Day 26: Fontainbleu and Vaux Le Vicomte

In my life, I can't say I ever expected to stay out till one in the morning with my professors watching fireworks.

Yesterday went like this: we didn't have any official plans in the morning, so a group of us went to Musee du quai Branly. We had no idea what to expect but it was included on our museum pass, and you can't go wrong when you can go for free.

I recognized the outside of the museum for its living wall. The term 'living wall' refers to the fact that it looks like there's a jungle growing on it. Anyway, the subject of display at this museum was totally different from anything we've seen on this trip. We got to see collections of ancient Oceanic, African, American and Asian tribes. The masks were my absolute favorites. They were so crazy!

In the afternoon we rode the bus for an hour to Fontainbleu. Fontainbleu was a sort of pleasure palace used by several different monarchs, like the Salamander King and Napoleon. Ergo, the period style would change as we walked through the rooms. It was fairly easy to pick out which room was which style, because King Francis put his symbol, the salamander, all over his rooms, and likewise Napoleon's Bee showed up all over his rooms as well as the letter 'N'.

For dinner we had a picnic. :) We went to the grocery store and had a 20 minute mad dash, then we ate in the park across the street from Voux Le Vicomte.
Before touring inside Voux Le Vicomte we went through the garden, while it was still light outside. It was absolutely beautiful. We were in such a romantic setting and had no men to share it with, so we made up romance stories for each other about meeting the perfect man in Voux. What can I say, this is what happens when you spend a month in a ratio of six girls to every boy.

 

Next we toured inside the house and learned more about its history. Voux Le Vicomte was built for Nicholas Foquet- King Louis XIV's finance minister. The king realized, however, that Foquet's home was grander than his own, and so Foquet was thrown into prison until he died 20 years later. Louis XIV then hired the same architects and landscape architects to design his own palace in Versailles.

After the inside tour, we went back outside and sketched until dark. The gardens were lit by candlelight and it was soo beautiful. And then we got to see a fireworks show! I think they do fireworks frequently at Voux, it's a tradition.

We didn't get back to the hotel till about 1 AM but it was so worth it!