Lors de notre petit tour dans la vallĆ©e de la Loire, nous sommes allĆ©s visiter le ChĆ¢teau de Chenonceau, Le Clos LucĆ© et lāimmense ChĆ¢teau de Chambord.
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During our little tour in the Loire Valley, we visited the Castles of Chenonceau, Clos LucƩ and the huge Chateau de Chambord. In general, I prefer the smaller castles, like Azay-Le-Rideau. But visiting the bigger castles is also part of the French culture. You just have to have seen them.
1 ā Visiting Chambord Castle
Chambord est ENORME. Cāest beau, mais cāest surtout impressionnant, et cāest fait pour impressionner (les autres rois et les touristes de tous les temps ;-)
Chambord is humongous. Itās beautiful, but it is mostly impressive, and it was made to impress (other kings and tourists of all ages :-)
HonnĆŖtement, je nāai pas trouvĆ© la visite tres intĆ©ressanteā¦ Comme le chĆ¢teau est si grand, il nāy a pas vraiment de tour imposĆ©. On vous donne une brochure avec plusieurs tours suggĆ©rĆ©s, et nous avions pris un guide audio. Dans chaque piĆØce, il y a un numĆ©ro : vous tapez le code et la description commence.
Honestly, I have not found the visit very interestingā¦ As the castle is so big, there is not really an imposed direction of the visit. They give you a booklet with several rounds suggested, and we took an audio guide. In each room, there is a number: you type in the code and the description begins.
2 ā Chambord Audio Guide
Si vous ĆŖtes un Ć©tudiant intermĆ©diaire, prenez un guide audio en franƧaisā¦ vous pouvez rĆ©pĆ©ter la description plusieurs fois, gĆ©nĆ©ralement le narrateur parle bien et clairement (mĆŖme si le vocabulaire peut ĆŖtre un peu difficile) et cāest une bonne faƧon dāamĆ©liorer votre franƧais. Voici un site pour plus dāinformations touristiques.
If youāre an intermediate student, take an audio guide in French ā¦ you can repeat the description several times, usually the narrator speaks well and clearly (although the vocabulary may be a bit difficult) and it is a good way improve your French. (more touristic info)
Enfin, revenons-en Ć nos moutons (une expression qui veut dire revenons au sujet dont je parlais).
Well, āletās return to our sheepā (an expression meaning back to what I was talking about).
3 ā Getting Lost in Chambord
Donc, Chambordā¦ cāest facile de se perdreā¦ Lāescalier principal, Ć double rĆ©volutions, est bien sĆ»r trĆØs intĆ©ressant : en fait, il y a deux escaliers en colimaƧon lāun dans lāautre. Jāimagine un pour monter, lāautre pour descendre sans douteā¦.
So, Chambord ā¦ itās easy to get lost ā¦ The main staircase, double staircase, is of course very interesting: in fact, there are two spiral staircases, one inside the other. One to go up, the other to go down I imagine probablyā¦.
Il y a des ouvertures au milieu, donc vous pouvez faire ācoucouā Ć vos amis sur lāautre escalier. Cāest trĆØs amusant pour les touristesā¦
There are openings in the middle, so you can say hi to friends on the other staircase. Itās great fun for tourists ā¦
4 ā Chambord ā the 18th Century Apartments
Le chĆ¢teau a une partie avec des appartements dĆ©corĆ©s du 18ĆØme siĆØcle ā je suppose que cela est trĆØs interessants pour les touristes, mais pour moi, jāai dĆ©jĆ vu des dizaines de chambres comme Ƨa (on dirait le salon de mes parentsā¦ non, je plaisante bien sĆ»r)ā¦ vous allez dire que je suis blasĆ©e, et vous aurez peut ĆŖtre raison.
The castle has a section featuring decorated 18th century apartments ā I guess this is very interesting for tourists, but for me, Iāve seen dozens [lit: tens] of rooms like this (it looks like the living room of my parents ā¦ no, Iām kidding of course) ā¦ youāll say Iām jaded, and you may be right.
5 ā Chambord ā Lots of Big Empty Rooms
Mais sinon, ce sont principalement de grandes piĆØces vides (ou presque vides) Ć Chambord. Pourquoi ? PremiĆØrement parce que le chĆ¢teau Ć©tait seulement une maison de vacances, en particulier de chasse et le roi voyageait avec ses meublesā¦ mais aussi parce quāhier et aujourdāhui, Chambord Ć©tait principalement utilisĆ© pour des receptions. Aujourdāhui encore, on peut louer Chambord pour un mariage, un salonā¦Et pour cela, il faut des grands espaces videsā¦
But otherwise, itās mostly big (empty or nearly) empty rooms at Chambord. Why? First, because the castle was only a used during vacations, especially hunting and the king was traveling with his furniture thenā¦ but also because yesterday and today, Chambord was mainly used for receptions. Today, you can rent Chambord for a wedding, a conference of some sort ā¦ and this requires large empty spaces ā¦
If you enjoy learning French in context, check out my unique downloadable French audiobooks, featuring bilingual stories recorded once in enunciated French, then in modern spoken French.
Spend a week in the beautiful harbour town of Paimpol on the North Coast of France.
6 ā Visiting The Roofs of Chambord
Enfin, il y a les toĆ®ts. Les toĆ®ts de Chambord sont fantastiques. On dirait une petite ville, cāest plein de grandes cheminĆ©es, de fenĆŖtres, de sculptureā¦ et de touristes japonais !!
Finally, there are the roofs. The roofs of Chambord are fantastic. They look like a small town, are full of great chimneys, windows, sculptures ā¦ and Japanese tourists !!
7 ā No Gardens In Chambord
Il nāy a pas vraiment de beaux jardins Ć Chambord, mais un trĆØs grand parc, dans lequel on peut aussi faire beaucoup dāactivitĆ©s : encore tout un visage de Chambord Ć dĆ©couvrir !
There are no really beautiful gardens in Chambord, but a very large park, where you can also do a lot of activities: yet a whole new face of Chambord to discover!
If you like this article, I suggest you now practice your French with my easy learn French in context stories about Le Clos LucĆ©, and take a virtual visit of Chenonceau (in English) ā We looooooved Chenonceau!
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