Wednesday morning, we visited the Chateau de Fontainebleau, which served as the hunting lodge for the royal family. Of course, it was no ordinary hunting lodge, and it was one of the longest lived-in royal buildings in France. A few photos: (1) Jacob in the courtyard outside the main entrance to the chateau; (2) one of several fountains. Being a hunting lodge, there are many representations of dogs around the chateau. This one has a...a unique water feature; (3) the main entrance to the chateau (building, not the front gate). It features two winding stone staircases, and the photo (with several people at the bottom of the stairs) gives some idea of the scale of the building; (4) the ballroom; (5) is that Chester in one of the paintings depicting the royal hunt? and (6) tapestries in the empress' room.
Afterwards, we were on to Paris. On Wednesday afternoon, we drove in to the center of old Paris for lunch, and the kids were allowed to do a little exploring, while becoming accustomed to where the group would meet for bus pickup in the Latin Quarter. Here are some descriptions for the following photos: (1) Our first rendezvous was behind Notre Dame Cathedral. This is one part of the tour where I was strangely comfortable with Jacob being free to roam, because we had spent much time here when we visited last July. This is a rear view of Notre Dame; (2) Jacob and his pals at the playground behind Notre Dame. This will look very familiar to several readers of this blog. (Aside: I told one of the other chaperones that I would either find Jacob eating Berthillon ice cream or playing on that spinning disc in the picture. Turns out he was at the disc...after stopping for Berthillon ice cream. 2 for 2!); (3) A side view of Notre Dame's exterior; (4) Jacob in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Well, that will have to be all for now, as Thursday has become early Friday morning here, and I have to get some sleep. More to come tomorrow I hope, as the end of the tour is near! Au revoir!
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