A romantic royal hunting lodge, all to ourselves (for lunch)

DATELINE: Monday, Oct. 9. Vaison and Uchaux, Provence. 

Slept even later this morning (I could get used to this). When I finally came downstairs, I couldn't face oatmeal again. 

So I daringly soloed-out to buy pastry without my trusty interpreter (Roz). Successful completion of this mission required my correct use of maybe 10 words in...French! But I returned home from the boulangerie victorious, clutching my pain aux raisins.

The day's next adventure began with a 30 kilometer drive to a town where a romantic part of French royal life played out in the 1500s. The hunting lodge at Uchaux was built by King Henry II. Years before, at the court of his father, Francis I, Henri had fulfilled the role of tall, dashing Prince. And there he fell deeply in love (and often into the sack) with a beautiful, though married, courtier named Diane de Poitiers.

But in those days politics trumped love, and Henry had to wed Catherine of the famous (some say infamous) Medici family of Florence. Catherine was no great beauty, though she shared the family skill at wielding power. But not enough power to split up the two lovers. Diane herself was no intellectual slouch, and after Henri ascended the throne on his father's death, Diane did all she could to help him impregnate Catherine, to continue the royal line.

Catherine, Henri II, and the ever-lovely Diane

But the unwed lovers maintained their avid affair. Both Diane and Henri loved to hunt. So they often stole away to the royal hunting lodge Henri had built in Uchaux (with, no doubt, an enormous entourage).

Roz and I drove there, just the two of us, in our ugly little Renault. The lodge's medieval bones are still visible, though the modern luxury hotel and restaurant that have been added-on tend to obscure some of the old masonry.

We sat just inside the glass double doors,
with a great view of the garden.

But we had it to ourselves, probably with more privacy than Henri and Di-de ever had. We behaved ourselves, however, and settled for being the only customers at today's luncheon.

It was a royal feast in its own right! Inventive flavors, handsome presentation, and super-polite service gave us a luncheon fit for a king (and his honey). Roz captured it all in photos (link is at left, scroll to Day 6).

After our meal, we strolled around the lodge's grounds, even visiting the garden where (today's) chef has his vegetables and poultry raised.

But our reign ended when we drove back to Vaison just in time to let the handyman in to fix a non-working ceiling light in the kitchen. Where's that entourage when you need it?

What happened to Henri, Diane, and Catherine? 26 years after he married Catherine de Medici, Henri and Diane were still "an item" But then Henri died from a wound received in a joust. Catherine became the acting monarch and quickly made things tough on Diane, who eventually moved back to the secluded chateau of her long dead first husband.

Romantic? I guess, if you like the tragic kind of love story. 

The waitress who took this photo thought we were "cute". I'm happy with that.