Chambord Castle – French Story & Translation

Author: Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Take a virtual tour of the castle of Chambord with this free French story for all with hide or reveal English translation, and many gorgeous pictures.

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 lā€™immense ChĆ¢teau de Chambord.

Use the floating blue icon in the bottom right to hide/reveal the English translations below or just click here.

During our little tour in the Loire Valley, we visited the Castles of Chenonceau, Clos LucĆ© 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. Cā€™est beau, mais cā€™est surtout impressionnant, et cā€™est fait pour impressionner (les autres rois et les touristes de tous les temps ;-)

Chambord is humongous. Itā€™s beautiful, but it is mostly impressive, and it was made to impress (other kings and tourists of all ages :-)

HonnĆŖtement, je nā€™ai pas trouvĆ© la visite tres intĆ©ressanteā€¦ Comme le chĆ¢teau est si grand, il nā€™y 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 cā€™est une bonne faƧon dā€™amĆ©liorer votre franƧais. Voici un site pour plus dā€™informations touristiques.

If youā€™re 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, ā€œletā€™s return to our sheepā€ (an expression meaning back to what I was talking about).

3 ā€“ Getting Lost in Chambord

Donc, Chambordā€¦ cā€™est facile de se perdreā€¦ Lā€™escalier principal, Ć  double rĆ©volutions, est bien sĆ»r trĆØs intĆ©ressant : en fait, il y a deux escaliers en colimaƧon lā€™un dans lā€™autre. Jā€™imagine un pour monter, lā€™autre pour descendre sans douteā€¦.

So, Chambord ā€¦ itā€™s 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 ā€œcoucouā€ Ć  vos amis sur lā€™autre escalier. Cā€™est trĆØs amusant pour les touristesā€¦

There are openings in the middle, so you can say hi to friends on the other staircase. Itā€™s 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, jā€™ai 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, Iā€™ve seen dozens [lit: tens] of rooms like this (it looks like the living room of my parents ā€¦ no, Iā€™m kidding of course) ā€¦ youā€™ll say Iā€™m 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 quā€™hier et aujourdā€™hui, Chambord Ć©tait principalement utilisĆ© pour des receptions. Aujourdā€™hui encore, on peut louer Chambord pour un mariage, un salonā€¦Et pour cela, il faut des grands espaces videsā€¦

But otherwise, itā€™s 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€¦

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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, cā€™est 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 nā€™y a pas vraiment de beaux jardins Ć  Chambord, mais un trĆØs grand parc, dans lequel on peut aussi faire beaucoup dā€™activitĆ©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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Author: Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Camille Chevalier-Karfis

Born and raised in Paris, I have been teaching today's French to adults for 25+ years in the US and France. Based on my students' goals and needs, I've created unique downloadable French audiobooks focussing on French like it's spoken today, for all levels. Come to Paimpol and enjoy an exclusive French immersion homestay with me in Brittany.

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