Dreaming of a chateau lit by candelight

I dreamed that I was with Kevin at an elegant chateau, where the sun of late evening was fading, while people strolled through formal French gardens in groups of two or three. I dreamed there were pools and fountains, strains of classical music drifting through the air, and the calls of cuckoos and crickets punctuating the dusk. Then, as it grew darker, I dreamed we sat on a park bench, sipping red wine, as two thousand candles lit the castle and pathways.

Oh,wait! That wasn't a dream! That was our evening at Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte!

We spent a magical evening at the privately owned chateau, a place that should offer a lesson to us all: don't ever try to outshine your boss.

The chateau was built by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance minister. Rumors at court said that Fouquet was embezzling from the treasury. So, in August 1661, when the finance minister hosted an elaborate candlelight dinner at this chateau in honor of the king, Louis felt the lavish celebration confirmed Fouquet's guilt. (The finance minister had even commissioned a play by Molière and a new musical composition for the event.)  Louis had Fouquet arrested and seized Vaux-le-Vicomte for himself. Then he hired Fouquet's architect (Le Vau), landscape designer (Le Notre) and painter-designer (Le Brun) to redesign the royal hunting lodge into the larger and even more elegant Palace of Versailles.

Vaux-le-Vicomte is—relatively—modest in comparison. Some people like it even better than Versailles, because it is more manageable and lacks the hordes of tourists. 

The chateau says the candelight evenings re-create the ambience of that night in August 1661.  Interesting, because I didn't know they had aluminum foil in 1661. (See photo of candle.) All kidding aside, I suppose the modern candles are practical, and the effect they created was enchanting.

If you have more euros than we have, you can dine at the estate and get a front-row seat for the fireworks.  We had decided to picnic, because the chateau advertises picnic spots.  What they don't tell you is that the picnic spots are either in the area of the stables, where you can't see the chateau, or (and I am not exaggerating) about a mile away in the gardens, which are extensive.  The picnic area looks much closer, because Le Notre specially designed the gardens to play with perspective, so places that are far away appear to be within easy walking distance.  Instead, we found an out-of-the-way spot to eat our picnic and drink our wine in secret. Under the cover of darkness, we crept closer to the chateau and had another glass on a bench not far from the more-affluent diners. (We are such scofflaws!) We had a lovely spot for the climax of the evening—a brilliant fireworks display over the canal and fountains.