7.18.09 Paris.

fountainbleau greeting us.

Today was our last day in Paris. I can’t say I’m terribly sad to leave Paris I mean I have loved it but I can’t wait to experience London. We had the morning to ourselves and then we met up in the afternoon to take our chartered bus to Fountainbleau and Vaux. We arrived at Fountainbleau and it is a random palace set in the middle of a quaint town outside of Paris. This palace preceded Versailles and was Napoleon’s home. It is much smaller than Versailles but I think that is why I liked it because it wasn’t so ominous and overbearing. While still very ornate, It wasn’t totally over the top and had a lot more wood than I have seen in any place we’ve seen thus far. I loved all the woodwork and the wood floors. The flooring in most rooms mirrored the ceiling in the detail, which was a really neat thing to see. The room I loved was fascinated with was a dining area. The chairs were SOO small! I couldn’t believe how small and delicate they were and how little they must have been back in the 17th century in order to fit on those.

tiny chairs at the tiny table...pretty sure those were as strong as toothpicks

original fabric sofa from the 1700's

Another room that was fascinating was Napoleon’s bathroom. The tub was big enough for a small dog to fit in it, not a human. It was his private bathroom off of his office space because he spent most of his time in the office, not in his room. His office also had its own day bed behind the desk so that Napoleon could sleep when he needed and then get up and work again. It was a very beautiful palace and seeing how palaces stated to be laid out back then was interesting. First there was the guard’s room and then you enter the bedroom and move farther into the private quarters. After the tour, we ended in the interior courtyard where they had the best sorbet cart and since we’ve been awhile without gelato, we had to refresh ourselves with something in a cone.

napoleon's teeny tiny bathroom

wonderful wonderful peach sorbet. merci fountainbleau.

From there, we stopped at a full on supermarket out in the country and it was so funny how excited we were to be in a grocery store just like back in the states. The fab 5 hooked up and conquered that grocery store. We were getting food for our picnic for our next stop, Vaux. We got us some baguettes, fruit, cheese, ham, nutella, crackers, chocolate covered waffles, and the best purchase of the day… a 10 pack of Twix bars! The best part, it was our cheapest meal yet and we made quite a haul of food. We arrived at Vaux and it was threatening to rain but we were hoping that it wouldn’t. We ate our feast and for the first time in 18 days we were full! It was a wonderful meal to say the least. We arrived at Vaux at night because each night the light some ridiculous amount of candles throughout the palace and gardens and it is supposed to be an incredible experience.

the champion market. it really was a champion for us.

best purchase EVER. the twix are way better here for some reason.

our lovely feast of a dinner.

Vaux is another palace that was built before Versailles for Nicholas Fouquet. Louis XIV later wrongly accused Nicholas Fouquet and had him thrown in prison because he was jealous of Vaux and issued Versailles to be built to outdo Vaux. In my opinion, I would have just taken Vaux for myself if I were Louis because I found it much more beautiful and impressive than Versailles. It had such a different feel and felt more manageable to take in than Versailles. Walking up to the château, the windows were lit up with candles on the inside, but sadly, the rains came. We didn’t get to see the some 15,000 candles that light the place. Honestly though, it was still incredible even without the candles because it is just such an amazing place.

vaux (pronounced 'vo'. those darn french and their x's)


awkward? we say art.

at least the candles were lit on the inside.

we were so sad about the rain and no candles in the pretty garden.

the most beautiful gardens i have ever seen...and the rain.

The gardens are astounding and seeing them from the balcony was a sight to see. I must note here that Eva Longeria had her wedding here and can I say jealous? This would be the dream place to have your wedding and I would love to have mine there as well, minus the price tag. Even in the rain, we walked out in the gardens and it felt like we were transported to the English countryside. Everything was so green and lush and the rain actually gave a great ambience and misted the place and looked beautiful. We walked the length of the gardens and then walked above some archways and found us an adventure. There was a pathway in the forest to the side of Vaux so we took it to see where it would lead. We came to the end and we were at some lounge area just off the gardens. We had a good time over there just taking in the whole place and the incredible view. It was getting dark and the interior of Vaux was lit and glowing. It honestly was the perfect ending to France and it was one of those moments you just kind of wish you could stay in for a long time. Classical music and superb opera was being piped in through loud speakers and created the scene as if we were attending an event here at Vaux back in the 1800’s. What an incredible experience the only way I would have wanted the week in Paris to end.

vaux from behind.

as night set in, vaux glowed. b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

just hangin out at the palace and felt we needed to capture the piping music.

classic. this captures our experience quite nicely.