Loire valley chateaus

3/11/22- Today we woke up early and drove to Château de Chenonceau, another chatenau. This castle was given to King Henry II's favorite lady, Diane de Poitiers. His wife, Cathrine de Medici was annoyed at his facination with her but could do nothing about the chateau until he died when she demanded Diane give it back to the crown. Cathrine ran France from the green room in this castle. She then passed it on to her son and his wife. When her son suddenly died his wie went into mourning for the rest of her life and painted much of the castle black including the chapel. The castle is connected to a hallway/bridge that spans across the Cher river. This river was the demarcation line during WWII, separating the Nazis from the Allied Forces. During the war the Menir family who lived at the castle would open up the doors on both sides and let Jews and other immigrants run through the hall to safe territory. The hallway was also converted to a military hospital during the Great War or the first world war. After Chenonceau we drove over to the Chateau de Chambord. This castle was by far my favorite one. It is said to have been designed architecurally by Leonardo Di Vinci with a double spiral staircase and was charatered by his good friend Francis I. Francis I died before the castle was finished however Louis XIV continued the building and used it as a hunting house. He only visited the castle a total of 71 nights... the French revolution is starting to make more sense now.