In the past we've had a quite few short breaks to Paris but we never had time to take the train out to the Chateau du Fontainebleu. Our mooring at Moret-sur-Loing was only 20 minutes away by bus so it was the perfect opportunity to pay a visit and tick it off my bucket list.
The buses only run every 2 hours on a Saturday and unfortunately for us it arrived a couple of minutes early and we just missed it. After a quick Google we decided to try the train and set off to walk to the nearest station 2kms away. We had to ask directions to the station and luckily the lady I asked was going to Paris on the same train that we needed and also luckily for us the train was 17 minutes late so we didn't have too long to wait. We got chatting on the train and she suggested that we'd need to get a bus from the station to the chateau but we couldn't find the bus stop. We spotted a walking route signposted towards the chateau 2kms away so started walking. I thought it was too good to be true and the signs quickly disappeared. Time to practice the French again and I collared a delivery driver who gave us directions. By this time it was almost 1 o'clock and 28'C . Fontainebleu town has some lovely shops which we passed on our route. It would be worth coming back just to have a wander round them another time.
We eventually made it to the chateau main entrance.......WOW
It was certainly as impressive as I'd imagined, but first things first.....We needed somewhere shady to eat our picnic.
The gardens of the Grand Partere are just fantastic. It's the largest French-style formal garden in Europe and is imaculate. All the pyramid shaped trees are trimmed to the same height and diameter and there wasn't a weed to be found in any of the flower beds.
This is the view of the "canal" which stretches 1200m away into the park
There were many unusual statues dotted about. This was one of a pair, her partner wasn't in quite as good condition.
On the other side of the chateau was the Diana garden, complete with her bronze statue and fountain. I think my grandchildren would like this statue - checkout the dogs 😀 It was a very tranquil, lush garden and would have made a much better spot for our picnic.
You can see the scale of the chateau and gardens in this painting I found during our tour inside.
Restoration of the Chateau is being carried out by the state but the front staircases are still in dire need of renovation and there is a collection box for donations to help.
It must be my past life in the construction industry still lurking in the background, I thought these roof access steps built into the tiling were brilliant
After the gardens we decided to go indoors. Most of the tour buses had left and it was fairly quiet. It's 12 euros to go inside and worth every centime!
This is the Chapelle de la Trinite, loking towards the alter.
Royalty worshipped from their own private balcony at the back of the chapel, Lords and Ladies had balconies along the sides and the more lowly artistocracy were on the ground floor
This is Napoleon's bedroom
He was a little man with a big attitude. You can tell how short he was from his short bed
and his short bath
He had big gold taps though...... bling was all the fashion back in the day
Every room had fantastically ornate ceilings and chandaliers
The Ballroom was simply stunning
Just look at the detail and the amount of gold paint used here
The corridors are just as amazing, filled with murals and statues
I'm not sure I could sleep in a room as fussy as this. It's the bedchamber of Anne of Austria and must have been a nightmare for the servants to keep clean....imagine all that dust!
Bye for now, see you soon
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