-2 Chateaux, 1 Saturday-

Our final Accent field trip took us out to Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte, with only a break for lunch in between.  By break for lunch, I of course meant getting a delicious macaron framboise (raspberry macaron).

First was Fontainebleau, a little 12th-century spot used as a hunting lodge and transformed into a grand chateau by Francois I in the  16th-century.  It's been a favourite with French kings, so the decoration is eclectic, but the overall scheme and sweeping gardens (both rugged English and formal French styles) are worth seeing.  Fortunately we had a guided tour, so we weren't left on our own to wander around (did I mention this place is huge?).  We saw several royal bedrooms, the chapel, and the staircase where Napoleon bid adieu to his Old Guard on 20 April 1814, before vacationing in Elba.  Apparently traipsing through the forests around the chateau (the whole reason this was a good spot for a hunting lodge) is fun, but we didn't have time for that.  We had a date with another chateau...

Vaux le Vicomte has a very different history than the royal getaway at Fontainebleau.  Purchased and created by Nicolas Fouquet, he (with the help of an architect, a painter/decorator, and a landscape gardener) turned this into a beautiful estate.  So beautiful that in 1661 Louis XIV became jealous, arrested Fouquet on false corruption charges, and sacked the chateau.  Though Fouquet was imprisoned for life, the chateau was given back to his wife ten years later and she eventually sold it.

It is now home to a bizarre collection of life-size wax figures giving an illustrative tour of the chateau and relating Fouquet's sad history.  And the gift shop offered some nice stuff, but my favourite were all of the squirrel stuffed animals.  Yes, squirrels.  Some men choose lions and phoenixes to represent their character and strength; Fouquet chose the écureuil (squirrel). 

Fortunately, his chateau and sweeping French gardens remain, and we hiked almost to the end of them to view the chateau from afar (then all the way back).  And though I wasn't a fan of the giant, sucking carp in the moat and the lake, this fountain was carp-free.