Old Friends and Older Buildings

I started out my week the right way-- with some much needed bonding time with the lovely Jessen O'Brien, freshly arrived from her orientation and ready to try out some of the French that she's been just starting to learn. Together we first visited the interior of Notre Dame, which for some reason I had yet to check off my list. I don't have many pictures because I was too overwhelmed in trying to decide what to photograph. In castles, you just take pictures of each room or down the long hallway and focus in on the especially antique stuff (as you'll see this was my precise strategy in Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte). Notre Dame, however, was its own ball game. I didn't even know where to start, so the only picture I have is the above rose window. After Notre Dame, since it was a stunningly beautiful day, we decided to wander over to the Ile de Saint-Louis for some famous gelato. Unfortunately, the famous gelato was prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, they have off-shoots of the same company that give it out for considerably less-- just without the sit-down feel.

The main road in the Isle de St-Louis!

Tuesday, I went exploring with Emily. We went to Printemps, the famous department store with all of the fancy brand names. Maybe that's why I've been bingeing (hi, Peter) on Gossip Girl. 

teehee actual brand name... I'm 14.

Yummiest cupcake ever!!

Wednesday night I went back to Breakfast in America for dinner and then finished the night working on a presentation. The resulting 4 hours of sleep killed what little of my health remained, and Thursday was horrible for me. The metro had issues and I almost passed out from being in such a heated, crowded space while not feeling well. Woohoo! Friday, however, was Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte, two nearby castles!!

Fontainebleau up first! It was awesome because lots of different royalty lived here at some point, ranging from Louis XVI when Marie Antoinette got sick of Versailles, and Napoleon!

The room of the plates!

Original Napoleon globe!

Marie Antoinette's bedroom!

Napoleon's bedroom (and Joseph looking at it)

 His camping bed!

Sorry, buddy.

We then had lunch, which wasn't great but involved one of the better desserts I've had while here, involving pastry and vanilla ice cream and legitimate fudge sauce. See facebook for a picture of me eating said magnificent concoction. After lunch, we went to Vaux-le-Vicomte. It's mainly famous for the famous people that come use it for ceremonies. The gardens are stunning but the castle itself is not all that well-kept. The exterior, however, is extremely picturesque :-).

Real life moat! I took a picture of a real life fish in the real life moat, but decided not post it because the water and the fish are kind of unattractive.

Ok, so these digs weren't so bad either. This is where Moliere would put on plays every once in a while.

And so the creepy wax dolls begin...

D'Artagnan and the three musketeers (only two fit in the picture) are arresting Fouquet, the owner of the castle. Louis XIV/Cardinal Mazarin were jealous of Fouquet's awesomeness, so they trumped up some embezzlement charges and got him arrested. Class act all around. 

So beautiful as fall happens!

The rest of my weekend was largely uneventful as I recovered from my exhausting week and did battle with my cold. I think I'm winning, but I need to go to bed to assure victory. Be sure to keep me posted on all of your lives too :-)