Parislog 71
October 15, 2006

This weekend A* and I went to Fontainebleau to the chateau of the kings. It was a truly amazing place with many architectural styles and furnishings in one place. The oldest part of the site was a medieval keep dating from the 12th century. The main entrance to the chateau is a double horseshoe staircase that creates a most sinuous and grandiose entrance.

There are so many notables that have lived there, or rather stayed part of the year, usually the fall, for hunting. Francois, Henri, Henri IV, Louis XIII, IV,V,VI, Napoleon, Napoleon III. King’s were born there, died there, and were married there. It is a truly rich place in history as well as style.

We both got the audio guides to better understand what we were about to see. I was fortunate enough to get entrance free for being registered as unemployed. What a cool thing. For most of the visit we were in relative piece and didn’t get surrounded by tour groups too often. Usually when that would happen we would give a little wait and get back out of it. There was one wonderful moment when we were sitting in the keep room and we were completely by ourselves. It was an awesome feeling. Later we had the tour guide from hell come around us. He had 2 clients and was speaking as loudly as if he had 50. He stood right next to me where I was listening to my audio guide and I actually could not hear it. I asked him to not be so loud and all he did was point to his guide badge and keep on speaking as though it were a giant field in which he had to project. Grrrr.

On our way out we found a dozen old collector cars parked in the courtyard. There was nothing around explaining why they were there. They were stunning cars though.

Afterwards we went to a cute little teashop and had tea and a little sponge cake. Then we walked around the town a little. It is a surprisingly big town with quite expensive clothing stores. I guess it is a well off little spot.