Paris Day 2

June 23, 2007

So I would consider today Day 1 in Paris. It was a great day we saw two very beautiful homes. The first was Fountainebleau. This is was surrounded by great forest and was were the Kings and their accomplices would go hunting and so they built this home for their vacation spot during hunting season.

It had a great interior which was different than any of the places we saw in London. Here is the great hall.

There was such ornate flooring. Unlike any other I have yet seen.

Also a different kind of ceiling. They had not yet designed coffered ceilings and this is the first for of that they had come up with. Again very ornate.

There was great use of window to let light in.

Also there were so many beautiful chandeliers. It was neat to be able to walk right under them.

I loved some of the upholstery. Such as in this room with all the matching green floral print. I thought it was just lovely, the vibrant green.

Also this great orange stripe.

This was also the place that Napolean made his speech before heading out to war. Here is a picture of Kaite and I at his exit.

After walking through the interior we just took a few minutes to stroll through the outside. There were some great ponds. One with a cute little gazzibo that you could only get to on a boat.

From Founainebleau we traveled to Vaux le Vicomte.

This is the home of the Kings and Queens of France for the past seven generations. I was really not that impressed with it’s interior but the exterior was by far my most favorite on the entire trip thus far.

There was amazing hedge work.

And the ponds actually had fish.

There were many places for some fun photo opportunities.

It was beautiful because there was a stream that ran through the middle of the property. It was wild on either side but in the middle they had made it part of the landscaping.

We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather!

We walked around the property and to the other side of the stream and had a great view.

We kept walking up the hill side and the view only got better.

As Mikell and I were walking through the forest I came across this huge bright orange slug. It was bigger than my finger.

It was so nice because Mikell and I had taken our time walking through the forest by the time we made it back to the gardens there was really no one else out there.

There was also no one on the backside of the house. This is one the back steps.

The palace even had a real life mote around it. Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?

As it gets dark candles are lite around the property and in the house to keep things well lit. It was beautiful.

And to go along with the man made lighting. There was a beautiful sunset where there was just enough break in the clouds to let a few rays of sun light through.