Chateau du Clos Luce | Leonardo Da Vinci's Home

London loved playing with all the inventions

As part of our trip to the Loire Valley (read about our other stop here), we visited the Chateau du Clos Luce, Leonardo Da Vinci's final home.

Leonardo Da Vinci moved here in his final years, from 1516 - 1519. This chateau is located only 500 meters from the Chateau de Amboise, where King Francois I lived (he is the one who asked Da Vinci to relocate to France). While we didn't have time to check out the King's residence, we had a lovely time visiting Clos Luce.

A bed similar to the one Da Vinci would have slept in

 First we toured the house. It was neat seeing and reading about how Da Vinci lived his last three years.

An original painting by one of Da Vinci's students

 At the end of the house tour, there's a room with miniature versions of his inventions along with explanations of each. We also got to see the underground tunnel that connected Da Vinci's home to the Chateau de Amboise.

Both of our girls did great as we walked through the home.

 After seeing the house, we had lunch right outside at the La Terrasse Renaissance. The food was great - I had a galette crepe (savory crepe) with tomato and cheese and some other good stuff. We got to overlook some beautiful rose bushes while we enjoyed our meal outside.

The best part of our day though, was roaming through Da Vinci's garden. All throughout the park were life size replicas of Da Vinci's inventions. The whole area was very family friendly. Our toddler had a great time running around and checking out how everything worked and our baby took a nap in her stroller as we enjoyed the lovely weather outside.

Replica of his Flying Machine

 While we were able to see a large part of the grounds, I do wish we could have spent longer seeing everything. This is definitely a place I would like to visit again!

Replica of his idea for a tank

Many of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions could not be made during his time due to the lack of technology available. It's neat to see how throughout history, humanity has made use of his ideas as they have become possible. 

The chateau is open year round (with the exception of Christmas and New Year's Day). Adults are between 12 and 14 euros and children under 7 are free.

For more information, check out the following sites:
http://www.vinci-closluce.com/en/
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/amboise-charming-visitors-since-leonardo-da-vinci
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clos_Luc%C3%A9

Loire Valley | Château de Chenonceau

Our view from a rental paddle boat out on the river

While we had family visiting back in August (read about our Normandy trip here), we made an overnight trip to the Loire Valley. It was a little over a 2 hour drive from Paris to our first destination, the Chateau de Chenonceau.

There was a large forest in front of the castle with a lovely maze and beautiful architecture. 

When we had originally started looking into the Loire Valley, I knew that I wanted to visit this particular chateau as soon as I saw it. It was breathtaking and had an interesting history as well.

It originally belonged to the Marques family in the 1300's, but they sold it in 1430 to Thomas Bohier. By the mid 1500's, the chateau had been taken by King Francis I due to unpaid debts.

Later, Henry II gave the chateau to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She oversaw the addition of the bridge to the other side of the riverbank and also added some of the beautiful gardens.

Naturally, the King's wife, Catherine, was a bit upset/jealous over the whole thing (can you blame her though?) and eventually gained possession over the chateau after the King's death. She made the bridge into a long gallery that would be used for balls and other entertaining for her guests. She also added to the gardens and oversaw the first ever fireworks display in France in 1560.

From there, it continued getting passed down until finally the Menier family acquired the chateau in 1913. They still own it today. Interesting fact: in World War I, the long gallery was used as a hospital ward.

We rented one of these boats for a nice paddle around the river and chateau

We had a great visit. One thing that we did that was my favorite was renting a paddle boat and taking it out on the river around the chateau. It was something like 5-7 euros per boat. We all got lifejackets and I held Adeline in my lap while one arm was around London next to me. Aaron paddled. It was a bit crazy, but fun and London loved it. She didn't want to get off the boat and kept asking for us to go around the castle again.

My husband was nice enough to paddle far enough away so that I could take a picture of the chateau over the river. We also took the boat under the bridge, which was awesome. I would definitely recommend renting a boat during your visit!

Front entrance to the chateau

Above, is the only original part of the chateau (from when the Marques' owned it during the 1300's).

Part of Catherine's garden

On the boat, coming out from under the bridge

The long gallery on top of the bridge

The inside of the chateau was gorgeous! Unfortunately, like most historical places in France, it was not at all stroller friendly. Luckily, Aaron's parents took the girls into the gardens for us so that Aaron and I could quickly take a peek inside.

Where the servants enjoyed eating their meals

The kitchen was gorgeous, of course. Tons of copper pots and pans hanging down. Even the servants' eating quarters were nice. We had a nice time looking into all of the rooms. The chateau offers audio guides when you pay to come in and I highly recommend taking advantage of it. There is a lot of history in this castle and it was nice hearing about it as we walked through. 

If you look closely, you can see my mother-in-law walking with London in one corner while my father-in-law is pushing Adeline in her stroller...

Tickets were 12.50 euros per person (17 euros for an audio guide ticket) and children under 7 are free. The chateau is open year round (although hours of operation vary depending on the time of the year). For more information on rates and hours, please visit: http://chenonceau.tickeasy.com/Information.aspx.

A view of the chateau from inside Catherine's gardens

London loved all the flowers

The Chateau de Chenonceau is a beautiful place to visit while in France. With it being only 2 hours from Paris, I highly recommend visiting it or other chateaus in the Loire Valley.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.chenonceau.com/
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/season-8/frances-loire-chateau-country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chenonceau