Sunday, August 14, 2011

Chateau Fontainebleau

Head 40 miles southeast of Paris and you'll find Fontainebleau a quiet town of 30,000 inhabitants. Smack in the middle of town stands the magnificent royal Chateau de Fontainebleau. The place is massive (over 1,500 rooms).
Started out as a small royal hunting lodge in 1100 and over the next 600 years was added on to by generations of monarchs.





This is a view of just one of the many courtyards.





View of the backside. The grounds are extensive (over 130 acres) .





Tried to capture the complex of structures in one photo. This was shot from one of the gardens. To me, Fonatinebleau is a more impressive than Versailles.











Patisserie Frederic Cassel stands on the main street running through Fontainebleau.






Excellent macarons. I'd rate them just as good as any I had in Paris. Mr. Cassel also has shops in Tokyo & Kyoto, Japan, Berlin and even Casablanca (Morocco). Website: http://www.frederic-cassel.com/






While in Paris I developed a craving for whatever that is below the sign that reads "framboisine". It is hard to describe. Sort of like taking two toast-like pieces that are crispy yet chewy, a bit gooey and putting raspberry jam between them. Some places sprinkle powdered sugar on top.





So here's the problem. I had a few of these what-ever-you-call-them in Paris and when I was at Frederic Cassels's place in Fontainebleau I bought one and put it in one of my bicycle saddlebags to eat later. Later, I eat it and it is far and away the BEST! The problem was, I neglected to take a photo of this goodie at Frederic Cassel and furthermore I had no idea what they are called. Returning to Paris I went to a boulangerie and snapped the above photo of what I thought were called "framboisine". I later google "framboisine" thinking it would show pictures of this goodie but, all I get are references to raspberry desserts.

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