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Vaux le Vicomte-history of the chateau
Dabs Says: Vaux le Vicomte was the home of Nicolas Fouquet, that is until the nefarious machinations of Colbert who whispered into the ear of King Louis XIV that Fouquet was guilty of theft to cover up his complicity in the accumulation of wealth amassed, mostly by unscurpulous means,...
Vaux le Vicomte-carriage house
Dabs Says: The 1st stop on your tour will likely be the carriage house which has a display of 18th and 19th century horse drawn carriages in the old stables. The carriage house is included with any ticket to the grounds or to the chateau.
Vaux le Vicomte-visiting the chateau
Dabs Says: We arrived at Vaux le Vicomte shortly before it opened on a Wednesday morning and we practically had the chateau to ourselves and during the visit we only saw a handful of people. We opted for the complete visit for 16€ which includes the chateau, the gardens and the...
Dabs Says: After visiting the chateau, we spent a bit of time wandering around in the gardens, French formal gardens designed by André Le Nôtre, the landscape designer for Fontainebleau and Versailles. The gardens here are noted as the 1st formal French garden and the 1st major project...
von.otter Says: “Aussi doux pue sévère, aussi puissant pue juste.” (“Just as gentle as he is stern, just as powerful as he is fair.”)Sung by an actress, in honour of Louis XIV, at Fouquet’s fête at Vaux-le-Vicomte, 17.August.1661There was something about Vaux-le-Vicomte that captured my...
Vaux-le-Vicomte: The Grand Salon (7)
hquittner Says: This large room is unique in French chateau architecture. Note its great height and the use of mirrors. It is obvious that Louis XIV was impressed. Since Versailles was too large and long for such an unifying architectural ploy, they came up with the immense Hall of Mirrors...
Vaux-le-Vicomte: The Hercules Room (5)
hquittner Says: We were beginners when we visited. We did not know that a close personal association existed between Le Vau, Lebrun, Le Notre, La Fontaine and Fouquet or that Fouquet was in such a rush to build that he assembled 10,000 workmen and artisans for his project. Or that he set up...
Vaux-le-Vicomte:LeBrun Aplenty & Later Changes (6)
hquittner Says: LeBrun showed his talents to be the equal of his compatriots in his interior creations, especially seen in the rooms that are intact. The ceiling in Madame Fouquet's closet has an example of his ceiling painting, seen best with binoculars.( There are several ceilings to...
Vaux-le-Vicomte: The Interior (4)
hquittner Says: While the room arrangement was part of the LeVau achievement, the interior decoration and ceiling paintings was entirely the work of LeBrun, who lived and entertained in the partly finished chateau as did La Fontaine ( a friend of the group). Our traversal of the rooms long...
Vaux-le-Vicomte: Views Looking Back at Chateau (3)
hquittner Says: From below the lower pool the water areas in the second level are not visible and the vista is of a landscape in tiers. The waters become dominant in the walk through the middle level with the round pool at the head most prominent. From the pool the upper level and parterres...
Vaux-le-Vicomte: Walk Down the Gardens (2)
hquittner Says: The idea behind Le Notre's French formal garden (this is the first of this type and also his first) is to lead the eye of the viewers as they are walking, disclosing new vistas on all sides with new objects of interest coming into view both close and distant (is this where...
Visit Chateau Vaux-le-Comte (1)
hquittner Says: In its way the Chateau is, we think, a finer architectural attraction than Versailles. The North entrance is closed by a wrought iron pillared fence,, the figures resembling telamons (by Lespagnandel). The front gates are not used today. This closed courtyard is faced...
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Dabs Says: We decided to spend a couple of nights just south of Paris and Melun was a good base for seeing the sights south of Paris, in the eastern part of Ile-de-France. Vaux le Vicomte is less than 10 minutes away, Blandy 15 minutes, Fountainebleau 20 minutes and Moiret-sur-Loing 35...
Dabs Says: on our 1st night in Melun we headed back into town from our hotel on the edge of town and found La Creperie on a quiet street in town. There was an outdoor sitting area but it was a little chilly to be outdoors so we ate inside in the small dining room I had a savory crepe...
Dabs Says: After our 1st two ideas for dinner didn't pan out, we were headed towards a Domino's Pizza that we saw earlier in the day in Melun when we spotted Planet Pizza so we decided to stop there instead and try a local pizza place. It's take out only, the pizzas come out really...
Bistrot du Boucher: Meeting Place for Meat
pedroswift Says: We parked down by the Seine and walked to the city square seeking a place for Sunday night dinner. The places around the square looked like they were full of inmates from Melun Prison so we took a side street to find the Bistrot du Boucher.The first impressions are very...
L'Ecureuil: A Place to Eat in Vaux-le-Vicomte
hquittner Says: The name Ecureuil (squirrel) derives from Fouquet's emblematic (icon) animal. There is on the grounds near the entry a fine cafeteria-style cafe. It is excellent for lunch and is also equipped for dinner on the candlelight evenings. The food like everything else is well...
Helpfulness
First, if you are using a car to get around the Ile-de-France and beyond, there is ample parking across from the Chateau (roads N56 and D2i5 for the 6km northeast from Melun). For trips from Paris, it now easy. The leg from the Melun station to and from the Chateau is now limitedly possible by a shuttle which runs only on Saturdays,Sundays and national holidays. See the Chateau's website (listed on our Things to Do Tip.This is a new innovation, better by far than finding a taxi or walking 6 km each way. Also there are now two train options: 1) SCNF trains (from Gare de Lyon) Transilien Paris-Lyon to station Melun-Avon. 2) RER Ligne D2 from and to the same places, although there are connections to the Gare de Lyon. The SCNF trains take from 24-27 minutes and the RER 48-51 or longer after midnight.(You should consult the website or someone who knows more). I am not experienced in suburban parisian trains but I have taken RER trains in wrong directions and have boarded wrong D trains, or bought insufficient zone tickets in the past. (This is another reason we like to stay outside of Paris, rent a car, and enjoy the real France. There is also a round trip from Parisvision.com that includes both Vaux and Fontainbleau with lots of time and includes both admissions and audioguides (40Euro) but only Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from Paris center.
Updated Aug 13, 2008
Website: www.transilien.com
Helpfulness
The Fouquet family's coat of arms features a squirrel and the motto "Quo non ascendet?" ("How far could it climb?"). You can find the squirrel in the decorations at Vaux le Vicomte. Foucquet means squirrel in the dialect of Angers, an area in the west part of France.
Kings and wealthy families usually select for their emblems ferocious animals-lions, bears, dragons, birds of prey. But the French? Francois I had a salamander, Louis XII had a porcupine and the Fouquets had the squirrel, perhaps the squirrels bred in the US are of inferior stock but when I think of squirrels I think of the suicidal rodents that constantly run into the street, pause, start running the other way, pause and then run right underneath my tires just in time for me to squish them.
Updated Nov 8, 2011
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Vaux le Vicomte was my favorite chateau on this trip, the history is just so delicious, the greedy Cardinal Marazin, his scheming flunky Colbert, the young impressionable King Louis XIV so consumed......
You Get to Vaux-le-Vicomte Chateau via Melun
We have stopped in Melun (pop.36K) once. We crossed to a central island in the Seine to see the 11C church of Notre Dame. We were returning from a long visit to the Chateau of Vaux-le-Comte. It had......
“On August 17th at 6pm, Fouquet was ‘King of France,’ by 2am, he was a nobody. The Sun King decided, after this brilliant — too brilliant — display, to have Fouquet clapped in prison, imprisoned until...
Melun is a south eastern suburb 55kms from the centre of Paris. Like Paris, early civilization in Melun began on an island in the River Seine. Today that island houses a penitentiary. My sincere wish...
- a.k.a. Maison Centrale de Detention en Seine-et-Marne, a storm approached constructed: 1812-1832, on the site Hotel-Dieu Saint-Nicolas, a 17th century hospital architects: Guy de Gisors...
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