After the grocery store we got back on the bus and headed for Vaux le Vicomte. Vaux le Vicomte has quite a history behind it. It was built by Louis XIV minister of finance, Nicolas Fouquet. He was a very wealthy man, and while Louis XIV was building Versailles he decided to build a palace of his own. When Vaux le Vicomte was completed Fouquet invited everyone, including the king, to a grand dinner party. When the king arrived at the estate he realized that Vaux not necessarily was larger than Versailles, but was grander in it's own way and everyone at the party loved it. He was very envious of Fouquet for his house and he immdiately had him arrested for 'high treason'. Fouquet had to go through many trials and was found guilty and was put in prison. Louis XIV went back and changed his sentence to life in prison. Fouquet spend 19 years in confinement before he died.
I found this story very sad. All in all it reminded me a lot of the Count of Monte Cristo. It followed a similar story line. When we approached Vaux le Vicomte I immediately understood why the king was so upset. The house is magnificent. Seriously nothing even compares. A large front courtyard and beautiful entrance with a painted dome. I loved it as soon as I stepped into the house.
We were lucky and had tickets to the candelight tour. All of the lights were turned off in the house except for candles that lit the way. It was so neat!
The gardens outside of Vaux are very beautiful too. It was raining really hard though so we couldn't follow the gardens by candelight. It made me very sad because I was looking forward to seeing it. Overall Vaux le Vicomte has been my favorite chateau of the trip.