Château de Fontainebleau, our first day trip on the train

Sleeping ‘til 7:30 is wonderful and jet lag seems to be waning. After breakfast we walked over rue de Bac to blvd. St. Germain and found our Metro station. We rode to Place de la Concorde and changed to the #1 line and got off at Gare de Lyon, a small city unto itself. It took some exploring but we found where to get our tickets and it wasn’t open yet so we were glad we hadn’t gotten up earlier. Despite what Ina Caro and Annabel Simms said in their otherwise wonderful books, the Forfait Loisirs hasn’t been sold for three years so we each got a zone 5 Mobilis pass to get us to Fontainebleau and back. It included the train, the bus to the Château de Fontainebleau, back to the train, back to Paris and any other trips on the Metro we wanted to take for the rest of the day. The only extra to pay was entrance to the Château.

We found our train and boarded, sitting on the top level for better views. It’s about an hour to Fontainebleau through some gritty Paris suburbs and then lovely countryside. In Fontainebleau, we took the bus to the Château with a lot of Oriental tourists. The buses now have numbers instead of the letters mentioned in the two books we had so that was a little different too. It's pretty easy to just follow everyone else and the famous Château is about the only place in town to visit so that narrows your choices. The last time we were here we had a car and parking was a nightmare. On the train it was no problem.

We bought our tickets at the Château and started through a palace built by kings but seemingly dedicated to Napoleon and the Empire. Like Versailles, it is over-the-top glitz and glam, room after room of decorating excess, We both decided we were glad we’d seen it but would probably never return. It was busy but not the masses of people you see at Versailles and would be a good substitute if you don't like crowds. Château de Fontainebleau web site

We found their tea room and ordered confit de canard and a Bordeaux at a table overlooking a lake. It was delicious. At one point early on, I saw a fly dive into my wine glass so Ed returned it and they cheerfully gave me a fresh glass of wine. We were in the sun so there were flies. We carefully covered our wine glasses with napkins after that! I didn't blame the fly; it was a very nice wine.

After our late lunch, we wandered to the gardens that are pretty and extensive but not too exciting . . . no flowers. I got swan and fountain pictures and a horse and carriage stopped to pose. We stumbled back across the cobblestones to the entrance and left in search of a bus stop. It seems all buses return to the gare (station) so we took the first one. There was a short wait for the train and soon we were back in Paris.

We reversed our morning trip and found an escalator up out of the rue de Bac station. Hooray! We spent the evening looking for a restaurant for our anniversary tomorrow. Still no decision . . . too many good choices in Paris. This is a difficulty we don't mind having . . .