Chateau Chantilly

I couldn't believe myself last night--laid awake humming the old Big Bopper standard "Chantilly Lace".  That's just wrong on so many levels.  Today we went to the birthplace of not only Chantilly lace, but whipped cream (chantilly in French).  As I told you yesterday, it has a nice house.

Actually, this is not the original--it was destroyed during the French Revolution.  A bit of history seems in order here.  The last French king to die a natural death while still king, Louis XV, did not leave the kingdom in a happy condition.

His son, Louis XVI, lived to see the beginnings of the French Revolution but didn't survive to see the end of it.  For several years the French wandered back and forth among monarchy, empire, and republic.  The last king, Louis-Philippe, had a son, Henri d'Orleans, duc d'Aumale, who rebuilt Chantilly after it had been destroyed in the Revolution, and at the end of his life he bequeathed it to the state to house an incredible collection of art.  For example, this is the only museum in the world other than the Louvre to host as many as three Raphaels.

While the Duke lived, he shared something in common with many of us today--he worked from his home office:

And in case you're wondering, yes I could work from an office like that!  And every now and then I'd get up, wander over to the window, and check out my back yard.

You know, we already have the gravel--we might be well on our way to something like that.  Or not.

So they have a nice house alright, and I knew that already.  What I wasn't ready for was the barn.

In the days when the original chateau was built, "the hunt" was a major sporting event.  And to support the event, this barn--okay, the Great Stables--housed 290 horses and 190 dogs.  One of the paintings in the chateau shows a hunt being organized and it was an event of epic proportion.  Today it houses a horse museum and a still-functioning horse track that hosts major equestrian competitions of all forms, dressage, steeplechase, trot, and just good old-fashioned thoroughbred races.

Between the weather and some ill-timed exits from the ubiquitous highway roundabouts, we didn't make it to Giverny today as expected.  But that's the beauty of a two-week stay; we'll get there eventually.  Tomorrow we'll visit the local Louviers library/museum for its exhibit of impressionist portraiture, and hopefully make it to the National Day fireworks tomorrow night.  Wish us luck.