Rambouillet

Last Sunday I had an educational trip with the family to Rambouillet. Here are the basics (more pictures on Facebook).

This is le chateau (castle) at the Rambouillet Estate from the side of the French jardin (neat and orderly garden). Louis XVI loved this estate for the good hunting, bought it in 1783, and had la laiterie and a sheep farm built before the Revolution. There are canals and a long green behind the castle, along with a lake and many statues--two form the 19th century are, Brotherly Charity by Julien Edouard Conny and Death of Procris by Jean Escoula. The tour (tower), where Francois I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francois_I) died in 1547, is the only remaining part of the original castle, built in 1345.

Besides Louis XVI, Napoleon I and Francois I lived at Rambouillet. This castle is important because the current Presidents of France are allowed to use it for personal and diplomatic purposes. In 1975 the first G7 summit was held here, in 1996 Nelson Mandela visited (I'm trying to figure out which century-style furniture he chose for the l'appartement of the visiting chefs d'Etat (heads of state)), and in 1999 the Kosovo peace conference was held here.

Le laiterie de la Reine, is a dairy built for Queen Marie Antoinette because she was bored with the Rambouillet estate--Eloge de la nature (In praise of nature). This is a view of the marble rotunda where the Queen sampled her dairy products (only once or twice before being beheaded!). In the back, you can see the cooling room, where bowls of milk were kept cool in a spring of water. The statue is Jupiter and Amathea's goat. Marie Antoinette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette) liked to pretend to be a farmer and controversially changed many fashions during the Enlightenment.

On the estate was also an English garden. The English garden was in the style of a more natural landscape, exotic trees strewn about and rivers crossed by bridges. The English-style garden separated the le chateau, its French jardin, the canals, and the green carpet from la laiteria, the ferme (farm), and the bergerie nationale (national sheep farm). We were told that vast channels of underground tunnels were dug all over the estate so that the servants could travel without being seen and the Queen could stay out of the rain. There were also hidden servant entrances to all the buildings on the estate.

In the English garden, there is a shell cottage, rustic on the outside and covered wall to wall (and ceiling!) in fancy sea and fresh water shells on the inside. It only took 6-8 months to complete--http://drupal02.nypl.org/files/62/shell_cottage.jpg--crazy! It was built in 1779 by Claude-Martin Goupy before Louis XVI bought the estate and is still in perfect condition. I really liked the farm and surrounding area. I couldn't imagine anyone disliking having to live there. Sarkozy has apparently not visited yet. I hope Obama is invited this year.

The pigeon house at the farm.