Day Trip to Chantilly II

Tags

Art, Chantilly, Charles IX, Château de Chantilly, duc de Chartres, Gare de Chantilly-Gouvieux, Gare du Nord, Grands Lignes, Hameau, Louis-Philippe, Picardy, Raphael, whipped cream

Tuesday was yet another beautiful day! I had enjoyed a day trip to Chantilly in 2014 so I was amenable when Jared suggested it. The basics of the visit are covered in my earlier post; this is a grab bag of additional things I noticed on my second visit. Photos from both visits are in my Day Trips to Chantilly Photo Set.

Chantilly is in Picardy so you buy your ticket from the Grands Lignes machines even though the fast train from Gare du Nord takes only 23 minutes; overall it was just an hour from our apartment to the Gare de Chantilly-Gouvieux. The tourist information office wasn’t where the guidebook said, so it took us a few minutes to get oriented, but once we got our bearings we navigated without further incident. It’s a lovely half-hour walk through the forest to the Château.

This visit to the Château was enhanced by the fact that Jared looked closely at each room and often read the captions. We also both got the excellent free audio guide, which I had skipped last time. So here are several items I had slighted in 2014.

The library is gorgeous. It was one of the largest in France.

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  I loved the Baroque décor

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  One of the two Singeries

Of course I recalled that there was an art gallery but I hadn’t remembered how large or good it was. Our meticulous pace enhanced my appreciation of the collection, as did my growing knowledge of art.

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  One of their three Raphaels

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  Who did it best?

Jared felt right at home in this room of royal portraits

Two of my favorite kings:

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  Charles IX

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  The young duc de Chartres, later king Louis-Philippe

And just to prove that my aesthetic sense is Catholic, here are two paintings from a temporary exhibition.

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  Foolish girl choosing some boy over much more reliable suitor

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  Naked ladies at play (from the Louvre)

After lunch at the correct, although predictably overpriced, restaurant we explored the extensive gardens and topped off our afternoon with a treat.

Chantilly at Chantilly (Hameau in the background).

Chantilly is whipped cream, but it’s very thick and rich — almost like butter!

One of several paradoxes we noted during the day is the fact that the Hameau (hamlet), although completely bogus when it was constructed, is now an authentic historical treasure.

Day Trip to Chantilly

Tags

An Hour from Paris, André Le Nôtre, Art, Chantilly, Château de Chantilly, Ingres, Venus

On Thursday I took another day trip from An Hour From Paris, to Chantilly. Zhizhong Joël Yao had recommended this visit, and I wasn’t disappointed. I took iPhone snapshots of the relevant guidebook pages to avoid lugging the book with me, or ripping the pages out as I have sometimes done in the past. [See also the post on my 2019 visit to Chantilly and my Day Trips to Chantilly Photo Set.]

Once again my Andrews Federal Credit Union chip-and-pin card worked with the ticket vending machines, and I was tickled to get a 25% senior (60+) discount, since the trip was outside of the Île–de–France (though as it happened I forfeited the discount on the return trip since I missed my original train and the deal doesn’t apply in rush hour).

The guidebook suggested a quiet walk through the forest as the best way to approach the Château. As usual I loved the bird song, which seems so much more vigorous and varied than in northern New England forests. The day started off cool but got quite warm by the end of the afternoon.

A forest path in the Domain de Chantilly.

I was bemused by warning signs about galloping horses on certain trails at certain times, since Chantilly is a horse racing center. The guidebook route avoided these tracks but you do need to be cautious! I’m not particularly into horses myself, so I skipped the Living Museum of the Horse. The grand stables are quite impressive, however, reminding me of the Musée d’Orsay.

The Great Stables at the Château de Chantilly.

The Château itself is lovely, though much smaller than Versailles.

The Château de Chantilly.

The interior decor rivals Versailles, but Chantilly is more manageable in scope, and much less crowded.

Apartment at the Château de Chantilly.

Sconces at the Château de Chantilly.

The last owner was an avid art collector, and he donated the property with the stipulation that the art would remain just as he left it, similar to the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston and the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. The result is a bit of a hodge-podge, but with some gems hidden among many more ordinary pictures.

Largest gallery at the Château de Chantilly.

Venus by Ingres at the Château de Chantilly.

The Three Ages of Man by Gérard at the Château de Chantilly.

The great treasure of the museum is Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. The manuscript is too delicate to be put on display, however, so you see only facsimiles. While they are nicely done, with gold leaf, etc., it’s an odd museum-going experience.

The grounds are extensive, including gardens in several styles, but the grandest is the French garden designed by André Le Nôtre.

View of the Château de Chantilly from the French garden.

The French garden designed by Le Nôtre at the Château de Chantilly.

There’s even a little pretend village, where rich folks could play at being peasants, like Marie Antoinette at Versailles.

Le Hameau (the hamlet) at the Château de Chantilly.

I wonder whether Bill and Melinda Gates have something similar: a tiny suburban town where they play at being Ozzie and Harriet?