We went straight from the airport to Versailles:
We skipped the interior and focused on the gardens. I was a bit surprised to see that none of the flowers were planted yet. I expected spring bulbs.
The drive from Versailles to our rental house was supposed to take about 40 minutes. Let's skip over the gory details and just say that the A86 was designed by Satan, shall we? Not my finest navigating moment. But we eventually found the house, although not in time to buy towels. (The rental contract for this house was all in French, so we missed that we needed to bring our own.)
Due to arriving in France five days late, we had to scrap most of what we wanted to see that first week, including Paris. We ended up focusing on chateaus.
On Friday, we visited Vaux-le-Vicomte, a chateau so elaborate that a jealous Louis XIV imprisoned the owner for life and seized the property.
Visitors at least 10 years old get to climb up to the dome:
And the stonework is rife with Italian fence lizards. Each boy stalked his own.
Saturday morning we had to pack up again and drive to our next rental. We visited Fontainebleau on the way.
The kids were amazed by this fountain. It doesn't show up well in the picture, but the dogs are all peeing. (You can buy a full-size replica of the dog in the gift shop, to bring a touch of France home to your garden.)
Napoleon bid farewell to France from the top of this staircase.
Interesting tidbit from the audio guide: French queens were required to give birth in public to prove the child was legitimate. Barbaric and nonsensical.
1 comment:
Thanks for the pictures. I am so glad that you made it there. What a strange custom about the queens giving birth in public!
Post a Comment