Friday, November 09, 2012

Let's look at Blois

The city of Blois is the "capital" of our départment, le Loir-et-Cher. It's the largest town, with a population of just less than 50,000. It's a pretty little city on the banks of the Loire River, and its history as a royal city is well known in France.

Rooftops in Blois, looking south from the castle across the Loire River toward Blois Sud, on the river's left bank.

Blois is not far from the fantasy hunting lodge that King François the First built at Chambord. The Château de Blois was the royal castle for quite some time during the French Renaissance. Get ready for a bunch of photos from Blois.

14 comments:

  1. Is there a Blois in the US? The capital of a state? I heard it pronounced recently. Is your Blois similarly pronounced.

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    1. andrew, you might be thinking of Boise, the capital of Idaho. Different word...

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    2. Boise is pronounced (in American) [BOY-zee] or (in French) [bwah-ZAY], whereas Blois is pronounced [blwah] in French and is pretty much unpronounceable in American English. ;)

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    3. Ok, thanks. It was the French pronunciation of Boise I heard. Blois is quite hard to pronounce in Australian too.

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  2. Hmm, I wonder how any town named Blois would be pronounced here in the U.S. :) We have a Versailles in our state (in a very hick area), and it is pronounced something like: veurr-sales.

    Good job on the lawn, Walt!

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  3. Versailles, KY up near Lexington is pronounced like your Mo city, Judy LOL.
    Je suis pret, Walter

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  4. Sitting comfortably here, popcorn at hand. Let 'er flicker.

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  5. François 1er had some well-connected friends - Leonardo and last week I was watching "secrets d'histoire " and it was mentioned that he was friendly for political purposes with Suleyman the Magnificent . One built lodges and chateaux whilst the other one had a harem :-)

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  6. It's fascinating how just a bunch of roofs can look French!

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  7. You've chosen a very interesting skyline shot, Walt. The greys and blues of the slate are a nice change of pace from the terracotta of the chimneys (and soooo many chimneys!). Are those apartment buildings on the upper left of the photo?

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    1. mary, I think they are, with businesses on the ground floors.

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  8. I want to hear about the wine.

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