Vaux-le-Vicomte

Vaux (2 of 6)

In an effort to see as much as possible while the weather is still wonderful, I've been taking day-trips by train to towns just outside of Paris on the weekends.  In pretty much every case, the attraction has been a 17th century château. 

Vaux (8 of 9)
Vaux (5 of 9)
Vaux (1 of 2)

Vaux is one such place.  It was built in the mid 17th century by Nicolas Fouquet.  The gardens, for which the château is justly famous, were designed by André le Nôtre, who later also designed the gardens for Versailles.

Vaux (5 of 10)
Vaux (10 of 10)

Actually, you could say that Fouquet died for this place, since  Louis XIV had him thrown in jail on spurious charges that amounted to building too lavish a palace.

Vaux (1 of 1)-9

Vaux (3 of 6)

French museums love to guide visitors through a specific route, which got a little strange at Vaux as there were a number of mannequins dressed in period costume and animated by video projectors and a soundtrack for the purpose of reenacting Fouquet's arrest. Now I wish I had pictures of that to show.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Gorgeous gardens. I haven't been to this one yet.
Anonymous said…
Such pretty pics!! Wish I was there frolicking too ;)
courtney said…
Hi! I just stumbled upon your blog, and I'm so glad I did, because it's lovely and you cook the way I like! Anyway, I, also, just moved to France, to a tiny town in the north, just over a month ago. I love cooking and baking, and there are certain products I can.not.find here. Molasses, for one. I just wanna make cookies, and I know I'll be wantin to make gingerbread come l'hiver. Have you had any luck with this? And herbs! I can occasionally spot some at the weekly market, but the grocery stores here don't have fresh herbs! Do you happen to have any help to offer? Thanks for the time, and have a great time here!

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