her bedroom to the same blue, white and yellow of Monet’s house.
The gardens were extensive — not only those surrounding the house, but the water gardens as well. These were reached through a tunnel under the road that ran between them. This was where Monet had painted all those famous waterlily paintings.
Claude Monet was the artist who had given the Impressionist movement its name with his 1872 painting titled “Impression, Sunrise”. As a result, he was one of the most prosperous of the Impressionists as well as one of the most prolific.
The Orangery in the Tuilleries in Paris was closed for restoration, so we were unable to see the huge waterlilies paintings on display there. Something for a future visit.
