Treasures of the Garden of France
In this garden of France the capricious Loire, sometimes whimsical, spreads out and languishes,
At the time of the sailing navy, gabarres and futreaux ensured the traffic in her bed,
Between plains, hills, groves, and valleys with gargantuan legends,
Land of arts and letters, kings made their home during the Renaissance montaignesque.
In this sumptuous period, in the Loire Valley castles write their royal history,
Majestic silhouette, since 500 years Chambord declines its architectural utopia,
François 1er will make the decor of his itinerant court, "the ford on the curve" to port,
For his madness of grandeur, a phantasmagoria of stone in his lace of pinnacles and golds.
This "palace of fairies and knights" according to Victor Hugo, has its jewel in the center of the dungeon,
Composed of helicoidal ramps and surrounded by its glass roof, rises the staircase with double revolution,
Subtle marriage between the medieval spiral staircase and the Italian straight ramps,
The castle turns on itself before flying to the Pompeian lantern tower.
Guarded by two sphinxes in stone, Chenonceaux, white footbridge laid on the Cher,
Elegant and romantic, he embodies the feminine seduction between Catherine and Diane, the lady of flesh,
Its fireplace decorated with salamander and ermine recalls the chandeliers of the Renaissance,
Like the four poster beds, the marquetry tables and the tapestries in magnificence.
Castle full of grace with the tuffeau facade marked by pilasters dormers,
The elegant setting of Azay le Rideau, seduced Balzac who took the time to admire it wrote,
"A diamond faceted, mounted on stilts masked with flowers, by the crimped Indre",
Its English park offers a romantic stroll under its redwoods and cypresses right to the stars.
The favorite residence of seven kings and ten queens, this palace plunges you into history at will,
Blois, capital under François II, reveals its facade of brick and chained white stone luster,
Its monumental spiral staircase opens on the courtyard of the castle by large bays,
The king's room and his immense Italian bed recall the assassination of the Duc de Guise.
Inescapable place that Hergé was inspired to draw the home of Captain Haddock,
A thousand trillion thousand ports, Cheverny aka Moulinsart, houses the adventures of Tintin,
Also known for his pack of dogs, the "soup" served by the piercer is a shock show,
The trophy room with hunting pictures shows two thousand haughty deer antlers.
Perched on its promontory, toying the Loire houses, Amboise was the seat of the aristocracy,
It tells the story of a friendship full of admiration, between Charles VIII, ambitious young king,
And a great genius of the Renaissance, inventor until the last breath, Leonardo da Vinci,
This famous Tuscan designer who made his avant-garde sketches at Clos Lucé, gracious.
Dominating the Vienne near the Loire, the royal fortress stands its three castles,
Rabelais saying "small town with big name", for the city staged on the hill,
The clock tower opens the door of the residence of Chinon through which entered the "virgin" devoted,
Leading Charles VII to Rheims for his royal coronation, from Joan of Arc to his museum.
All against the forest of Chinon, the spooky turrets of the Château d'Ussé,
The storyteller Charles Perrault will make the castle Sleeping Beauty, all inspired,
And always on the road to the Valley of Kings, with its medieval style, Saumur,
Fortress, palace and prison will become a museum surrounded by vineyards with beautiful antlers.
After the castles have lost their defensive roles between high walls and dungeons,
The parks will be delivered to the horticultural artists where, the reflection of a lost Eden, they will seek,
A terrestrial paradise embellished with groves, topiaries, fountains and gazebos in enjoyment,
The gardens of Villandry having returned, on three levels, its authenticity to the Renaissance.
L’ARIÉ….JOIE