The Carp Pond (It sounds so much better if you use the French: Etang des Carpes) still teams with its eponymous fish that those famous descendents of the once-French city of Detroit do not frequently associate with luxury. Legend has it that the present carp are direct descendants of the 60 given to Henri IV. In fact, the pond has been drained several times and invading armies have feasted on the pond's inhabitants.
Here's a picture a little closer in showing the effect of the chateau rising out of the water somewhat like the great Loire valley palaces being built at roughly the same time. At the distant center of the picture is the Fountain Courtyard, so called because still another fountain with remarkably clear water stood here and was guarded since it was to be used only by the king.
This was one of the first areas remodelled by Francois I after he fell under the Italian renaissance sway. Here's a closer view of the Fountain Court. This corner building is called the Queen Mothers' Wing built in 1558 by Philibert Delorme and Primaticcio: Primaticcio is one of the founders of a group of Italian Renaissance (now French) painters called the first Fontainebleau school.
The architecture here is quite consistent 16th century although the Great Pavilion (middle distance) was replaced by Louis XV 200 years later:
Since I don't have a wide angle lens for my digital camera, I had to pan over to this shot to get even a partial view of the long palace sitting at the edge of the pond:
That island-gazebo is called the pavilion Henry IV built the original but it was rehabbed by Louis XIV and Napoleon. The palace itself had a tough time during the revolution and lost most of its furniture. Napoleon refurnished it quite quickly once he got into power. (When you're going to kidnap the pope, you have to do it in a certain style.) The pavilion was occasionally used for the king's supper. When Peter the Great and his Russian buddies visited in 1717, they were invited out onto the pond for a feast.
Here's a couple views of the pavilion:
...and a little closer:
Next we walked over to the the formal French garden. Please join us by clicking here.
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