Palace of Fontainebleau, Château de Fontainebleau 1 of the best UNESCO World Heritage Sites, France
Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometers southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, beginning with Louis VII. Francis I, Henry II, Louis-Philippe, Napoleon Bonaparte and Napoleon III. Though the monarchs only resided there for a few months of the year, they gradually transformed it into a genuine palace, filled with art and decoration. It became a national museum in 1927 and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its unique architecture and historical importance. Today it covers an area of 130 hectares while the château itself has a total floor area of 63,500 m², spread over eleven levels. For comparison Louvre covers a total area of 652,300 square feet (60,600 square meters) and Versailles Palace contains 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 m2.
The Gallery of Francis I is one of the first and finest examples of Renaissance decoration in France. It was begun in 1528 by Francis as a passageway between the apartments of the King with the oval courtyard and the great chapel of the Trinitaire monastery, but in 1531 Francis I made it a part of his royal apartments, and between 1533 and 1539 it was decorated by artists and craftsmen from Italy, under the direction of the painter Rosso Fiorentino, or Primatice, in the new Renaissance style
Napoleon spent the last days of his reign at Fontainebleau, before abdicating there on 4 April 1814, under pressure from his Marshals, Ney, Berthier, and Lefebvre. On 20 April, after failing in an attempt to commit suicide, he gave an emotional farewell to the soldiers of the Old Guard, assembled in the Court of Honor. Later, during the Hundred Days, he stopped there on 20 March 1815
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Fontainebleau
We traveled through 6 overnight destinations ( Stuttgart, Paris, Bourges, Lyon, Boudreaux, Bilbao) , other cities Ulm, Maulbronn, Fontainebleau, St. Emilion; 9 UNESCO World Heritage sites ( for me) in 3 countries , while takin 1.5 year old and 6 year old kids with us, making some days up to 28000 steps ( not a big deal for 6 year old Victor Bukasov who already hiked to elevation 4150 m) , experiencing short sickness of our 1.5 year old child and making Napoleonic travel plan to happen in spite of 5 train delays or cancellations ( out of 6) by Deutsche Bahn. There were some glitches, like for instance bordering the wrong train on the wrong platform in Burges to go to Lyon ( the 1 st platform is NOT the nearest platform to the train station there, like we had assumed) and taking the next train in 3 hours; but overall we survived the trip nearly as planned ( missing only a Closter in Ulm) while I took around 11200 photo and video during the trip.
Some video from the trip
Staatgallery Stuttgart
Ulm Munster: the tallest church on Earth, 162 m in birth city of Einstein
Ulm, Germany, City Hall, river walk in Einstein’s birthplace with the highest church in the world
Maulbronn Monastery, Germany, one the best preserved medieval monasteries, UNESCO World Heritage
Palace of Versailles
Bourges Cathedral Gothic masterpiece in France, UNESCO World Heritage site