A wintery picnic

The last sunny weekend a friend and I jumped on the RER and took a short trip out through the Parisian suburbs to the town of Fontainebleau. The chateau there was refurbished by Napoleon, who preferred it to its more famous sibling, Versailles, which was tainted by association with the Bourbon monarchy. Nowadays Versailles is again the more popular of the two, overrun by hoards of visitors desperate for a glimpse into the lives of Louis XVI and his infamous Queen, Marie Antoinette. 

Luckily for us, this meant that we were almost the only people at Fontainebleau, leaving us free to wander the beautiful grounds without being interrupted by camera-carrying tourists (except me, of course!)

We bought the usual cheese, baguettes and pains-aux-chocolat, and had a picnic in the garden, sitting on some marble steps in the sunshine.  

Though it soon got much too cold to be sitting outside, and we had to escape into a nearby café for a coffee while our fingers defrosted. The gardens and lake would be lovely in the summer though, I'll have to remember to go back. 

Bisous X Alice