Chateau Day!

Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte has an interesting back story. Normally I don't wade into history, but I'll make it short. Nick Fouquet, Louis XIV's superintendent of Finance, built this place mostly with money that Louie thought was rightfully his. The king considered everything his! Louis and his entourage were invited to the grand opening of Vaux le Vicomte and it was spectacular!!! Louis, as the story goes, was so enraged that good ole Nick was living better than he was that he imprisoned him and built Versailles with the extra money he found lying around. Nick never got out of jail. We get a grand place to visit! 

And what a place! You can see why Louie was pissed. This place is quite the little cottage in the country:

This is actually the back side facing the magnificent Gardens and 36 pools with water features galore. 

Here is a snap of the front. Just the narrow entry . . . It was all rather showy and it is no wonder Louie was a little cranked about his Super of Finance having such a cool crib. Here's more.

You can see in the back ground on the left and right are fantastic side buildings. On the left are the horse barns and carriage house. On the right is where "The Help" slept. I don't know the details, but it must have taken quite a huge staff to keep this place running. Here's a shot of the kitchen.

Yes, that is a recently slain wild boar laying there on the table. It looked as if it had just been thrown down earlier today. Yummy! Pork on a stick tonight! 

The copper pots and pans had Duane all fired up to go home and install all copper in his kitchen. Paula  said, "No." Back outside we are treated with one of the grand gardens in all of France. 

Pictures just don't tell the whole story, so you'll have to come over to see it all. The big statue between the trees in the distance is  the "Eye of Hercules" . . . We didn't go there, but he has the best view of all! 

One more shot and then we gotta go get lunch! It was a grand day. Checking out how the Royals and the Royal staff lived is always an eye opener! Duane thinks it is a little "Over the Top" but not too excessive. Versailles, which was inspired by this little chateau was the "Real Deal" . . . Don't ever let anyone tell you that Versailles is not the best . . . It is!  But this one got it started!