I knew that when spending two weeks in Paris, I'd need to break things up and plan some side trips, we'd already spent two evenings in Strasbourg exploring the Christmas Markets and for an encore, I thought that since we'd already done Versailles and Chartres, a nice day trip to Château de Chantilly might be fun. I'm not sure I mentioned, but Annabel Simms wonderful book, An Hour From Paris is a wonderful resource. We caught the TER, Regional Express Trains from Gare du Nord, and arrived at Chantilly Gouvieux in 25 minutes!
The Château is a couple of kilometers form the train station. Instead of following the standard signs along the road, we took the path described in the book to get to the Château, and then walked thru the village on the way back.
We loved the forested path.
It was lush and green, birds were singing, even though it was winter. The trail is clearly marked and cleared.
We even had our own "escort" for part of the walk.
You'll past the racetrack before arriving back at the main street and the Musée du Cheval.
These days, unless we're on a tour, we try not to pack too many things into our explorations. We were just going to visit the Château. On Rue du Connétable, you take the road as it curves right, becoming Route Pavée and you'll soon come to this wonderful sight.
That's Château de Chantilly. You saunter thru the gates.
Up to the ticket booth. I'd bought my tickets in advance and then the Château is yours…..to visit of course….
It's quite impressive. There are actually two château here, the Petit Château, and the Grand Château, which is where the entrance is.
We loved the statues of the dogs that "guard" the entrance to the château. The one above are named Lumineau and Seduisant and were actual pooches belonging to Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, who commissioned Augustus Cain to create these.
The Grand Château was actually destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870's. The original structure was built in the 1500's by the Montmorency family, but eventually taken over by the Orléans family. Henri d’Orléans had the château rebuilt and that is mainly what we see today.
The Chapel of the Condé Hearts, Suites, Dining Hall and the huge Reading Room are something to see.
But beyond all of that there was one area we really wanted to see.
The Musée Condé.
Consisting of over 2500 drawings it is the second largest art collection in France next to the Louvre. You'll notice some interesting arrangement of paintings. This is because the Duke d'Aumale, who bequeathed this to France, had some conditions, one being that the collection be shown in it's original location; the works cannot be moved, nor can any of the works be loaned out. So, if you want to see these works by Raphael you'll have to come here.
For some reason, we enjoyed our visit here much more than Versailles.
Perhaps it was the lack of crowds or the atmosphere……we kind of enjoyed the peacefulness.
Yes, it's not a palace, but it is quite stunning in its own way.
After our visit, we headed back to the train station via the village of Chantilly. It was getting close to our designated train time, so we quickly grabbed a sandwich and caught our train back to Paris.
After the full morning, we rested up, before heading to dinner. I had read about a small tempura restaurant located under the quite popular Zen Restaurant in the 1st Arrondissment. This little 12 seat underground restaurant was named TenZen and featured a multi-course meal featuring…well tempura of course. Staying in Paris for the length of time of our visit, meant we could really "eat like we would at home", which meant…well, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Sadly, TenZen closed mid-2023, but I thought you might enjoy the photos.
Zen restaurant is a bustling shop in the area of Paris we call "Little Tokyo". You enter the restaurant, show the hostess the reservation and were guided downstairs.
This was the realm of chef Jiro Kondo. He does all the cooking.
For the three hours, we really felt like we were back in Japan.
From the excellent Otsumami.
To the decent quality sashimi.
This was all fine. But then, came the reason we visited.
My goodness, the tempura was just perfect, the batter light and airy, yet really enhancing each item.
My goodness, the Madagascar Shrimp was so amazingly sweet-oceany, such great flavors and textures.
The shrimp from Normandy was no slouch either.
Several of the items included Black Volcanic Salt from Iceland which really added a slight smoky component to things.
And the tempura finished off with a perfectly cooked scallop.
And things were finished off with a Kakiage Don and some miso soup.
Oh, and of course dessert.
After our meal, we were escorted out by the staff, just like Japan!
We were really sad to hear that TenZen closed as it was a place we wanted to return to on our last trip back to Paris.
TenZen – (since closed)
8 Rue de l'Échelle
75001 Paris, France
I hope you don't mind me doing this post as I want to remember and recall this wonderful meal.
Thanks so stopping by!