Fontainebleau

Paris is a dream, but I just had to get out of the city today. I needed open space, fresh air and minimal motorcycles. I chose to go to Fontainebleau, which is about a 40 minute train ride north of Paris. For centuries, it was a favorite home away from home for French royalty due to its proximity to Paris and lush hunting grounds. It is also where Napoleon abdicated and left to live in exile on the island of Elba.

The chateau was lovely, but I think the Loire Valley has much more to offer as far as visiting chateaux goes. However, I may just be a chateau snob after having seen so many so take my criticism with a grain of salt. All in all, the grounds and the chateau itself were beautiful, and it was a great day trip from Paris.

The Grounds

As you can probably already tell from the photos, this place is HUGE! Here is a model of the chateau and only some of its grounds just so you get the idea.

Inside the chateau

The only remaining throne room in France. Apparently, those revolutionaries weren't messing around. They destroyed every single other throne room in the country.

Bizarre Exhibition

You can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon these weird things while in a chateau in France. I am assuming it was some sort of art exhibition. I must say, though, it really threw a wrench into the whole "I'm in France at a gorgeous, historical sight" feeling that most people probably had going on in their minds before entering into this twilight zone...

Really? Whose bright idea was this?

Speaking of bright ideas. It appears that one person's was to put lamps in an old armoire and randomly place a laptop in the center.

This just put me over the edge. Stools made out of gnomes?

Note the contrast between the "exhibition" and the beautiful gallery in which it is housed. Perhaps that is the point, but again it didn't really do anything for me other than distract me from my 8 Euro audioguide which was speaking to me in a fake British accent.

Around the town of Fontainebleau