Fontainebleau

Yesterday while Franck was at school, Didou and I did a switch out with the kids until he got home.  I babysat from around 3 until 7, then went to see "De l'Eau pour les Éléphants" with Ashleigh (which was an extremely good movie by the way...).  

Charlotte, Ashleigh, and I got up early this morning and got on a transilien train towards Fontainebleau.  In Fontainebleau is of course, the Château de Fontainebleau.  Similar to Versailles, but not so crowded.

 The weather was perfect.  Warm enough to wear shorts, but not so hot that you sweat all day.  It was free for us to get in (yay!) so we said what the heck to a one euro audioguide, slid it around our necks, and off we went.  The audioguide was a little more descriptive that it probably needed to be, as we found ourselves just turning it off after 3 or 4 minutes in each room.  The first references to the château date back to the 12th century, since then, all of the kings of France have lived there.  Each king added to and embellished the palace, adding to what it is today.  It is the only château in France that was continuously inhabited for 7 centuries.  Many of the state apartments are decorated by Italian artists in typical renaissance style.  There was a great showcase of Napoleon's things...clothes, jewelry, furniture, china all dating back to the beginning of the 1800's.  But once again I find the ceilings most impressive in these palaces.  Just like at Versailles.  Therefore, I made a little selection of my favorite ceilings for you guys...ha, get excited!

Hard to guess those are ceilings if you're just looking at a partial photo, huh?!  And although it took hundreds of years for everything to finally be finished, I'm sure those ceilings took a good chunk of the time.

After the tour, we went outside to find a sandwich and a nice bench to sit on.  The gardens were lovely!  There were plenty of places to sit so we passed away a good hour just chatting next to the fountain.  The sky was so blue behind the château, it almost looked like a painting we were in!

We were back in Paris by 5, just enough time for Charlotte to make it to her weekly Sunday night family meeting.  I also want to wish a very special Happy Mother's Day to all of my moms and bonus moms, grandmothers, and bonus grandmothers.  You ALL are so special to me, and I wouldn't be who I am today without each of you.  I hate I am not there to spend the day with you...but know that I have been thinking about each of you all day!  Love you!!