Just ahead of us is a tour bus from Romania. Perhaps not such a good omen. We park the car, buy our tickets from an incredibly confusing ticket machine (rivaling BART for all you Bay Area folks out there), and walk down a beautiful tree-lined path to the chateau and gardens. A lot of other people seem to have same idea. As it stands today, the chateau spans the Cher River, a tributary of the Loire. Initially, though, it was a smaller but nonetheless grand residence of the royal chancellor, Thomas Bohier.