There she is, decked out in all her Christmas finery.
We could not wait to get inside to see the decorations.
But what did we see?
A vintage ferris wheel in the grand rotunda! With people riding!
But first, we had to get there, by passing through the rooms decorated for the season,
with Christmas showing in almost every nook and cranny.
The chateau and grounds are privately owned; this sitting room contains the photos of the owners, who live in some of the rather sumptuous out-buildings.
The chateau was built by Nicolas Fouquet, the treasurer of Louis XIV. At the grand opening of the chateau, a massive fete attended by the king and his family, all were amazed at the architecture, the art and the gardens. Nothing like them existed in France at the time. The estate far outshone the royal palaces. At the time, Versailles was a rustic hunting lodge.
And then it was time to return to the rotunda; below is the centerpiece of the rotunda, where a chandelier probably hangs most of the year.
But no chandelier today!
Did we get in line with all the little kids to take a ride?
You betcha!
Sadly, the video of our ride is too large to post, but we'll keep scratching our heads about it.
Soon all things must come to an end, so we left the ferris wheel to continue our tour.
When the king arrived at the chateau for the fete he was ready to imprison Fouquet for embezzlement, but the queen mother convinced him to wait until after the party. So after enjoying a feast on solid gold plates and all the trimmings, with fireworks to boot, Fouquet was arrested and spent the rest of his life in prison. It turns out that the embezzlement was actually committed by others, but Fouquet paid the price.
Once Fouquet was arrested, his architects and master gardener suddenly found themselves available for other work, and the king hired them all to tart up his much humbler hunting lodge. Voila -- Versailles was born.
Squirrels were Fouquet's emblem, and appear everywhere.
Fouquet also invented the buffet, where the side tables were laden with food that the guests or the servers could go to fill plates. This left the dining table smaller and more intimate for conversation.
The servants had a nice nook to eat in, too.
Tom noted that the copper pans were each securely tied down with wire.
After watching an inventive 3D video on the construction of the chateau and gardens, highlighting the tricks of perspective that were used throughout, we make our way outside for an all-too-brief visit to the gardens. We decided to return next year in warm weather to concentrate on the gardens, pools and fountains.
You can't even see the end of the gardens from here.
The view of the back of the chateau shows the large central rotunda that houses the ferris wheel today. One of the architectural innovations of Vaux le Vicomte is that one can look from the entrance through the building to the gardens, and vice versa, except when a ferris wheel is in residence.
It was dusk, just dark enough to see the lights surrounding the cupola.
The chateau itself is not large, so we think that guests as well as servants and staff probably stayed in some of the outbuildings.
From outside the gate, we could see the lighted ferris wheel in the rotunda, still turning.
Thanks Barbara and Donata, for reminding us to go....
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