In the heart of a local forest, the chateau of Fontainebleau started life as a hunting lodge. It then became the summer residence for the kings of France, from Francois I to Napoleon III, each one of which made additions and changes to this magnificent building. With its lovely lakes and gardens it is now recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
When we arrived we discovered that, on the first Sunday each month, entrance is free. This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is obvious but it also meant that it was very busy with tourists from all over the world. However, it is a vast building and with many hectares of gardens we were able to explore without other visitors troubling us greatly. Apart from a coffee machine it is not possible to even get a drink in the chateau itself. So we went into the town for lunch and managed to avoid the worst of the rain showers that arrived, yet again, today.
We now needed to return to the marina, which was about 4 or 5 kms away. Taxis were nowhere to be found so we set of walking back to the boat. This was potentially a problem because Sue and Ian needed to catch a train, back to Paris, later that afternoon. The station was about half way back to the boat so we made a diversion and were able to engage a taxi that was already dropping somebody off to catch a train. The driver agreed to return us to the boat and then take Ian & Sue back to catch their train; which saved a great deal of walking.
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