The easy way to get around Vaux-leVicomte!

Monday
We took Roger's parents and sister to the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte today. Since it was a rather overcast day we decided to explore the grounds first while it was dry. The grounds are quite extensive, and Roger's Mum can't walk too far, so when we saw they rented golf carts, we thought that would be a great solution! Strictly speaking they are only supposed to take four, so most of the time Janet and I walked and took photographs, but when we got to the lower level, we did squeeze on to hitch a ride around the grand canal to the far side! We made the right decision to see the grounds first, as while we were having lunch afterwards in their cafe, it started to rain quite hard. Fortunately it eventually eased off so we were able to get back across to the chateau to tour the inside.

The chateau has an interesting history. The creator of Vaux-le-Vicomte was Nicholas Fouquet, who was from a family of wealthy parliamentarians and experienced rapid social ascension, being appointed Superintendent of Finances in 1653, by the Prime Minister of France Cardinal Mazarin. The estate and its harmony are the result of the union between the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun and the landscape gardener André Le Nôtre, along with their respective expertise.
The château and its patron became for a short time a focus for fine feasts, literature and arts. The poet La Fontaine and the playwright Molière were among the artists close to Fouquet. The château was lavish, refined, and dazzling to behold, but these characteristics were to prove tragic for Fouquet. Shortly after a famous fête that took place at Vaux-le-Vicomte on 17 August 1661, at which Molière's play 'Les Fâcheux' debuted, and which culminated in an impressive firework display, the king, Louis XIV, who had been a guest at the extravagant fete had Fouquet arrested. The celebration had been too impressive and the superintendent's home too luxurious. Fouquet's intentions were to flatter the King, but his plan backfired. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who had always been envious of Fouquet's success, led the king to believe that his minister's magnificence was funded by the misappropriation of public funds. Later, Voltaire was to sum up the famous fête thus: "On 17 August, at six in the evening Fouquet was the King of France: at two in the morning he was nobody."
Vaux le Vicomte was then closed down and the King seized almost all of the estate’s treasures: tapestries, furniture, paintings, books, rugs. It took Madame Fouquet ten years to recover the property, in which she would later retire with her eldest son. Following the death of the latter, she resolved to free herself of Château de Vaux le Vicomte and sold it in 1705 to Marshal de Villars, an important military commander.
Meanwhile, Louis XIV was to take Vaux-le-Vicomte as his inspiration, and using the same talents of Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre went on to develop Versailles to what we see today.

You can see more photos of the chateau and grounds here.