Beauty and the Genius

Sunday, May 22
Today we are heading to Chateau de Chenonceau, the most beautiful and famous of the palaces.  It is built extending over the River Cher (which is an off shoot of the River Loire).  It is nicknamed "the Ladies Castle".
From the moment we step on the grounds, I am in awe.  Everything is gorgeous...even the walkway we're currently stepping upon.  As we approach the palace, I think that it isn't as large as I had anticipated.  But then I realize that that is because we are basically entering the side of the palace and the bulk of its size is extending over the river.

Chateau de Chenonceau

The rooms and furnishings are beyond beautiful.  Again, there are stunning fresh floral arrangements in each room.  They have a floral workshop on the grounds that employs two full time florists year round to make these arrangements each day from the bountiful flowers that grow on site.
This castle seems to have been the home to three queens over the course of time.  And each one felt the castle needed additions, which is how it came to grow out over the river.  One interesting fact (at least interesting to me) is that the grand hall which was usually used for entertaining, was used as a hospital during WWII.  The beds for convalescing were lined up facing the windows, where the soldiers could throw out strings tied with bells to fish in the river.

Chateau de Chenonceau...built over the Cher River

Boats would bring supplies up river and unload through windows into the kitchen.  The kitchen rooms were the lowest in the building so there was fear of flooding in these rooms.
It has been pouring rain, but we have been inside.  Now it's time to venture outside and fortunately there is a break in the rain.  We enjoy the amazing gardens...floral and vegetable...and the farming area.  We have been touring this place for over four hours. What a beautiful site!

Yes, we really were there!

We're tired.  We should head back.  But there's one more place I'd like to visit.  Do I dare mention it? Larry says, "We're heading back, right?" with a tone that means I should agree.  I tell everyone that we "could" head to Clos Luce, the home of Leonardo de Vinci in his later years.  We go...but I'm not sure how enthusiastic everyone is at this point.

Clos Luce in Amboise, Leonardo de Vinci's home for his last years

Clos Luce's garden

But in the end, we all think that this visit was well worth the effort.  It is a smaller chateau, and impressive, but at this point I don't think we really care.  It is the models of Leonardo's works that amaze us.  Such a genius!  An inventor, artist, botanist, anatomy master, and engineer...all rolled into one person!!  He was drawing plans for inventions that wouldn't come into existence for another 500 years. He invented the life preserver and the first scuba gear.  The parachute and many canons were his inventions.  He designed a bridge that could roll away for defensive reasons and another bridge with wheels that could be portable and travel.  He drew plans for such futuristic items as an army tank, bicycle, car, and helicopter.

A model of one of de Vinci's many, many inventions...a war tank

There were some small models inside the building that were built by IBM from Leonardo's drawings.  Then outside, in the beautiful park area (the gardens for this chateau) were full-sized models demonstrating how many of them worked.  Mind boggling!  We left there in awe of deVinci!