Things to do in Fontainebleau

“When you go on a road trip, the trip itself becomes part of the story. “

Steve Rushin

Sites/Topics covered in this post:

• Fontainebleau castle
• Chartres

Go-Date: Day 147, Tuesday, June 18

Lesson Learned:  No matter how careful you are, you can get hacked. We’ve been really careful our whole trip, but it finally happened. One of our credit cards got hacked. It happened using Uber, which we’ve only done twice since January, and we got a fake charge for over a $100 bucks for a trip we never took. I don’t know if you’ve tried, but disputing a charge with Uber is a technical feat, at best. So, after wrestling with this for a while on the train out to the airport we finally just contacted Visa, reported the fraud, and had them cancel the charge.

Use a VPN, never leave your card out of site when you use it, use an RFID wallet, and watch your account like a hawk. The worst thing is we had to cancel one of our cards, but we still have several others available for the balance of our trip. Be on the alert, the bad guys are out there.

Everyone Has a Castle in This Country

The Palace of Fontainebleau or Château de Fontainebleau, is located 55 kilometres (34 miles) southeast of Paris, in the commune (small town) of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux, which is about like saying there are a lot of Chinese in China). The palace served as a residence (one of many) for the French monarchs from Louis VII to Napoleon III. Francis I and Napoleon were the monarchs who shaped the site to what you see at the Palace today. It’s another UNESCO World Heritage Site we can check off our list.

With over 1,500 rooms at the heart of 130 acres of parkland and gardens, Fontainebleau is the only royal and imperial château to have been continuously inhabited for seven centuries. The earliest record of a fortified castle at Fontaineau is in 1137. It became a favorite residence and hunting lodge of the Kings of France because of the abundant game and many springs in the surrounding forest. The forest around the castle is now a public park full of hikers, campers, and cyclists. The palace took its name from one of the springs, the fountain de Bliaud, located in the English garden, next to the wing of Louis XV. It was used by King Louis VII, for whom Thomas Becket consecrated the chapel in 1169; by Louis IX, or Saint Louis, who built a hospital and a convent, the Couvent des Trinitaires, next to the castle; and by Philippe le Bel, who was born and died in the castle. What I don’t understand is why Louis XIII, XIV or XV needed the place since they had Versilles.

There were a whole lot of French kings to call this place their own since Louie 7. King Henry II lived here until he was fatally wounded in a jousting accident (by Count of Montgomery, of the Scottish Guard. Montgomery was forgiven by the king, but his widow, Catherine de Medici, who hated him, would take the opportunity to have him beheaded in 1574). Catherine, continued the construction and decoration of the château. In 1565, as a security measure due to the Wars of Religion, she also had moat dug around the château to protect it against attack. You will recall that Catherine’s daughter Mariealso had a little 300,000 square feet palace in Paris called the Palais de Luxembourg. Its hard to make do when you are so crammed for space.

During the French Revolution, somehow the peasants didn’t burn down the Château but all the furniture was sold at auction since the revolutionists didn’t think gold leaf furniture fit their image. That was a whole lot of furniture, and I’m sure this place creaked being so empty. Napoleon I installed a military school in the chateau in 1803. As he prepared to become Emperor, Napoleon wanted to preserve as much as possible the palaces and protocol of the Old Regime. He chose Fontainebleau as the site of his historic 1804 meeting with Pope Pius VII, who had travelled from Rome to crown Napoleon Emperor.

Napoleon spent the last days of his reign here, before abdicating on 4 April 1814. During the Second Empire, Napoleon III, who had been baptized at Fountainebleau, resumed the custom of long stays at the Chateau, particularly during the summer. Many of the historic rooms, were restored to something like their original appearance, while the private apartments were redecorated to suit the tastes of the Emperor and Empress.

During the Franco-Prussian War, the palace was occupied by the Prussians on 17 September 1870, and briefly used as an army headquarters by Frederic Charles of Prussia in 1871. Following the war, two of the buildings became the home of the advanced school of artillery and engineering of the French Army, when the province of Alsace was annexed by Germany. Its amazing how many parts of present-day countries we’ve visited were annexed by other nations, some that don’t even exist today (ex. Ottoman Empire, Venetian Empire).

During World War II, it was occupied by the Germans on 16 June 1940, and occupied until 10 November, and again from 15 May to the end of October 1941. Following the war, part of the Chateau became a headquarters of the Allied Forces Central Europe, under NATO, until 1966.

The general restoration of the Chateau took place between 1964 and 1968 under President Charles DeGaulle. It was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, and is now managed by the Ministry of Culture. Just like Versailles, this place is crazy big, opulent, and decadent (but a lot less crowded). It has also taught us that in France, its really difficult to do anything considered “Over-the-Top” excessive.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres

Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, is a Roman Catholic church in the middle of nowhere, France, about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Paris. Mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220, it stands at the site of at least five cathedrals that have occupied the site since Chartres became a bishopric in the 4th century. It is in the Gothic and Romanesque styles (which means very tall, detailed, and cold, with gargoyles, I suppose). As you drive into Chartres (pronounced Chart in French) this cathedral literally erupts from the wheat fields as you top a rise ten kilometers away. Your first thoughts are, “Who would have built something this grand way out here in BFE?”, and then “why are these roads around France so narrow?”

It is designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which calls it “the high point of French Gothic art” and a “masterpiece. They should also added that this church is ginormous and sits on the highest hill in the village which makes it seem even larger than it actually is. Since at least the 12th century the cathedral has been an important destination for travelers. It remains so to the present, attracting large numbers of Christian pilgrims, many of whom come to venerate its famous relic, the Sancta Camisa, said to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ’s birth, as well as large numbers of secular tourists who come to admire the cathedral’s architecture and historical merit. I do think religious relics are kind of weird, bizarre and often gross. Next, we’ll be hearing there is a “Vase of the Holy Afterbirth” in a cave in Ethiopia that was sealed with Holy Bees Wax and preserved for the faith by the Templar Knights hiding it amongst the rice urns in a mud temple’s barn. Who keeps stuff like that? Oh, well maybe it could be true, after all Monica Lewinski saved her navy-blue dress without having it dry cleaned after Bill Clinton showed her his cigar.

At least five cathedrals have stood on this site, each replacing an earlier building damaged by war or fire, which makes me wonder who was the genius that decided to keep rebuilding here, or at least bother looking into better ways of fire-proofing the church. The first church dated from no later than the 4th century and was located at the base of a Gallo-Roman wall. It was burned in 743 by the Duke of Aquitaine. The second church on the site was burned by Danish pirates (otherwise known as Vikings) in 858. In 962 the church was damaged by another fire (third) and was reconstructed again. This was reconstructed and enlarged by Bishop Gislebert (fourth) but was destroyed by fire in 1020. A vestige of this church, now known as Saint Lubin Chapel, remains, underneath the apse of the present cathedral, after which Bishop Fulbert (bishop from 1006 to 1028) decided to build a new cathedral.

The new cathedral was constructed (fifth) atop and around the remains of the 9th-century church. In 1134, another fire in the town damaged the facade and the bell tower of the Cathedral, Construction was begun immediately on a new tower, the north tower, which was finished in about 1150. It was just two stories high and had a lead roof. The south tower, begun in 1144, was much more ambitious; it had a spire atop the tower, and, when finished in about 1160, it reached a height of 105 meters or 345 feet, one of the highest in Europe.  

On the night of July 10, 1194, (sixth) another major fire devastated the cathedral. Only the crypt, the towers, and the new facade survived. A legate of the Pope happened to be in Chartres at the time of the fire, and spread the word that this place was a stinking fire trap and surely God was trying to tell France (and Chartres, specifically) something. Pope Pop-Pius the First told the legate to STFU and an effort began to rebuild (again).  By 1220 the roof was in place. The major portions of the new cathedral, with its stained glass and sculpture, were largely finished within just twenty-five years. They must have been using union labor, since this was extraordinarily rapid for the time. The Cathedral was formally re-consecrated in October 1260. in the presence of King Louis IX of France, whose coat of arms was painted over the entrance to the apse.

This church is still standing, which is a miracle, since they still didn’t have a fire suppression system in place, and it was ordered to be destroyed by an American general during the invasion of France during WWII, either because he was a Southern Baptist or Mormon, or the fact that some French mimes swear they heard German Bingo numbers being called out on the Friday before the D-Day invasion. But, it could be that they were misunderstood, since mimes don’t speak. Whatever the reason, in 1944, when the German-occupied city was invested by American troops, Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr refused to blow up the church on the orders of some flunky general that made a decision on hear-say. Bart entered the city in his jeep driven by his trusty aide Kato, to determine the location of German forces. He noticed that fire was being directed at the cathedral, evidently trying to break the remaining panes of glass in the church (supposedly for good luck) entered it, determined that no German Bingo games were in evidence, and signaled a cease fire. A short time later he was killed in action, which really sucks since it was this valiant soldier that died instead of the numb-skull general that commanded this glorious edifice be bombed.

We really enjoyed visiting this cathedral, even if Ellen and I both disagree on the manner they are restoring the inside of the church (re-plastering and repainting the stone works instead of just cleaning and repairing the fixtures and original stone).

As much as the church, we enjoyed the ancient medieval feeling on the town itself. Much of the old town, including the library associated with the School of Chartres, was destroyed by bombs in 1944, which is nice that the church was spared. Chartres was one of the principal towns in Gaul of the Carnutes, a Celtic tribe. In the Gallo-Roman period, it was called Autricum, name derived from the river Autura (Eure), and afterwards civitas Carnutum, “city of the Carnutes“, from which Chartres got its name. The city was burned by the Normans in 858, and unsuccessfully besieged by them in 911.

During the Middle Ages, it was the most important town of the Beauce. When you enter Chartres you must cross the Eure River, which at this point divides into three branches, is crossed by several bridges, some of them ancient, and is fringed in places by remains of the old fortifications, of which the Porte Guillaume (14th century), a gateway flanked by towers, was the most complete specimen, until destroyed by the retreating German army in the night of 15 to 16 August 1944. The steep, narrow streets of the old town still remain, and are a pleasure to wander about in search of beer or wine on a warm French afternoon. You need to get out of Paris, and Chartres is one of the towns you need to visit.