Blogs from Fontainebleau, Île-de-France, France, Europe

It’s Saturday – parkrun day and today we’re running in the grounds of Fontainebleau castle. To be more precise; 2 laps of an ornamental lake at the entrance to the château. My fitness has declined due to injury so I’m not looking forward to it. But I meet a lovely lady called Christine from Kingston and we pootle round together. It takes a very slow 47 minutes but we chat the whole way so the time flies by. We speed up towards the end when our respective families come and encourage us to run more and talk less. Then it’s time to drive the 225 miles to Calais. It’s hot and first we have to circumnavigate Paris. Today’s soundtrack is Hadestown – appropriate for a Parisian motorway on a Saturday morning. We reach the Tunnel and ... read more

Today we headed out to Fontainebleau by car. It was under an hour and we made our first stop at the Chateau de Fontainebleau. This is the chateau that was lived in the longest by a string of nobility spanning over 400 years, including two of the Napoleons (I and III). The chateau itself was extensive, having been expanded over the centuries several times by each resident King. Once beyond the chateau and into the grounds, there was a huge pond stocked with large carp (including one albino one), extensive gardens and several additional buildings (likely stables, living quarters for the staff, etc). Next stop was the Grand Parquet. We had expected to find a fun kids fair but instead today turned out to be the Gran Prix of steeplechase horse racing. A seriously major event ... read more

I will try to reveal the splendor of Fontainebleau in a couple of sentences. We bought a guided tour starting at 8-30. It was a bit of a problem because the tennis game was put off for that very day due to the heavy rain (Djokovitch versus Nadal) and Luda was anxious to get in time back from the excursion. The guide said we’d be back just in time. During the drive, I noticed the sign of Porte d’Orleans metro station – that’d be our destination on the way back. The traffic into Paris was rather heavy and there seemed no end to cars. Le Chateau reminded me of St. Petersburg palaces in Gatchina, Pushkin, and Pavlovsk – quite similar splendor of the imperial luxury. Had the emperors been not so generous, there’d be fewer castles. ... read more

French Version : Fontainebleau est une petite ville située en Seine et Marne à environ 60 km de Paris. Très connue pour son château, la foret de Fontainebleau est aussi un haut lieu pour les parisiens qui souhaitent prendre un bon bol d'air frais ainsi que pour ce promener en forêt. En effet, la forêt attire chaque année de nombreux visiteurs et de plus, de par son relief accidenté, et ses nombreuses zones rocheuses, Fontainebleau est un lieu reconnu pour l'escalade. Notre randonnée de ce jour partira de la gare RER de Melun où une dizaine de couchsurfeur se sont donnés rendez-vous. Vu que nous n'avons pas fait de randonnées depuis plusieurs mois, cela sera l'occasion idéale de s y remettre. Notre dernière randonnée était en Roumanie dans la région de Deda, à Istenszeke, et date ... read more

On our way home - not happy but unfortunately the time does come round and you have to bite the bullet and accept you can do nothing about it. The weather back home was dull and miserable and I knew I would miss the French weather and the way of life that went with it. I would have to resort to Tesco french baguettes and croissants to remind me of a way of life I love and wish I could take more of it in. Work gets in the way of travel unless you are very rich or don't give a damn and throw caution to the wind and set off into the sunset. Perhaps retirement when it comes will give us the opportunity of our missed gap year. We booked a hotel close to Fontainebleu ... read more