Fontainebleau or Fountain Blue?

Well it is time to admit to everyone that we have become spoiled. Most of Paris is still asleep at 8:00 am so we have become very lazy and don’t get up until 8:30 or 9:00. Today we had to awaken early (7:45) so that we could get to the train for our trip to Fontainebleau. Talk about rude awakenings!

We headed out for Gare de Lyon (one of the many train stations) which would take us to the chateau of Fontainebleau. Nothing is ever easy when we need to purchase train tickets. Every single time we think we have gotten into the right ticket line they would send us elsewhere. Finally we got our tickets and then waited for our destination to show up on the big train display that tells you which Track to go to. Everyone stands around, waiting for their particular train to finally show up on the overhead board so they can head to the right place.

Once on the train, we zipped right along to Fontainebleau, about 45 minutes by train. Once there a city bus took us to the chateau.

Fontainebleau was the King of France’s hunting retreat for 8 centuries. Napoleon was baptized here and it was here on the famous horseshoe staircase that he abdicated his rule in 1814. General Patton set up headquarters here on his way to Berlin. So Fontainebleau has a great history as well as very well preserved tapestries, rooms and gardens. It was beautifully preserved and the audio guide was helpful. We even saw the bedroom that Marie-Antoinette had decorated but never got to sleep in because of the revolution.

After a great, but quick lunch of something (half a baguette with melted cheese, potatoes, onions and ham on it) we found our bus to take us back to the train station which then would take us back to Paris.

Napoleon's throne (see the N under the eagle)

One more problem with our apartment: the key to the inside foyer has been changed and all tenants are to pick up a new key today. We went for ours and No Can Do! The guardianne was not very nice and luckily a young man entered at the right time and we requested his help with translating. In his nicest way he told us she would not give us a key since we aren’t the owner and the door will be locked on Monday. Soooo….. We called Didier and explained to him the situation and hopefully he can convince her to give us a key. We are suspecting that renters aren’t allowed here as we are to tell everyone that Chris (the owner of the apt) is our friend. Hope we aren’t locked out next week.

This is the desk (which didn't get into the picture) where Napoleon wrote his abdication speech. One of his "little" beds is behind.

Jim abdicating something!

Jim had a great dinner tonight at our favorite restaurant. Linguine alla scogli which is linguine and sea creatures. Yummy! He was in heaven. I had great lasagna!

Print this post