Fontainebleau Palace

On June 17, we set out to visit historic Fontainebleau Palace (Château de Fontainebleau), about 35 miles southeast of the center of Paris.

The weather was a bit cooler - with a high of 64⁰F and a low of 53⁰ F. We had light intermittent rain during the day, and the skies were gray and cloudy the entire day.

We left the apartment at 12:15 pm and headed down to Boulangerie Parisienne next to Cardinal Lemoine Metro station. My grandchildren each had a Muffin Tout Chocolat for €1.65 each, and I had a Chausson aux Pommes for €1.20.

We took Line 10 two stops east to the end of the line at Gare d’Austerlitz, which was on the Left Bank of the Seine and separated from the Seine by the street - Quai d’Austerlitz, which ran along the Seine. To catch the train to Fontainebleau, we had to go to the Gare de Lyon on the Right Bank. There was no direct train connection between the two stations. I had read on the Internet that there were bus connections. When I asked a shopkeeper in one of the Gare d’Austerlitz shops, the shopkeeper told me that it was a very easy walk to the Gare de Lyon, and explained how to get there.

It was a very simple walk. We walked a few feet to a bridge - the Pont Charles de Gaulle, and crossed the Seine. We could see the Gare de Lyon about two blocks straight ahead.

(The following web site has lots of information about and photos of the Gare de Lyon: http://parisbytrain.com/gare-de-lyon-photos/)

The following web site has a great deal of detail about the entire trip from Paris to the Chateau (http://parisbytrain.com/tag/fontainebleau-avon/)

We arrived at the station about 1:15 pm and went down to the lower level of the station, where I found a couple of ticket windows. I asked a station employee which window I should use. He said either one was fine.

Trains from the Gare de Lyon depart for Fontainebleau about every 30 minutes. The only station at Fontainebleau is Fontainebleau-Avon. The train tickets to Fontainebleau are not for a train at a specific time, but for any train to Fontainebleau.

I used my credit card to purchase three round-trip tickets for €16.10 each to Fontainebleau-Avon station.  However, when the clerk issued the tickets, she issued two one-way tickets per person instead of one round-trip ticket.

(A person not speaking French could easily buy the correct tickets by writing the words “billet allez-retour à Fontainebleau-Avon s’il vous plait” on a piece of paper, with the number of tickets needed in front of the words. For more than one ticket, write “billets” instead of “billet.”) There were also ticket machines selling the tickets, but I felt more comfortable buying the tickets at the ticket window.)

After purchasing the tickets, we stopped at the pay toilets operated by the Relais Toilettes. One of us got locked into a toilet and had to pound on a door until an attendant came and opened it.

We hurried to Platform A (Quai A) and got on the train with 1 minute to spare.  We sat in the last car on the train.

Our train departed at 1:35 pm, and the trip took about 43 minutes. The train was comfortable and traveled fairly fast. Some of the trip was below ground level. At other places, our view was blocked by trees. We saw some pretty countryside, woods, and villages.

A group of three American passengers - a husband, wife, and adult daughter - sat a few seats away from us. The wife had a Carolina accent. She had nothing but negative comments about everything she saw.

I think the train made only one stop - at Melun.

The Fontainebleau-Avon train station (Gare de Fontainebleau-Avon) was fairly small. I knew from research prior to our trip that the distance from the train station to the Palace was about 2 miles, and that there was regular bus service between the two locations.

As we walked out of the station, we saw a bus pull up across the street. Many of the passengers from our train were walking to the bus. We walked there and I asked the driver if it went to the Château de Fontainebleau (Fontainebleau Palace). The driver said that it did. (I believe that this bus was the 12A bus described by one of the web sites above.) I also asked if we could pay him on the bus (rather than buying tickets elsewhere). He said we could. The fare was €1.80 each.

The bus was a local bus which traveled along the main streets of the small town of Fontainebleau. The first street the bus used was Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. (I have seen streets named after Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy in a number of French towns and cities.)

There is a nice printable map of the town of Fontainebleau at http://www.lyceefrancois1.net/IMG/jpg/jpg_Plan-Fontainebleau.jpg. While the name of the Palace is not on the map, the Palace complex of buildings is clearly visible in black on the north side of the Palace Grounds, which include the labeled Jardin Anglais (English Garden).

The streets were lined with buildings of three to six stories, with shops on the ground floor. The town was very tidy.

The trip from the train station to the Palace took about 15 minutes. The bus made several stops along the way. As is the case with most local buses I’ve seen in Europe, the bus only stopped when passengers pressed one of the stop buttons on the bus or when there were people waiting at the bus stops.

The stop near the Palace was across the street from a back entrance to the Palace grounds. That was at the point where Rue Grande becomes Rue Denecourt at the intersection of Rue de France. It is clearly visible on Google Maps street view by typing Rue Denecourt, Fontainebleau, France.

We crossed the street and walked through an open gate onto the grounds of the Palace. No ticket was required to walk through the gate because there is no charge for admission to the Palace grounds.

Château de Fontainebleau

The Palace of Fontainebleau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Fontainebleau & http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/spip.php?page=sommaire&lang=en) is one of the largest French Royal Châteaux. There has been a Château here since the 13th Century. The current Palace was started by King Francis I in the 16th Century and significantly added to over the years by other monarchs.

The Renaissance was introduced to France through the various Italian artists responsible for the interior wall and ceiling decor. The Palace had fallen into disrepair by the end of the 18^th Century, but Napoleon I, who preferred it to Versailles, reinvigorated it.

While it is very nice, in our opinion, it does not compare to Versailles. However, I have read other opinions which claim that it is better than Versailles.

The Palace building complex is very large; however, it is only possible to visit a small part.

The map below, from http://s1.e-monsite.com/2009/05/18/45546376fontainebleau-jpg.jpg, gives some sense of the size of the Palace complex. Also, floor plans of the ground floor and first floor rooms open to visitors are available on the web site: http://www.chateaudefontainebleau.net/plans.php. Click on Rez de Chaussée for the Ground Floor and 1er étage for the First Floor. Vue Globale is for the outside of the Palace and its grounds.

I was surprised to learn from Wikipedia that part of the Palace is currently used as an art, architecture, and music school for students from the U.S. It is called the Ecole d’Arts Americaines (School of American Arts). It was founded by General Pershing during World War I.

The town of Fontainebleau grew up around the Palace and the Forest of Fontainebleau, a former royal hunting ground.

Our Visit

When we passed through the gate near the bus stop, we entered the Garden of Diana (Jardin de Diane), which had lawns and a variety of impressive, tall trees.

As we walked along a path through the garden, we came to a very interesting fountain, which was called Diana’s Fountain (La Fontaine de Diane), and which was built in 1602.  At the top center of the fountain was a bronze statue of the hunting goddess Diana. Her left hand was on the head of a leaping stag. Her right hand was reaching into an arrow quiver on her back. Below her are four large bronze dogs which are peeing water! Below the dogs are the heads of four large stags, with water pouring from their mouths.

 Fountain of Diana

Although the garden was next to one of the large palace buildings, I did not see any signs indicating where to find the entrance. I asked a French woman who was on a field trip with a group of students. She explained how to get to the entrance.

We walked through a passage between two buildings and emerged into the Place du General de Gaulle, a huge courtyard surrounded on three sides by Palace buildings. 

 Center Palace Building from Place du General de Gaulle

As we came into the courtyard, we saw two firemen near a fire truck. One of them was completely covered with a mask over his face and hood over his head. He was climbing up a step ladder. It turned out that he was removing a bees’ nest or hornets’ nest from an outside wall.

After enjoying an impressive view of the buildings around the courtyard, we entered the building on the right as we faced the center building. The area we entered was the visitors’ entrance. Although I had the Museum Pass, I still had to go to the ticket window to pick up free tickets for the three of us. That just took a minute because there was no one else in line. In fact, there were not many visitors at the Palace, in contrast to the hordes at Versailles.

There were two groups in the entrance hall when we arrived - an adult tour group and a group of small children. The children seemed much too young to appreciate a place like the Palace.

We walked down a long hall. At the end of the hall, we showed our tickets and then walked up a stairway to the first floor (second floor in the U.S.).

The first room at the top of the stairs was a Napoleonic Museum, which we did not visit. We turned to the right and entered the Gallery of Splendors (Galerie des Fastes). It had paintings depicting court life at the Palace. There was also a very large tapestry on temporary display. It was a “cartoon”(carton)  tapestry called the Triumph of Venus (http://www.metmuseum.org/special/tapestry/view_alt.asp?item=19). It was designed by Noël Coypel during the period 1690-1693. It was produced in the royal tapestry factory called the Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris.

Triumph of Venus

Next, we went into the Gallery of Plates (Galerie des Assiettes), a long narrow room with wooden walls. There were 128 Sèvres china plates set into the walls. They illustrate the history of the Palace. Along the top of the walls and on the ceiling were a number of paintings from the early 17^th Century.

Gallery of Plates

At the other end of the gallery was a vestibule called the Horseshoe Vestibule (Vestibule du Fer à Cheval). From this vestibule, we would continue straight ahead to visit a set of rooms in one wing of the palace, and then return to the vestibule to continue into another wing.

We went straight ahead to a set of rooms that was known by two names:

1. Apartment of the Pope. The rooms were given this name because Pope Pius VII stayed there twice. In 1804, he came to consecrate Napoleon as emperor. From 1812 until 1814, Napoleon kept the pope there as a prisoner.

2. Apartment of the Queen Mothers. The rooms were given that name for obvious reasons.

The Apartment had been closed to the public for about 20 years. However, it reopened in 2007 after the French company Credit Agricole sponsored renovation of the Apartment.

The Apartment had 12 rooms. We visited the entire apartment, including:

1. A Reception Room. It had several large tapestries, including one entitled “Summer, Sacrifice to Ceres,” which was designed by Pierre Mignard at the end of the 17^th Century, and made at the Manufacture des Gobelins.

Summer. Sacrifice to Ceres

2. The Pope’s Bedroom, which was decorated in red and had a chandelier.

3. The Bedroom of the Queen Mother, which had large paintings on the walls, a canopied bed, and a chandelier.

Queen Mother's Bedroom

4. The Great Room (Gros Salon), whose walls were adorned with large tapestries depicting the life of Alexander the Great. It had an ornate ceiling and a chandelier.

5. The Antechamber of the Queen Mother. The walls were covered with beautiful tapestries. The ceiling had beautiful gold-colored wood panels, including seven that represented planets. The mantle of the marble fireplace had a beautiful clock and two very nice vases. Behind the mantle was a very tall mirror.

Then we looked into Trinity Chapel, one of several in the Palace. Our view was from the rear of the upper level. It was very ornate and had a beautiful, painted, barrel-vaulted ceiling.

Trinity Chapel 

From there, we returned to the Horseshoe Vestibule and entered the Gallery of Francis I. This splendid gallery is named after the king responsible for the creation of the current Palace building. It is about 197 feet long and 20 feet wide. Its beautiful frescoes framed in stucco were completed in the early 16^th Century. The frescoes and paintings depict scenes from Greco-Roman mythology. The king’s monogram is in wood on the wood paneled wall. This was the first decorated great gallery built in France.

 Gallery of Francis I

In the Gallery of Francis I

Next, we went through the Guards Room (Salle des Gardes). This room was used by the King’s Guards in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries, but was converted into an antechamber for Napoleon I. In one part of the room was a huge, beautiful Sèvres porcelain vase made in 1832 in a Renaissance style. There was also a huge marble fireplace decorated with a bust of Henri IV.

Sèvres Vase

Then we passed by the Stairway of the King (Escalier du Roi). This area had previously been a room. A stairway was constructed in 1748-49. On the walls are impressive paintings in which Francis I is depicted as Alexander the Great in scenes from the life of Alexander the great.

 At the Stairway of the King

At this point, we missed a turn toward several important rooms - the Apartment of Madame de Maintenon, the Ballroom, and the Chapel of Saint Saturnin.

We now looked out one of the windows and saw a very large courtyard, called the Oval Court (Cour Oval), which was surrounded by three wings of the Palace.

We then went through the First Room of Saint Louis (Première Salle Saint Louis), also known as the Buffet Room (Salle du Buffet). Saint Louis is King Louis IX, the only canonized king of France. St. Louis, Missouri is named after him.

From there, we entered the Second Room of Saint Louis (Deuxième Salle Saint Louis), also known as the Salon du Donjon (The Keep Room - as in a castle keep). This room had a beautiful marble fireplace above which was a huge white bas relief of Henry IV on horseback.

We continued on through the Louis XIII Living Room (Salon Louis XIII), the Francis I Living Room (Salon Francis I), the Tapestries Living Room (Salon des Tapisseries), and the Antechamber of the Empress (Antichambre de l’Impératrice)

Next, we saw the Gallery of Diana or Diane (Galerie de Diane). Henry IV built it for his wife, Diane de Poitiers. Napoleon I converted it into a library, which currently has some 16,000 books.  The room is 262 feet long and 23 feet wide. It has a beautiful, painted, barrel-vaulted ceiling.

 Gallery of Diana

 We then walked through the uninteresting White Living Room (Salon Blanc) and through the Games Room of the Queen (Salon des Jeux de la Reine) also called the Great Room of the Empress (Grand Salon de l’Impératrice).

Next we entered the Bedroom of the Empress (Chambre de l’Impératrice), a very nice room that was decorated in green and white. It had an elaborate canopied bed that probably had the nicest of all the bed canopies in the Palace.

Bedroom of the Empress 

From there, we passed through the Queen’s Boudoir (Boudoir de la Reine) into the Throne Room (Salle du Trône). This room seemed appropriately regal. A blue and gold throne sat on a red dais under a blue and red canopy. It had an elaborate gold and white ceiling. There was a large portrait of Louis XIII above the fireplace.

Throne Room

Next was the Salle du Conseil (Council Chamber), which was very nicely decorated with painted panels. On the panels were allegorical figures representing Earth, War, Valor, Force, Justice, Peace, Secrecy, Prudence, the four seasons, etc., etc. The ceiling was also painted. There were four chandeliers.

From there, we went into the Emperor’s Bedroom (Chambre de l’Empereur). It had the usual canopied bed. The top of the canopy was gold and the drapes on the side were green. The bed was relatively short. The bed was high enough off the ground that there was a step stool next to it so the Emperor could climb into it. There was a chandelier, and the walls were covered with white, gold, and blue panels.

 Emperor's Bedroom

The room after that was the Emperor’s small Bedroom (Petite Chambre à Coucher de l’Empereur). It had a much simpler and narrower canopied bed. Napoleon used it as a study and as a second bedroom.

Emperor’s Private Room - called the Abdication Room (Salle Particulier de l’Empereur dit Salon de l’Abdication). It was in that room that in April 1814, Napoleon I signed an agreement agreeing to abdicate his rule. He was then exiled to Elba. However, he escaped from Elba in February of 1815 and tried to regain power and defeat his enemies. However, he was soundly defeated at Waterloo and exiled to Saint Helena, a remote, British-controlled island in the South Atlantic.

We then went through a few more rooms - the Emperor’s Bathroom (Passage des Bains et Salle de Bains de l’Empereur), the Room of the Emperor’s Aides de Camp (Salon des Aides de Camp de l’Empereur), and the

Emperor’s Antechamber (Antichambre de l’Empereur).

We then walked down to the ground floor and exited the palace into the Place de General de Gaulle. It was now about 4 pm. We were all hungry and decided to look for a place to eat. Instead of leaving the way we had arrived - through the Garden of Diana - we walked straight out of the front gate to see if we could find a nearby restaurant that appealed to us. We walked out of the front gate and turned right onto Boulevard Magenta.

We walked to the first street, Rue Dénecourt and turned right. We walked along a wall on one side of the Palace wall. At that point, I decided to see if I could find Bistrot 9, a restaurant about which I had read good reviews on the Internet.  We continued past the bus stop where we had arrived at the Palace. One block past the bus stop, we came to Rue Montebello and turned right. We quickly found the restaurant, but discovered that it was closed. There was at least one other restaurant there, but it did not appeal to us.

We returned to the area near the bus stop, where we found a restaurant that looked good. It was Le Delice Imperial, at the intersection of Rue Dénecourt, Rue de France, and Rue Grande. It was across the street from a carousel. It had outdoor and indoor tables. We decided to eat inside because it appeared ready to rain.

My grandchildren each had a Crêpe Complète - a buckwheat crêpe (known as a galette) with egg, ham, and cheese - for €8.50 each. They shared an order of French fries for €4. My grandson had a Fanta for €3.50 and my granddaughter had an Orangina for the same price. For dessert, My granddaughter had a crêpe filled with strawberries for €4.

I had duck foie gras with fig jam and toast (Bloc de Foie Gras de Canard avec Confiture de Figues et ses Toasts) for €10. I also had warm goat cheese with herbes de Provence on toast and salad with olive oil (Le Duo de Chèvre Chaud aux Herbes de Provence sur Toasts et sa Salade à l’Huile d’Olive) for €8. Both dishes were very tasty. I also had a small 25 cl carafe of Alsatian Gewürztraminer for €5.50, and water. 

The total cost of the meal was €55.50 ($79.92).

Our waiter was a very nice young man named David. We chatted about a variety of subjects. We compared the weather in Fontainebleau to that of Florida, chatted about travel, etc. The cashier was also very pleasant.

It rained while we were inside the restaurant, but had stopped by the time we went to catch the bus.

We left the restaurant at about 5:15 and hurried across the street to the bus stop because we saw a bus coming. In my hurry, I forgot my hat at the restaurant.

At the train station, we had to wait about 25 minutes for a train. The train, which was blue and white, and had two levels, left Fontainebleau at 6:04 pm, and arrived at Gare de Lyon, Paris at 6:41 pm.

Fontainebleau-Avon Station

From the Gare de Lyon, we set out for Gare d’Austerlitz on the other side of the Seine. Since it was threatening to rain, I decided to walk through a building across Rue de Bercy from the train station. We walked across a covered elevated walkway above Rue de Bercy and entered the first floor (U.S. second floor) of the building. At the other end of the building, we found an elevator down to the ground floor and exited onto Rue Van Gogh, where we turned left. We walked about half a block to a traffic light at Quai de la Rapée and crossed Rue Van Gogh. Then we turned left and walked across the Seine via Pont Charles de Gaulle to the Gare d’Austerlitz.

We then took the Line 10 subway two stops to Cardinal Lemoine station. On leaving the station, we walked a few feet to the Carrefour supermarket. There, I purchased a pack of 15 packets of tissues for €4.81. (European tissues, at least in France, Spain, and Italy, are larger and much stronger than U.S. tissues.)

We then returned to our apartment, arriving about 8 pm.