UNESCO World Heritage Site, Château de Fontainebleau: “The true home of kings, the house of ages” ~ Napoleon in Saint Helena, August 1816

From Paris, the Château is about 40 minutes (via the Ter or Transilien train) from Paris’ Gare de Lyon. If you’ve got a 5-zone Navigo pass, this trip is included at no extra charge (we didn’t realize that until after we’d purchased our one-way tickets – oops! €8.50 each direction). Exit at Fontainebleau-Avon.

For specific info, see their website (there’s an English version to choose): http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr

There’s a bus right outside of the train station that can take you to the Château, but it’s also possible to walk through the neighborhood and along the Grand Canal. Mark had found a Mexican restaurant in Avon on TripAdvisor. That’s what I said: Mexican restaurant!!! We could walk to the Château and have lunch on the way. Let’s see how this small town in France does Mexican food!!!

El Salvo Restaurant Mexicaine was actually pretty good! This is a surprise for several reasons: it’s in a non-commercial, suburban French neighborhood, and one doesn’t find a lot of Mexican food in France (or even ingredients in large grocery stores). If you saw my post on Facebook, I’ll apologize for repeating myself, but I need to include this, on our funny experience with the server:

I ordered an appetizer of guacamole with chips and a beef enchilada, Mark got the quesadilla appetizer with the enchilada. When the food came, the waiter brought two sauces (a tobasco-type red and a green jalapeño). He explained, in great detail, for both the appetizer and the main, how the first bite should be taken on its own. Maybe the second bite with some sauce, (he prefers the green) but if it is too spicy, maybe have a bite with the avocado or the cream (crème fraiche, sort of like sour cream). . . We couldn’t bring ourselves to interrupt and tell him that we are VERY familiar with Mexican food! He might’ve fainted if he’d seen how much of the green sauce I put on everything?.

From lunch, we walked the rest of the way to the Château. We were lucky that the weather cooperated – the only real rain fell while we were eating lunch.

The Château de Fontainebleau is the only palace to have been continuously inhabited by French royalty (including Napoleons I and III) for seven centuries. There are over 1,500 rooms, and visitors can wander through about 1/4 of the space (which are decorated and furnished as they were when kings and queens roamed the halls). Much of the décor is original! The grounds, with a Grand Canal, formal French and English gardens, early tennis courts and woods, spread-out among 130 well-tended acres.

 

The courtyard of the Château has a dramatic, horseshoe-shaped staircase, which was built for King Louis XIII (1610-1643).

 

 

If you’ve visited Versailles, you’ll see some similarities with both the layout and the décor of the rooms in Fontainebleau. The stone walls are covered in silk “wallpaper”, tapestries, and portraits. Some are painted to appear to be marble.

 

 

 

 

Like Versailles, there is a long gallery leading to the King’s apartments, but this one is not mirrored. Decorated for François I in the 1530s, it was here that the Italian Renaissance style was introduced to France.

 

 

In the 1800s (practically modern times!), Napoleon I made Fontainebleau his home when he became Emperor (you know, when he wasn’t off on one of his military campaigns). He had apartments decorated for the Pope’s visit, and when the Pope came to crown Napoleon Emperor, Napoleon famously grabbed the crown from the Pope, and crowned himself – to make a point that the state was more important than religion. The golden bee, a symbol of immortality and resurrection, was chosen by Napoleon as the symbol of his reign. You’ll see golden bees on the throne he used.

 

Napoleon’s nephew, Napoleon III, was baptized here, and it was in these rooms that Napoleon I abdicated in 1814, just before he was exiled to the island of Elba.

On our way out of the courtyard, we noticed a few people going into a door – which revealed the royal jeu de paume (early tennis) courts, where a pro was inviting tourists to try and play the game (we were satisfied to watch – the little rackets and long court looked pretty challenging). Jeu de paume was a favorite royal sport. King Henry IV (who lived 1553-1610) had the first indoor court built on the grounds. After a couple of restorations over the centuries, it remains much the same.