Chambord - as I learned from the brochure we found at the apartment - is ridiculously huge. Besides the castle itself there is a lot of land, which covers 5440 hectares and is surrounded by a wall that is 32 kilometers long. We of course didn't walk the entire thing, but we did take a 45 minute horse-drawn carriage, and walked all over the castle. My friendly brochure had also informed me that kids could get a card with different clues, and that those who answered all the questions right could get a prize. So as we walked all around the castle, we (mostly Lionel and Sofia, since the whole thing was in French) worked on the clues. At times it was a little frustrating - when the answers didn't seem right to us - but Sofia was really into it which meant no whining on her part or asking if we were ready to leave soon. Isabella didn't participate on the clues, but she also did well for the most part.
When we finally got all the answers, and headed to the gift shop to claim Sofia's prize, she was very disappointed. In fact, she wasn't really disappointed ... She was flat out upset that the prize was a big postcard with the picture of the castle. After all her hard work (in her own words), she was for sure expecting something better. She had thought that maybe she would get to pick a stuffed animal or something like that. So I felt bad and bought them a key chain they chose, and couple pencils with castle-life figurines that I particularly liked. I even got one for myself (the joker) for whenever I need to remind myself to laugh.
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