French 'Da Vinci Code' chateau has real-life tangled past

VILLETTE, France (AP) — Chateau de Villette, the sumptuous home of Sir Leigh Teabing, the sinfully wealthy, polio-afflicted character from The Da Vinci Code, is not just a figment of author Dan Brown's imagination but a real-life chateau with a past as fascinating as its star-struck present. Set on a sprawling, 185-acre estate northwest of Paris, the 17th-century chateau was once home to the noble French Marshal Gen. Emmanuel de Grouchy, exiled to Philadelphia after leading Napoleon's troops to defeat in the Battle of Waterloo. [More]