This is not a "regional tour" in the conventional sense. In fact, after experiencing the scenery of Normandy and Brittany and being intoxicated by the beauty of the Loire Valley, An Qingju and An Chuyu will "move to" Burgundy. This is a process of migration from the west to the east of France.

Considering that Fontainebleau is actually quite far from the center of Paris (70 kilometers), An Qingju and An Chuyu decided to stop at Fontainebleau for lunch and then continue east to Troyes. The entire journey today is more than 260 kilometers, of which the section from the Loire Valley to Fontainebleau accounts for 150 kilometers.

When the car was heading to Fontainebleau, An Qingju and An Chuyu experienced the process of a spaceship rushing towards the earth. This huge "attraction" was not gravity, but the power of "attracting money".

As long as the car enters the Île-de-France, approaches or passes through Paris, the GPS will automatically select the highway, and that highway is definitely high-end, and it looks completely different from the road that An Qingju and An Chu met in Normandy. The "money-making" ability of the roads in the Parisian province is also definitely "high-end".

The toll for the short 100-kilometer journey from the Loire Valley to Fontainebleau was 24.7 euros! The toll for the Normandy highway that An Qingju and An Chuyu had taken before was only 2-3 euros.

Now let’s talk about how to pay highway tolls in France.

When entering a toll highway, you need to stop and get a card, just like in China. The only difference is that the card is not issued manually, but at the gate, a machine automatically takes a photo and "spits out" a card. Only when the card is pulled out of the machine will the gate automatically open to let the car pass. The difference is at the exit.

Usually, most highway exits do not have manual toll booths (except for some sections). Automatic toll booths usually look like this.

First look at the light signs at the top of the toll booths. They all have the letter "t" on them, indicating that you need to check your ticket here (that is, check the entrance ticket). The three exits in the photo have different functions. The "t" sign on the far left has a square sign next to it, which means that this exit is for card payment.

All French highways use chip-based credit cards, and most Chinese people cannot get such cards in China. So it's best not to try it here, because if it doesn't work, it will be troublesome to reverse out.

The middle toll gate has a yellow "reserve" barrier sign, which is a bit like our "etc" express card exit, and rented cars cannot pass through. The rightmost toll gate has no credit card sign, and this exit accepts both cash and credit cards; for Chinese people who rent cars and drive themselves, it is best to take this exit.

How to pay? First, insert the card you received at the entrance into the machine at the entrance (don't worry, you will find the slot, it is very eye-catching). The screen will automatically display the amount you want to pay - no matter what the French is, the amount is always recognizable.

There are usually two areas for cash payment and card payment at the bottom of the amount screen. Now let's talk about cash payment. There are two payment slots in the cash payment area. One for banknotes and one for coins. Note that banknotes generally only support 20 euros. So if you are on a toll highway, it is best to prepare some change.

The toll of nearly 25 euros made An Qingju and An Chuyu gasp. This is definitely an extra-budgetary expense! Here is a warning to all of you who are traveling by car in France: if you drive near the Paris Province (that is, the Île-de-France), when using GPS navigation, you must try to avoid highways if you want to save money.

Later, An Qingju and An Chuyu found a website in France, where you only need to enter your starting point and destination, and the approximate highway toll you have to pay will be automatically calculated; if you choose other highways, the toll will also be adjusted synchronously.

In addition, France also offers a lot of money-saving solutions for driving in Paris. Given that the cost is so high, it is still worth the trouble to explore.

When visiting the Loire Valley, if you go to "Chambolle", everyone knows to go to the Chateau of Chambord; if you go to Chenonceau, you also go to the Chateau of Chenonceau; no one would think of going to "Chambolle Town" or "Chenonceau Town", maybe this town is not called "Chambolle" or "Chenonceau".

When An Qingju and An Chuyu went to Fontainebleau, they naturally thought that "Fontainebleau" was probably a "palace" or "castle", so they entered the GPS and headed straight there. They didn't expect the car to arrive there. They were also dumbfounded.

It turns out that Fontainebleau and Chateau de Fontainebleau are not the same thing. They are even marked with two different entries to remind readers to distinguish them. It can be seen that there are many tourists like An Qingju and An Chuyu who are confused.

Fontainebleau is part of the Fontainebleau district of the Seine-et-Marne department. The district has 87 municipalities under its jurisdiction. Fontainebleau is the seat of the district government and the largest municipality in the Île-de-France. It is also the only municipality in the region that is larger than Paris. ——Awesome.

Next time when you use GPS navigation, you must make sure to distinguish whether you are going to Fontainebleau Palace or to visit the city. Think about it, is there a place in China that uses a famous tourist attraction as the name of the city? ...

Of course, An Qingju and An Chuyu wanted to visit the Palace of Fontainebleau. The car shuttled through the city with difficulty, and they didn't dare to drive fast. They not only looked at the road, but also had to find where the palace was.

It's hard to find a parking space on the roadside, but there is a large paid parking lot not far from the tourist center, surrounded by a high wall, and you can find it after a little searching. After parking the car, the two of them went into the tourist center to figure out what to do next. I really couldn't open my mouth, and I was always embarrassed to ask, "Excuse me, has An Chuyu arrived at the Palace of Fontainebleau?"

After thinking about it, I asked in a very clever way, "An Chuyu wants to visit the Palace of Fontainebleau. Can you recommend a route for An Chuyu?" This was much better. The staff was very enthusiastic. They tore off a page of the map for An Qingju and An Chuyu, and carefully instructed An Qingju and An Chuyu how to "walk" to visit the Palace of Fontainebleau and the classical buildings around it.

By the way, I really want to praise the tourist service centers in these developed countries. An Qingju and An Chuyu didn't go to the tourist center to seek help very often in France, after all, they had done a lot of travel guides in China. But when An Qingju and An Chuyu had questions, every tourist service center they went to could solve their problems immediately.

In the tourist service center, there are various free tour brochures and tour maps, as well as paid souvenirs and commemorative albums for sale. All staff can speak fluent English - at least you can understand and hear them.

In France, each tourist center provides a large number of simple maps with various functions (such as the one in the photo). The staff will tear off a map according to your current sightseeing needs (such as walking, looking for a place, or cycling), and then mark the walking route on it with a pen, which is really clear at a glance.

Later in the tour, An Qingjue and An Chuyu had some more bizarre problems and went to the tourist center to seek help, which were all solved satisfactorily. I will talk about this later.

An Qingju and An Chuyu pushed the door and entered the office. It really looked like an office, with small office chairs separated by small partitions. There was a small shelf similar to a newspaper reading rack against the wall, on which was a stack of "Travel Guides", the kind with large folded pages, with maps on one side and advertisements on the other.

He took one and opened it, but couldn't find the "Grassland Sky Road" after a long time. He looked up to ask for help, but saw only a young man sitting in the office, looking down at his computer. When he saw An Qingju and An Chuyu come in, he had already glanced at them, as if they were salesmen who broke into someone else's office area.

An Qingjue and An Chuyu asked the young man about the "Grassland Sky Road", and he replied, "Today is the weekend, and I'm on duty. I don't know, look for it on the shelf. Huh? No? Maybe this attraction hasn't released a brochure yet. I'll put it up when they release it. It's not here now."

Does it sound familiar? Very Chinese? An Chuyu wanted to know how many tourists in China have visited this "tourist service center"? And how many people actually got help?

The Fontainebleau Visitor Center is different. From here, An Qingju and An Chuyu learned that the Fontainebleau Palace is divided into three levels of tours. The first is the visit inside the Fontainebleau Palace, which requires an entrance fee of 11 euros. If you have a Paris Museum Pass, you don't need to buy a separate ticket, but you have to pay for the audio guide separately.

The second is to visit the gardens and forests of the Palace of Fontainebleau. This garden is free. The green part on the map is basically the gardens of the Palace of Fontainebleau. It is super large. Be prepared. The third is to visit the architecture of the city of Fontainebleau. Those who have studied art know that there is a Fontainebleau School.

Since Francis I, every French king has renovated the Palace of Fontainebleau for vacation or trysts with his mistresses. Various legal, educational and financial service facilities have also been built around the Palace of Fontainebleau. Therefore, the buildings around the Palace of Fontainebleau are very beautiful. They are more luxurious and complex than French country buildings, and more relaxed and romantic than Parisian city buildings.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

There is a circle of black marks on the map, which is the recommended walking route.

Fontainebleau means "blue spring water" in French. Xu Zhimo once translated it as "Fontainebleau", but Zhu Ziqing's translation of "Fontainebleau" will make people unconsciously fall into endless beautiful reverie. In the sea of ​​thoughts, there are swaying tree shadows, thin dew in the clear autumn, the change of seasons, and the eternity of time... This name can only be praised in two words - beautiful.

The Palace of Fontainebleau is the palace of the King of France, which is equivalent to our Chengde Mountain Resort.

It was first built by Louis VI in the early 12th century. At that time, it was really a "country villa". When Francis I came to power, he yearned for the Italian Renaissance, so he built a lot of buildings in this place and hired a group of artists to create and design, making this place magnificent.

From the outside, the Palace of Fontainebleau does not seem particularly outstanding. Its architectural style is similar to other French royal palaces, and it is not very tall. In addition, as a temporary palace, it does not look tall and magnificent, but has a more relaxed tone.

But the decoration inside is completely different. To put it in a way that we all understand, the interior style of the Fontainebleau Palace is the "beechwood house" style of the nouveau riche families in China in the 1980s, which is a super luxurious version of the "all-inclusive wood grain" style. The technical term is.

We also saw a luxurious reception hall where Napoleon "summoned" Pope Pius VII in 1804 for his coronation ceremony. This was absolutely unprecedented at the time, as it was the king who went to Rome to be coronated by the Pope, but now the situation was reversed, which shows how powerful Napoleon was.

In order to provide comfort and handle office affairs, the palace has various ballrooms, prayer rooms, offices, study rooms, reception rooms, exhibition halls, living rooms, etc. The style is extremely luxurious and complicated, whether it is Baroque or Rococo, in short, it is the style of Italian nouveau riche.

An Qingju and An Chuyu specifically wanted to see a Chinese Pavilion in the Palace of Fontainebleau. This Chinese Pavilion was built by Queen Eugenie of French Emperor Napoleon III.

The reason for its construction was simple: to store the cultural relics looted from the Old Summer Palace. After the British and French forces looted the Old Summer Palace in 1860, the French commander Montopont presented the spoils looted from the Old Summer Palace to Napoleon III and Queen Eugenie.

The queen was very happy and specially set up an exhibition hall to store these Chinese treasures. It is said that there are more than 30,000 pieces of famous paintings from various dynasties of China, gold and silver jewelry, porcelain, incense burners, chime bells, gems, and gold and silver wares collected here.

They always heard people say that there were so many treasures in the Old Summer Palace, which was unheard of. This made An Qingjue and An Chuyu, descendants of the Chinese nation, feel indignant and gave full play to their imagination, imagining how exquisite and beautiful the treasures that were taken away by the "great powers" were. An Qingjue and An Chuyu came from such a long distance, and they wanted to see the honor no matter what.

But after going in and watching it, I can only use the word "disappointment" to express An Qingjue and An Chuyu's feelings.

First of all, we cannot say that this is a specially "built" Chinese Pavilion. Of course, calling it a "warehouse" is a bit unfair to it, after all, it has been deliberately planned and the layout is well-organized. (To be continued...)