Thursday, September 22, 2016

Château de Nantes

Wandering Around Cottage - September 2016 Edition

School has been back in session since August 31st here (yes, one day earlier as usual in France) and we're already celebrating the beginning of fall... Where has time gone?

Je suis de retour à l'école depuis le 31 août et tout d'un coup, on célèbre l'arrivée de l'automne... Mais comment le temps est-il passé si vite ?

Really, this month has been very tiring. One of the new school I work in is rather tough and there are evenings when I just fell asleep when coming back home. It leaves little time for writing for the blog, reading blogs or even taking care of projects to blog about. Did I mention that the government thought it was a good idea to change all the syllabus for the different levels the same year? So when you think I haven't been blogging for a while, please feel free to write a complain letter to our minister of education.

Ce premier mois a été épuisant. Une de mes écoles cette année est réputée pour être difficile et tout ce que je peux dire, c'est que cette réputation est bien méritée. Il y a des soirs où je m'endors sur le canapé dès mon retour à la maison. Cela laisse peu de temps pour écrire le blog ou lire les vôtres... Car pour occuper mes moments éveillés à la maison, la ministre a décidé de changer tous les programmes de tous les niveaux en même temps... Bref, si vous trouvez mes articles trop rares, merci d'envoyer votre lettre de plainte directement à la ministre de l'éducation.


So who came here to to read me rant about my job? What? No one? Let's go & visit a castle, then!

Alors qui est venu ici pour lire un article où je me plains ? Quoi ? Personne ? Bon, partons visiter un château, alors !



Last summer, I went to Nantes, which is a town that is now out of Brittany, but used to be the capital of Brittany, back when it was a duchy separated from France. 


L'été dernier, j'ai visité Nantes, une ville hors de Bretagne actuellement, mais qui était autrefois une des villes principales du duché de Bretagne. 

Of course, the dukes and duchesses had to have a castle in their main city... This is where I'm taking you today.


The castle was built on the river Loire's banks. It doesn't seem so now, but it's not because the castle was moved... The river, however, was, but that's a story for another post! As you can see, the tram now runs right under the castle's walls.


Le château a été construit sur les rives de la Loire. En regardant les photos, vous vous dites peut-être que je raconte n'importe quoi, mais ce n'est pas le château qui a été déplacé, c'est la Loire... C'est une longue histoire pour un autre article.


The first castle built there dates from the 13th century, but you can see on the pictures that there are several types of architectures that show the castle was transformed and added to over the centuries.


Le premier château construit sur ce site date du XIIIe siècle, mais comme vous pouvez le voir sur les photos, il présente aujourd'hui différents types d'architectures qui prouvent qu'il a été transformé et agrandi au cours des siècles.


Among the people who transformed the castle, one of the most famous is Anne of Brittany, whom we met in a previous post and happened to be queen of France twice. She added some embellishment that were typical from the Renaissance. She asked for her heart to be brought back to Brittany after her death: the case it's in can be seen in the castle (it's in a very dark room so the photo isn't so great).


Parmi les personnes qui ont transformé ce château, il y a Anne de Bretagne, dont je vous avais déjà parlé lors de la visite de Blain et qui est célèbre pour avoir été deux fois reine de France. Elle a notamment fait ajouter des embellissements typiquement de la Renaissance. L'écrin dans lequel son cœur est enfermé est visible dans le musée du château.


It's in this castle that was signed the fact that the duchy of Brittany was united to France in 1532.
 

C'est dans ce château qu'a été officialisée l'union de la Bretagne à la France. 

To the right, the part of the castle built under Louis XIVth.

Maybe you've heard of the famous mousquetaires? One day, as Louis XIVth was staying in the castle, he asked the well-known musketeer D'Artagnan to arrest there his "minister of budget". The poor minister spent the rest of his life locked-up.


C'est alors qu'il était en visite au château de Nantes que Louis XIV demande au mousquetaire D'Artagnan d'arrêter son surintendant des finances, Nicolas Fouquet qui passe ainsi le reste de sa vie enfermé.


As often after being cherished by dukes, princes and kings, the castle was used as a prison for some time.


Comme souvent, après avoir été chéri des ducs, des princes et des rois, le château a été utilisé comme prison.


During World War II, the castle was used by German troups and a telephone switchboard was created there.


Pendant la seconde Guerre mondiale, le château fut réquisitionné par les Allemands et un standard téléphonique y fut créé.


You can tour the rampart for free and it gives lovely views both on the castle buildings, the chapel for example, and on the city and its cathedral.


Faire le tour des remparts est gratuit et l'on bénéficie de belles vues sur les bâtiments du château, comme la chapelle, par exemple, et sur la ville et sa cathédrale.


I did visit the inside, but it's now a town history museum, so I'm keeping this for further posts, if you don't mind. Also you may have a life and don't want my post to last for ever!

J'ai visité l'intérieur, mais c'est un musée de la ville de Nantes et je garde donc ça pour une autre fois, sinon cet article sera sans fin et vous avez peut-être des choses à faire !

 
If you ever go to Nantes, please be warned that people there aren't very friendly, so bring your map as nobody will help you if you're lost and be prepared to not call people names if they are rude when you're politely asking if your teacher card gives you a discount... The castle was so beautiful that it was worth overlooking the non-smiling people!

Si vous allez à Nantes, j'aime autant vous avertir qu'ils sont en rupture de stock de sourires. Pensez à prendre votre carte de la ville car personne ne vous aidera si vous êtes perdu et essayez de ravaler vos insultes si l'on vous répond avec la plus grande impolitesse quand vous demandez gentiment si vous pouvez avoir la réduction, carte à l'appui, pour l'entrée au musée. Le château est superbe et mérite de supporter l'attitude bougonne des Nantais.

See you next time (I don't dare writing "soon"),

A la prochaine fois,




35 comments:

  1. how sad that people are rude when visiting places! it looks like a very nice castle - sounds like teachers in France are over worked as teachers here in the states are - what grade/level do you teach?

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  2. Amazing photos Magali and hang in there - I hope it is a wonderful school year!

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  3. Thank you for a bit of history and very interesting about Anne of Brittanys heart. Just keep on smiling Magali at the crabby people.
    Have a cuppa of hot tea and cuddle amongst the kitties after a long day of teaching:). Kathleen in Az

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    1. The week has been long and intense, but it's so great spending the evening reading the commments!

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  4. The castle is lovely with interesting history. The first image of the dog gargoyles look just like my daughters two dachshunds :) I hope that things get easier at work for you soon. xx Karen

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    1. Those gargoyles were amazingly realistic and in good shape for their age!

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  5. Oh, how wonderful to visit such beautiful castles.

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  6. What a beautiful tour and history of the castle. Loved this Magali.
    Kris

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  7. What a beautiful tour. I hope your schedule eases up a little so you can have some time for enjoying things a little!

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  8. I'm glad you had a nice visit in spite of the people! I have been watching Downton Abbey from the beginning again and I want to be rich and live in a castle or huge house with servants and no need to go to a job anymore. Sigh. lol I'll be ok...

    xo

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  9. Hi..nice surprise to have you in my inbox this morning..it must be Great to live where such history is basically all around you..i think other then the Vanderbilt mansion the only "castle" over here is in Disney..or probably both Disney's..i've never been to the one in CA..come to think of it..that's where you'll find any Prince or Princess's here too..should i ever get over your way i'll be putting my tour list together from your Fabulous blog..i'm sorry your job is a pain this yr..
    so glad you have wonderful adventures saved to share..hope you have a Fabulous weekend..hoping you can...rest an bake.!!

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  10. That was certainly interesting - layers and layers of history! It's really too bad that the people of Nantes are so rude. Perhaps they just don't like visitors at all!

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    1. Nantes was a lovely town, but meeting the people there wasn't a very pleasant experience!

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  11. I so thoroughly enjoy your tours Magali! It must be wonderful to live in a country with such a rich and beautiful history!!! Thank you for taking us along!

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  12. It does seem that no matter what country you live in teaching schedules and syllabus do not get any easier!

    I really enjoyed my tour and looking at your photo's.

    I wish you a relaxing weekend

    All the best Jan

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    1. Jan, it seems no teacher really knows what to do this year, which means we have countless meetings that are a waste of time more often than not! But it's the weekend!!!

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  13. Forcément ce que je préfère dans ce château que je ne trouve pas particulièrement sympa, c'est ses canards qui sont trop beaux. Je pense que l'intérieur lui, doit être magnifique.
    Caresses à Shadow et Milo, mais il y en a un troisième non?
    Bisous et bon weekend. Babette

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  14. Looks like a wonderful place to explore. I once saw the chateaus in Loire valley and loved them!

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  15. I'm sure you would never call anyone names LOL

    Thanks for sharing another wonderful castle.

    xo
    Laura

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  16. I LOVE FRANCE.

    The architecture, the history, the language, the people. YOU ALL ROCK!

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  17. Such a gorgeous, romantic castle. I would have loved to have seen it with you!

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  18. Thanks foe the tour of this beautiful place. The heart kept in a display case gave me the creeps. I empathize with you over the bust start of the school year. Hopefully, you hit your stride soon. (Find your rhythm)

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  19. I love reading your posts, and the history lessons, which make me read more. I am wondering if that was a "thing" to have your heart sent back to a place you had loved, since it seems more than one ruler did it. Your pictures make me wish I was there, despite rude people. Although, something happened once while I was in Scotland with a rude waitress, and we have laughed about it many times. Your job does sound exhausting, hope it gets better. And, I wasn't going to point this out, so please take it with my good intentions, here in the US we refer to D'Artagnan as a "Musketeer, rather than a mousequetiere. ☺Meanwhile,please keep us informed on your life, whenever you can.❤

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    1. Nancy,
      Thank you so much for your correction. Obviously I don't check every word on the posts or that would take me forever and I always have a hard time spelling words that are nearly the same in French and English, but don't have the same spelling. I'll correct that mistake right away!
      Magali

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    2. I really really hesitated on telling you, because I did not want you to think I was being picky. Your English is very very good. I know some words are harder to translate, you should hear my spanish. What made up my mind was that I would want someone to tell me. Hope you have a good week.

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    3. I definitely appreciate when people help me correct my mistakes. There was a history mistake in one of my post once and I was very grateful to the reader who told me so.

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  20. Magali, France is so beautiful!! I want to visit Europe so badly, and I always think we'll go to Great Britain, but you really make me want to visit France!!!

    -andi

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  21. Les classes sont difficiles parce que les enfants sont de plus en plus mal élevés par des parents réfractaires à l'autorité et souvent incapables de s'occuper de leur progéniture, c'est plus facile de les coller sur des tablettes ou de les laisser jouer avec des téléphones portables...
    J'aime beaucoup ces ballades que tu nous contes de temps en temps
    Bon courage pour la reprise

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  22. I enjoyed the castle and the history. I hope that the school year gets easier.
    Amalia
    xo

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  23. Thank you for the tour! It is the only way I will ever see it! Feel free to gripe about your job, it is an American way of life!! We understand!!

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    1. I'm glad you could visit that French castle, even if it was only virtually!

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  24. Magnificent! Castles (other than at Disney!) just aren't something we have here in the US. Hope things settle down at school, and things become a little easier for your!

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