We woke up early this morning so that we could meet a group of students from the program at Gare de Lyon at 10:30am sharp. We had to be on a train to Fontainebleau at 11:05am, so timing was key. As it turned out, the RER A that we take to Chatou/Croissy (our stop) every day goes straight to Gare de Lyon so that was great! I told everyone to meet at the main station area to buy tickets and group together. That was mistake #1. I had NO IDEA how huge that station is! Amy and I got there and wondered how the heck everyone was going to find us. Luckily, we got there around 10:10am, so that gave us some time to wait and see if we could find anyone. We walked on every platform, every level, and looked by every ticket office but we couldn’t find ANYONE! Luckily, we ran into McKenna coming up the escalator from the Metro. After 10 minutes or so, Alex and Amelia popped up too. We were just missing Sarah, Lacey, Casi, Kara, Caleb, and Toni. It was super frustrating. After waiting in the main area for a bit, McKenna and I ran around the station looking for everyone on different floors and in different areas, while the others bought their train tickets. No luck. So, McKenna and I bought our tickets and we all decided to just go.
While we were waiting, an announcement came over the station saying that the train to Fontainebleau would be delayed because someone committed suicide by jumping in front of the train. Talk about an awful way to go! I’d be traumatized if I were on that train!
Twenty minutes or so passed. We waited for the train to come into the station and were about to board, when Amy realized that she’d dropped her ticket somewhere in the station. I guess today was a day to practice patience, right? If that’s the case then I totally failed because I was SUPER frustrated. And not very nice. We tried to help her find it, but it was nowhere to be found. Not wanting to buy another one, Amy decided to stay in Paris and Alex and Amelia were sweet enough to stay with her. Thanks for taking care of her, guys! McKenna and I got on the train and we were off. Finally. Due to high stress levels, we treated ourselves to this:
I think it was well deserved. And delicious!
The train ride lasted about 45 minutes and it was nice to relax and talk. Once we got to Fontainebleau, we could either walk 35 minutes to the chateau or take a bus. It was such a beautiful day that McKenna and I decided to walk. It was a lot further than we thought, but after winding through the streets of the city, we found it! Here’s a brief history (thanks Wikipedia!):
Originally called Fontaine Belle eau or Fontaine Belleaue, Fontainebleau settled on current name in 1169.
This hamlet was endowed with a royal hunting lodge and a chapel by Louis VII in the middle of the twelfth century. A century later, Louis IX, also called Saint Louis, who held Fontainebleau in high esteem and referred to it as "his wilderness", had a country house and a hospital constructed there.
Philip the Fair was born there in 1268 and died there in 1314. In all, thirty-four sovereigns, from Louis VI, the Fat, (1081–1137) to Napoleon III (1808–1873), spent time at Fontainebleau.
The connection between the town of Fontainebleau and the French monarchy was reinforced with the transformation of the royal country house into a true royal palace, the Palace of Fontainebleau. This was accomplished by the great builder-king, Francis I (1494–1547), who, in the largest of his many construction projects, reconstructed, expanded, and transformed the royal château at Fontainebleau into a residence that became his favourite, as well as the residence of his mistress, Anne, duchess of Étampes.
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, every monarch, from Francis I to Louis XV, made important renovations at the Palace of Fontainebleau, including demolitions, reconstructions, additions, and embellishments of various descriptions, all of which endowed it with a character that is a bit heterogeneous, but harmonious nonetheless.
On 18 October 1685, Louis XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau there. Also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, this royal fiat reversed the permission granted to the Huguenots in 1598 to worship publicly in specified locations and hold certain other privileges. The result was that a large number of Protestants were forced into exile, mainly in the Low Countries, Prussia and in England.
The 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau, a secret agreement between France and Spain concerning the Louisiana territory in North America, was concluded here. Also, preliminary negotiations, held before the 1763 Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Seven Years' War, were at Fontainebleau.
During the French Revolution, Fontainebleau was temporarily renamed Fontaine-la-Montagne, meaning "Fountain by the Mountain". (The mountain referred to is the series of rocky formations located in the forest of Fontainebleau.)
On 29 October 1807, Manuel Godoy, chancellor to the Spanish king, Charles IV and Napoleon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which authorized the passage of French troops through Spanish territories so that they might invade Portugal.
On 20 June 1812, Pope Pius VII arrived at the château of Fontainebleau, after a secret transfer from Savona, accompanied by his personal physician, Balthazard Claraz. In poor health, the pope was the prisoner of Napoleon, and he remained in his genteel prison at Fontainebleau for nineteen months. From June 1812 until 23 January 1814, the pope never left his apartments.
On 18 April 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, shortly before his first abdication, bid farewell to the Old Guard, the renowned grognards (gripers) who had served with him since his very first campaigns, in the "White Horse Courtyard" (la cour du Cheval Blanc) at the Palace of Fontainebleau. (The courtyard has since been renamed the "Courtyard of Goodbyes".) According to contemporary sources, the occasion was very moving. The 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau stripped Napoleon of his powers (but not his title as Emperor of the French) and sent him into exile on Elba.
For the 1924 Summer Olympics, the city played host to the riding portion of the modern pentathlon event. This event took place near a golf course.[1]
In July and August 1946, the town hosted the Franco-Vietnamese Conference, intended to find a solution to the long-contested struggle for Vietnam’s independence from France, but the conference ended in failure.
Fontainebleau also hosted the general staff of the Allied Forces in Central Europe (Allied Forces Center or AFCENT) and the land forces command (LANDCENT); the air forces command (AIRCENT) was located nearby at Camp Guynemer. These facilities were in place from the inception of NATO until France’s partial withdrawal from NATO in 1967 when the United States returned those bases to French control. NATO moved AFCENT to Brunssum in the Netherlands and AIRCENT to Ramstein in West Germany. (Note that the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, also known as SHAPE, was located at Rocquencourt, west of Paris, quite a distance from Fontainebleau).
We walked into the main garden area and then walked to the entrance of the chateau to get our tickets and start our tour. What’s the beauty of being a student? Free museum admission! That was a nice happy thought after a day of insanity.
We walked up the stairs to start the tour and what did McKenna and I see? A backpack. A Jamaican colored BYU study abroad backpack. It was Caleb! And the rest of the group that we thought didn’t show! Apparently they were waiting and checking all over the station too but we kept missing each other. We were even on the same train! It was crazy. So we toured the castle with them and then walked around the gardens afterwards. They were so pretty! We wanted to rent paddleboats to go on the little lake, but they weren’t open today. Lame! (If you want to know what a picture is of, let me know and I’ll tell you. It’s getting late so I don’t have time to label all of the pictures. Sorry!)
After the gardens, we walked back to the train station. It was a long, exhausting day and all of us were feeling it on the train back to Paris. BUT, at least we all met up and had a lot of fun at the castle!
We got back around 6:30pm in time to head to the Institute building for FHE at 7:00pm. The missionaries taught the lesson and it was SO good! Missionaries are the best! There were supposed to be games afterwards but I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so I left early to grab some dinner. Nothing was open except a crepe stand across the street so I had a Nutella one for dinner. Healthy, I know!
I walked back to the Institute building and met up with Amy so that we could go home. We ended up staying for a bit and chatting with the young adults and Elders (who taught the lesson) who live in Paris. It was neat to get to know people! Everyone was really nice and they were a lot of fun to talk to. Oh! And we saw some SWEET street art on the way to the metro station!
...except clowns are probably the creepiest things on the planet...
2 comments:
Great photos kiddo!! I really think this the place where they mud have filmed "The Man in the Iron MasK". You need to see this movie. Need to go--having a dinner here in 20 min. for DUP
Love you Lots,
Nana
Crap--should have had my glasses on! I meant "this is the place where they MUST have filmed,,,
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