A day in Camelot
Last week, lavvyan came to visit me in Paris, and after a day of frantic sightseeing in the city, we went to Pierrefonds Camelot. We were really lucky: gorgeous weather and no filming. It was pretty incredible to be there, if not a bit surreal. Inga already posted a picspam of our day there at merlinxarthur ( link), but since she had put me in charge of the more detailed picspam, here I am, with my pics, my maps and even a video. *g* Thank you, Inga, for letting me use a couple of your pics to complete mine.
Very image heavy. Not for people on dial-up (if there's still such a thing as being on dial-up).
~ * ~
From the entrance to the castle
This is the drawn map that you can see on a board at the entrance (A) of the castle.
From there, we walked the path you can see going around the castle to arrive at 4.
(There's a more detailed map at the end of this post.)
View from the parking lot.
This is where Arthur trains with Merlin at the beginning of "Valiant",
seen from the other side of the ruins.
Views of the castle while walking on the aforementioned path.
It is not very obvious from the picture below, but the door on the left is the door of the barn
in which Merlin and Arthur fight in the pilot.
They had built the market and street around those doors and surrounding areas.
Then, if you turn your head right, you see this:
which they made us believe to be much higher than it actually is.
It is also where Merlin and Gaius walk when they're going to sample the water in 1x03.
Goodbye Lancelot!
The entrance of the castle.
Merlin's corner, as lavvyan and I liked to call it.
We may or may not have taken very stupid pictures of ourselves doing magic in that exact spot.
Then, we get to the draw-bridge.
And the courtyard.
On the left, the way out of the castle via the draw-bridge.
On the right, the way to the castle's restroom. *g*
At the end of this corridor, there are glass doors and the bookshop ...
which is probably why we tend to see it from the other end on the show.
~ * ~
Inside the castle.
Starting our way in from the main entrance and up towards the Gryphon statue:
Above, I was standing in the room, looking at the corridor.
In Merlin, the camera was in the corridor, looking at the room.
The chapel (leading to Lady Helen's room), seen from the first floor.
Back in the courtyard and starting our way in from the stairs leading to the reception room:
The salle des Preuses:
To the dungeons (below ground level).
I forgot how many time we've seen them run up and down those stairs. *g*
To the dragon!
Back on the ground floor, the guardroom.
On the top left, above the windows, you can see a railing;
behind it is the corridor you can see when Gwen is being arrested for sorcery,
or when Merlin helps Nimueh pick up her belongings in "The Poisoned Chalice" (see map at the end of the post).
We couldn't go there, so I don't have any good pictures of it. Unfortunately.
It took me a while to realize it, but this room is where the scene with the black knight was shot.
or the banquet in "The Poisoned Chalice".
And at the end of the guardroom, there is ... the bookstore!
And guess who's in the bookstore?
\o/
On the other side of the plastic holder, there's the promo picture of Lancelot on his horse
just before he kills the griffin, not Merlin ... which is a shame. But there are books about Merlin. :)
~ * ~
The long curving path
Out again, and this time on the long path used by Lancelot (among others) when he left Camelot.
This used to be the market place in season one, too.
This is also where the fountain is.
~ * ~
Season two set!
Just the day before we visited the castle, they put up a few houses right after the entrance (A, top map)
and then built a fake gate at the end of their brand-new medieval street.
THE STOCKS!
(lavvyan and I were in fangirl heaven.)
Fake fountain! Ladder!
This gate is completely fake. It's very convincing in real life.
~ * ~
Flyers!
Scans of the flyers available at the entrance.
White = French. Green = English. Colors = French, English, German.
Note: For some unknown reason and no matter what I do, photobucket keeps resizing down the English flyer, even though it is within the allowed size parameters.
It doesn't resize the one in French though, which is exactly the same size. Go figure. If you have too much trouble reading it, email me (see info) and I'll email back.
~ * ~
Maps!
If you want to know what is where, click on the maps below.
Made from memory. I'm 98% sure it's correct, but you know ... there's always the possibility of mistakes.
Note, however, that the underground map is quite imprecise. I didn't have any map I could scan and use, so I drew it myself from my rough memory of the layout. The main aspects of it are correct though, but probably not the scale. We only had access to a small part of it, too, so it is incomplete.
Grounds
Ground floor
First floor
Underground
~ * ~
Videos!
I made small videos with my camera.
The quality is not outstanding but it's still moving pictures so that has to count for something. I added some Merlin footage to help visualize what's what, and because it's fun. I had to increase the velocity of almost all of the footage -- otherwise the video would have been waaaay too long -- so some parts are really, really shaky. Sorry about that.
~ * ~
THE END.
OMG! This picspam was huge, but believe me when I say my pic folder is even bigger.
You only saw about a fourth of what I actually took. 0_o
Full resolution pictures are available upon request, for fanart or research purposes.
Crediting is mandatory.
Please, do not hot-link or post any of these pictures anywhere else, blah, blah, blah. Thank you.
Very image heavy. Not for people on dial-up (if there's still such a thing as being on dial-up).
~ * ~
From the entrance to the castle
This is the drawn map that you can see on a board at the entrance (A) of the castle.
From there, we walked the path you can see going around the castle to arrive at 4.
(There's a more detailed map at the end of this post.)
View from the parking lot.
This is where Arthur trains with Merlin at the beginning of "Valiant",
seen from the other side of the ruins.
Views of the castle while walking on the aforementioned path.
It is not very obvious from the picture below, but the door on the left is the door of the barn
in which Merlin and Arthur fight in the pilot.
They had built the market and street around those doors and surrounding areas.
Then, if you turn your head right, you see this:
which they made us believe to be much higher than it actually is.
It is also where Merlin and Gaius walk when they're going to sample the water in 1x03.
Goodbye Lancelot!
The entrance of the castle.
Merlin's corner, as lavvyan and I liked to call it.
We may or may not have taken very stupid pictures of ourselves doing magic in that exact spot.
Then, we get to the draw-bridge.
And the courtyard.
On the left, the way out of the castle via the draw-bridge.
On the right, the way to the castle's restroom. *g*
At the end of this corridor, there are glass doors and the bookshop ...
which is probably why we tend to see it from the other end on the show.
~ * ~
Inside the castle.
Starting our way in from the main entrance and up towards the Gryphon statue:
Above, I was standing in the room, looking at the corridor.
In Merlin, the camera was in the corridor, looking at the room.
The chapel (leading to Lady Helen's room), seen from the first floor.
Back in the courtyard and starting our way in from the stairs leading to the reception room:
The salle des Preuses:
To the dungeons (below ground level).
I forgot how many time we've seen them run up and down those stairs. *g*
To the dragon!
Back on the ground floor, the guardroom.
On the top left, above the windows, you can see a railing;
behind it is the corridor you can see when Gwen is being arrested for sorcery,
or when Merlin helps Nimueh pick up her belongings in "The Poisoned Chalice" (see map at the end of the post).
We couldn't go there, so I don't have any good pictures of it. Unfortunately.
It took me a while to realize it, but this room is where the scene with the black knight was shot.
or the banquet in "The Poisoned Chalice".
And at the end of the guardroom, there is ... the bookstore!
And guess who's in the bookstore?
\o/
On the other side of the plastic holder, there's the promo picture of Lancelot on his horse
just before he kills the griffin, not Merlin ... which is a shame. But there are books about Merlin. :)
~ * ~
The long curving path
Out again, and this time on the long path used by Lancelot (among others) when he left Camelot.
This used to be the market place in season one, too.
This is also where the fountain is.
~ * ~
Season two set!
Just the day before we visited the castle, they put up a few houses right after the entrance (A, top map)
and then built a fake gate at the end of their brand-new medieval street.
THE STOCKS!
(lavvyan and I were in fangirl heaven.)
Fake fountain! Ladder!
This gate is completely fake. It's very convincing in real life.
~ * ~
Flyers!
Scans of the flyers available at the entrance.
White = French. Green = English. Colors = French, English, German.
Note: For some unknown reason and no matter what I do, photobucket keeps resizing down the English flyer, even though it is within the allowed size parameters.
It doesn't resize the one in French though, which is exactly the same size. Go figure. If you have too much trouble reading it, email me (see info) and I'll email back.
~ * ~
Maps!
If you want to know what is where, click on the maps below.
Made from memory. I'm 98% sure it's correct, but you know ... there's always the possibility of mistakes.
Note, however, that the underground map is quite imprecise. I didn't have any map I could scan and use, so I drew it myself from my rough memory of the layout. The main aspects of it are correct though, but probably not the scale. We only had access to a small part of it, too, so it is incomplete.
Grounds
Ground floor
First floor
Underground
~ * ~
Videos!
I made small videos with my camera.
The quality is not outstanding but it's still moving pictures so that has to count for something. I added some Merlin footage to help visualize what's what, and because it's fun. I had to increase the velocity of almost all of the footage -- otherwise the video would have been waaaay too long -- so some parts are really, really shaky. Sorry about that.
~ * ~
THE END.
OMG! This picspam was huge, but believe me when I say my pic folder is even bigger.
You only saw about a fourth of what I actually took. 0_o
Full resolution pictures are available upon request, for fanart or research purposes.
Crediting is mandatory.
Please, do not hot-link or post any of these pictures anywhere else, blah, blah, blah. Thank you.