Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicompte

Vaux-le-Vicompte
(true story: the man who owned this--someone working for Louis XIV, threw a better party than the king. The king got so jealous that he accused him of embezzlement, and threw him in jail for the rest of his life.)

Vaux-le-Vicompte

Whenever I go to really rich houses/palaces/chateaux, I always like to look in the mirrors in the huge rooms at myself. I try not to look like I'm staring at myself in the mirror, because there are always a lot of other people milling around, fixing their hair, listening to the audio guide--or not. But I look in the mirror, imagine my hair around my face is piled on top of my head, and I wonder if I look like I could live there.

At Fountainebleau, for some reason I couldn't see myself as part of that house. I could imagine myself as the maidservant, or a cook, or something, because in the bright, natural lighting of that room, and from winter's theft of warmth and my healthy complexion, I did not look like I could live there. My eyes looked sallow, and deep, and there were bags below my eyes. The gardens were beautiful, with a lot of dirt, which the french seem to do a lot when they conquer nature in their gardens. I fell asleep for the whole drive to Vaux-le-Vicompte. I woke up and it was in front of me, with a small moat and scaffolding on the right side of the chateau. I was surprised and half put-off/laughing so hard when I saw all of the wax figures inside of the chateau, endlessly writing letters, or presenting people, or dancing. It was in the ballroom where the lighting was lowered, and there was a mirror again, and I looked into my own eyes and imagined myself dancing, imagined all of the secrets I had, and the beautiful dresses I would wear. This is kind of embarrassing, but really the best part of visiting these places. When I was seven and my family went to a lot of castles in the Loire Valley, I was pretty sure I would return as a princess and live in these castles. Especially Chambord. And by pretty sure, I mean that I wondered how I could have fifteen whole years to figure out how to be a princess, so there was no need to think it wouldn't happen. But, this is second best. And then I turned around and saw to my surprise, and to the discredit of the room, not only wax figures enjoying fake macaroons and talking animatedly with their bodies but with no expression, but an enormous screen that was showing ridiculously dancing people in eighteenth century garb, and having a positively jovial time.

But the grounds were absolutely beautiful despite the smell of manure that pervaded the air because of the grounds crew's work. Ponds and fountains littered the garden, and I walked down to a canal,

down some stairs, and watched some other visitors driving in golf carts on the other side of the canal, where there was a forest and a green hill and a statue. All of the stone was old, discolored and worn-looking, with moss and lichen growing.

There was a whole row of fountains that were turned off, the kind with layers of shell-type shapes down and down, and I climbed on to the bottom shell, and looked across the canal before I got nervous someone would steal my new coat and my favorite purse. And I was mad that no one was there to take my picture. And it was a good thing I climbed down when I did because I heard my professor turning the corner, and remembered his story about his study abroad group years ago where they almost got thrown out of a chateau because they were chimneying up a spiral staircase. So I got down quickly and headed to the gift shop.

my picks for french interiors today:

all of the walls were painted like this. so beautiful. and this one on the right, never thought i would fall in love with a door frame.

beautiful beautiful chairs and couch.



of course, have to show some of the library. look at that ladder. look it.


aaaand...after much deliberation, and a coat bought before I bought this one (that i need to return)...here is the final choice. A black trench coat. Look at the second one to see how soft and silky and smooth it is. You want to hug me now, don't you? (photo credits for these go to Angela and Haidy)



look at this



yay! love love love.