Voyages au printemps: Un jour gris à Château de Chambord/Chateau de Chambord on a grey day

Approach view of Chambord

Alors que nous avons eu la voiture et le jour faisait gris nous avons choisi aller à Château de Chambord, qui est près de la ville, Blois. Nous avons pris l’autoroute parce que il était le plusvite route.

Je l’aimais ; c’est comme un château auquel j’ai revé. Il y avait beaucoup d’explorer. Aussi il n’y avait beaucoup des touristes, donc le Château n’etait pas bondé. Nous nous l'amusions là

It was a grey day on Thursday and as we still the rental car we decided we should go to Château de Chambord, otherwise we would miss out on the opportunity to see it. It was a quick drive up the autoroute which of course included the extraction of more money by whomever built this network – likely to be a government department in France.

The south side

Chambord is a grand Chateau by any standards – a castle is what Bev keeps calling it which is the English equivalent. The Chateau presents two faces - one for the arrival of people and it is most impressive as you will see from the photo. The other is more private and faces south towards the sun, but is equally as stunning. It was built by Francois 1 to make a statement. He died before it was completed. Eventually it was the home of the Duke of Chambord (abbreviated history as there were a number of other wealthy aristocrats involved).

The top of the double spiral stairs

Both of us had a wonderful time going through the place. It was built to impress and I am sure it did that. It was also modernised to keep up with “modern trends” such as lowered ceilings and enclosed fireplaces. It was a very cold place during the winter and certainly was when we were there. One of the most impressive parts was double spiral staircase in the middle of the Chateau.

I felt like a kid experiencing the sort of dream you have about castles - the ones you read about in books and fairy tales and unlike the Palais de Versailles you able to explore a good deal of the place. Like all old places it is need of repair and that was clearly going on when we were there. I also think the building is visually more interesting that Versailles.

Bev was very excited by the place and kept telling me to slow down as she wanted to make the most of the experience whereas I was just as happy exploring all the nooks crannies and going up lots of spiral staircases.

A little bridge over the moat

Western side of the Chateau

After we had visited the kitchen display (most interesting to see what they did and used in those times – lots of copper and brass as it deals with heat more evenly) we went for a walk around the grounds before heading back to Saumur.

I had left Saumur knowing that I had to get diesel somewhere but remarkably on the way out of Saumur there was no petrol station and on the Autoroute the gouging for fuel was horrendous. We couldn’t easily find one in Blois as we travelled back and with fuel running low I began to get a little worried. Fortunately there was a station at an Aire (rest area on the Autoroute) but it hurt to pay nearly 20€ cents or 40 cents NZ more per litre for the fuel. Needless to say I got just enough to get us back to Saumur where I was sure I could find a cheaper place.