Sunday, October 16, 2011

Vaux le Vicomte - Versailles Wannabe?

It looks like a Versailles Wannabe, but actually the chateau Vaux le Vicomte preceded and inspired Versailles.  Louis XIV, while building Versailles, used many of the same designers Nicholas Fouquet had used in planning Vaux le Vicomte.  The chateau is a half hour train ride from Paris near the town of Melun.  I was able to get a little knitting done on the train.  After you arrive in Melun, it's a 10-minute bus ride to the chateau.


The chateau's exterior is imposing.


And the interior, while not as over the top as Versaille's, is impressive.  Here's Fouquet's bedchamber.


He liked painted ceilings, especially of mythological subjects.


And he wasn't afraid to spend money on his gardens.


We had lunch at the cafeteria located in the outbuildings of the chateau.  I had steak (with a sauce I think was Bernaise sauce) and roasted potatoes, and they were quite good.


Today's cheeses:  Brie de Provins and Munster with cumin

3 comments:

  1. lovin the grill marks on that steak! nice green jacket, is it new?

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  2. Yes, I got the jacket from Land's End shortly before we left, and it's getting a lot of use.

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  3. I've been LOVING reading your Paris adventures as I prepare for a three month Paris adventure of my own. I wonder if you remember which bus to take to Vaux? Does it take you right to Vaux? Or do you have to walk a considerable distance from the bus stop? We will be going there with a large group of university students (I'm the study abroad program director). I have been to Vaux before, but with a rental car.

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