Vaux-le-Vicomte

Vaux-le-Vicomte is a chateau near the city of Melun, just southeast of Paris, designed by architect Louis le Vau. AUP organized a day trip there one Saturday and I got the chance to explore the amazing place. The chateau is currently owned by Patrice and Cristina de Vogüé, the Comte et Comtesse de Vogüé, with whom AUP has a healthy relationship. We were able to meet the count and countess, and the count himself gave us a tour of the gardens. It was all very cool. He was a nice man, very down-to-earth, not at all what I had imagined a count to look like:

There he is, in the blue fleece.

The garden is one of the most impressive things about this property. The designer, Andre le Notre, is actually the same man who went on to design the gardens of Versailles. So there are a lot of similar elements. He liked to add 'hidden treasures' as you walked through, providing a sense of mystery when you discovered something new.

So here is a mini history lesson for all those who have never heard of this chateau. It was constructed for Fouquet, the finance minister to Louis XV. However, another man, Colbert (who wanted the position of finance minister for himself) convinced the king that Fouquet was stealing royal funds. So he was overthrown and the chateau was repossessed. They even went so far as to take all of the garden ornaments, sculptures, trees, and flowers and use them for the gardens at Versailles.

Colbert was the sneakiest of all. All of Fouquet's tapestries, with his family emblem of the squirrel, were taken and redone so that the squirrel was replaced with a snake, Colbert's family emblem. Today, many of these tapestries have been recovered and restored with the original squirrel.

Overall, the whole property is a wonderful place to explore. It gives an interesting insight into an important part of French history. It is also just a beautiful space. While we were visiting, we saw multiple couples taking wedding pictures throughout the grounds:

And of course I had to get a few shots of myself:
 

A bientot!