Weekend Getaway

Gwen Lee
May 4, 2016

Bonjour from Château de Fontainebleau et Château de Vaux le Vicomte,

Our final program field trip was to two beautiful castles, southeast of Paris. These palaces housed the former kings and queens of France. Follow along for a few snapshots of our visit.

Château de Fontainebleau, our first stop

This castle notably housed the infamous Napoleon Bonaparte. He wore a wreath of gold leaves, one of which fell off and was kept in the box pictured above with a lock of Napoleon's hair.

Gallery of portraits of Napoleons's relatives

Napoleon's hat!

View of the Fontainebleau from the enhibits inside

Lunch time with Adriana! Our program always provides the best food on field trips.

The best salad

Chicken and rice

Kiwi tart

Our group eating together at our next castle visit, Vaux le Vicomte.

The castle offers golf cart in the garden because it's quite a walk to get to the other end of the garden, but who needs golf carts when you have friends!

View of the immense garden from inside the castle. Look familiar? King Louis XIV created his garden and castle at Versaille based on Château de Vaux le Vicomte. The King had the owner of Château de Vaux le Vicomte arrested (without reason) because he was jealous that the man owned a better castle then the king. You can read more about the poor guy here.

At the gorgeous fountain with Cindy and Hellena

We got to both castles just before it began to rain. How perfect! On the bus ride home, we saw a rainbow. It was the ending to another beautiful day trip with IES.

Merci,

Gwen

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Gwen Lee

<p>Salut! Je m&#39;appelle Gwen. I am a sophomore at Babson College and currently about 11% fluent in French. I hope to remedy that while wining and dining in the beautiful city of Paris. I am majoring in Business with a focus in Marketing. Follow along my stories to experience the ups and downs of studying abroad à Paris!</p>

Destination:
Term:
2016 Spring
Home University:
Babson College
Major:
Business Administration
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