{"id":1144,"date":"2012-03-26T09:25:26","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T13:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2015-06-11T10:11:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T14:11:50","slug":"get-to-know-student-tours-to-the-loire-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/get-to-know-student-tours-to-the-loire-valley","title":{"rendered":"High School Tour France: Student Tours to The Loire Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nOur \u2018Get to Know\u2019 blog series gives you an in-depth look at the people, places and activities that make educational tours amazing.\u00a0 Today\u2019s post features the Ch\u00e2teau de Chenonceau, one of the most beautiful landmarks in France, and a destination available on our popular <\/em>Paris & the Loire Valley tour<\/em><\/a>\u00a0– just one of our high school tours to France.<\/p>\n

Also known as Le Ch\u00e2teau des Dames, or Ladies House, this 11th century castle has had a long and varied life, distinguished by some of France\u2019s most powerful queens and mistresses. Peer into their bedrooms, many of which are still intact despite their inhabitants having lived here centuries apart. Canopied beds, period tableware and manicured gardens are just a few of the marks the Chenonceau women left behind.<\/p>\n

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King Henry II\u2019s mistress, Diane de Poitiers, was the first female head of the castle, and her gardens still stand the test of time. The acres of fruit trees arranged in triangular landscape designs survived the mistress who was ousted by the King\u2019s widow, Catherine de’ Medici<\/a>, after his death. Later, Catherine de’ Medici<\/a> brought fame to the chateau by holding the first fireworks display in France over its drawbridge.<\/p>\n

But the Palace of Romance did have some dark days. Upon Catherine\u2019s death in 1589, Chenonceau went to her daughter-in-law, Louise de Lorraine-Vaud\u00e9mont. After learning of her husband King Henry III\u2019s assassination, Louise added her somber touch by hanging dark tapestries embroidered with skulls and crossbones. Things looked up in the 18th century when the lady of the house, Madame Louise Dupin, entertained members of the Enlightenment the likes of Voltaire<\/a> and\u00a0Jean-Jacques Rousseau<\/a> making it a gorgeous artist\u2019s salon.<\/p>\n

The Madame also had good fortune to save the Castle from the destruction of the Revolution. Monarchs or revolutionaries, the women of Le Ch\u00e2teau des Dames did have one thing in common\u2014they all collected masterpieces. Rare works by Rubens, Le Tintoret and Nattier can all be seen on display in the castle. See if you share their taste!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our \u2018Get to Know\u2019 blog series gives you an in-depth look at the people, places and activities that make educational tours amazing.\u00a0 Today\u2019s post features the Ch\u00e2teau de Chenonceau, one of the most beautiful landmarks in France, and a destination available on our popular Paris & the Loire Valley tour\u00a0– just one of our high Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,63,172],"tags":[40,239,240],"class_list":["post-1144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parents","category-students","category-teachers","tag-france","tag-france-educational-tours","tag-loire-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5730,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/5730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}