Margo

Am planning a trip to see Vaux le Vicomte next Sept. Will be arriving in the early afternoon on a Sunday by car from CDG. Question is: Is there an English speaking tour? Or how does one view this place?<BR><BR>Also would appreciate ideas for the best way to get to Vaux from CDG--doesn't look like any easy way! We will then be proceeding to Chartres for the night. Any suggestions for places to stay in Chartres in the 100-$150 range--not a hotel chain, please.

Bob Brown

To give you a quick answer about Vaux-le-Vicomte, you can rent a hand-held audio guide that gives a good narrative about the building itself. You can replay the commentary and linger all you want, or skip what is of no interest. After you finish inside the chateau building, a stroll around the the gardens is well worth the time and effort. <BR><BR>Let me recommend that you pay the small extra fee and go up into the dome of the chateau. That way you can see the architecture and the means of construction. I found that aspect of the trip to be fascinating. <BR><BR>For those of you considering a trip to Vaux le Vicomte, let me add a few comments about my experiences. I have been through Vaux-le-Vicomte three times now. Last September I went through twice on one day so I could see the building by candle light.<BR><BR>After trying both a guided day tour and complete freelancing, I am of the opinion that the slight extra cost of the guided tour more than worth it.<BR>On our tour, we had the services of a very good guide and the certainty of the tour bus. Freelancing, on the other hand, involved the cost of the train and the taxi, 20 e each way between the station and the chateau and, as it turned out, considerable risk.<BR><BR>[The free lance trip encountered two major problems. First, we had a major problem buying a return ticket. Second, the express train to Paris that was listed on my printed schedule was not listed on the Melun schedule board. <BR>The problems with acquiring the return ticket started when the ticket agent at Gare de Lyon would not sell me a round trip ticket. Why? I have no idea.<BR>At the Melun station, we encountered these problems:<BR>1. The ticket machines would take only coins of which we did not have enough.<BR>2. There was no way to obtain change; no person at all in view and no change machine.<BR>3. None of our credit cards would work in the machine even though the Visa logo was plastered all over them.<BR><BR>Fortunately, the taxi driver who brought was still there and let me have enough change to buy the tickets.<BR><BR>Then we had to decide to take the slow, local sitting there preparing to leave or to wait for the unlisted express train. I got on the local. As the old saying goes about a bird in the hand ... <BR><BR>We got back to our hotel after a few more incidents, including being clamped tightly in the subway train door, which within themselves are a whole 'nother story.]<BR><BR>Suffice it to say, I was not heaving huge sighs of emotion when the TGV left Gare de Lyon for Bern the next morning with me comfortably settled in my seat.<BR>

aaa

www.vaux-le-vicomte.com<BR><BR>I found the entrance fee alone to be outrageous! It's a beautiful chateau but one would think they could charge a more reasonable admission. You will need a car or take a taxi from the train station.

Andre

Margo,<BR><BR>It's quite easy to reach Vaux-le-Vicomte from CDG by car! <BR><BR>Just take the &quot;Francilienne&quot; ring road (A104 and N104) till it hits the A5 (direction Troyes). Take the first exit after picking up the toll ticket - can't remember the name, but the chateau is mentioned on one of the signs. The rest of the drive is clearly marked.<BR><BR>To get to Chartres, retrace your steps to the A104/N104, which you continue on till it hits the A10, which you follow until the branch-off for the A11, which will take you to Chartres.<BR><BR>Hope this helps,<BR>Andre

Margo

Andre: Thank you so much for your directions. This kind of help is what I think the Fodor site is all about. We don't need political comment or insults or what to name my dog kind of comments!<BR><BR>I am looking forward to visiting France again and will be asking for other advice as needed.

elaine

But you must admit the dog naming thread was quite funny!

ParisFan

Author: aaa ([email protected])<BR>Date: 01/01/2003, 02:38 pm<BR>Message: www.vaux-le-vicomte.com<BR><BR>I found the entrance fee alone to be outrageous! It's a beautiful chateau but one would think they could charge a more reasonable admission.<BR><BR>This a privately owned property, but still felt admission price was fair. Rent a car for the trip and spend the night at a country inn in the surrounding area. At entry, rent the headset and buy the guidebook with full color pictures. Allow at least a full morning or afternoon to fully enjoy the grounds and chateau.

aaa

I am not berating the chateau at all. It is truly beautiful. However, after having lived in France for 10 years and being fully aware of the high cost of maintaining the properties, I would hope the French government could lower the taxes on such historic places for the families who still own the chateau themselves but who dont' actually live in the main building proper. You have to admit that at that time (I am referring to 1993 when I last visited it with family who were visiting), FF 72,00 (+/- $12.50) was outrageous to a degree and some people simply can't afford it. That was the only statement I was making. The Chateau and grounds are unforgettable.

Bob Brown

Perhaps the admission to the chateau is high. But compared with other costs when touring in Europe, I thought it reasonable. For example, art museums are about the same cost. And Neuschwanstein is not exactly cheap to tour. <BR><BR>Also I was under the impression that Vaux-le-Vicomte was under the protection of some sort of Antiquities Act that helped to protect it from taxation, particularly real estate property type taxes. Am I wrong on this score?

aaa

Chateaux like Vaux-le-Vicomte do not have lowered real estate property taxes. Since the chateau is still privately held, the family to whom it belongs have to raise the money for the taxes by charging admission in addition to raising cash for upkeep, salaries, gardeners, etc. This is why the price is rather hefty. If one does not believe EU 12,00 is a lot, then the true value of money has been completely lost! It's a shame such a chateau which is clearly part of France's cultural history should not have some State-assisted help. Since Vaux-le-Vicomte is not owned by the State, however, the State will not defray the costs of keeping it up in the first place. You can read this on the explanation boards at the chateau itself in its main entrance hall. Either way, if the family willed the estate to the French State (which is called a &quot;dation&quot; in France -- Picasso's children did this in the late 80's by willing many original Picasso's so they wouldn't have to pay the French government tens of millions of dollars in inheritance taxes), there would be no estate taxes for the inheritors and the State would own the chateau and certainly place it under the French Musees et domanaines nationaux. Subsidies to maintain the property would come from admission fees as well as taxes from French citizens. Either way, visitors are going to have to pay rather a lot ... and those entrance fees can't come down or someone somewhere will lose money. And in that scenario, the general French public get the added tax burden. Rather sad.

Bob Brown

Glad to know that about the tax status. I enjoyed my tours of the chateau, and I did not mind paying the entrance fee. Compare the cost of touring the chateau with the cost of going to a movie, or a dinner, or a concert, or an opera.<BR><BR>To bring it closer to home, it costs $11.00 for an adult to enter Mount Vernon, which is comparable to the regular fee of 10 euro to enter, or 13 e for the candlelight tour.<BR><BR><BR>Touring the chateau is optional. No one makes you go there!! I paid more to ride the taxi out there and back than I did to get in the gate. So if I have a complaint, it is the high cost of taxi fare: 40 euro for out and back! <BR><BR>Claiming that the entrance fee is high seems to me to be strange when many people spend more than that for booze and cigarettes in a day and think nothing of it.<BR><BR>Compared with the total cost of a tour of Europe, the cost of touring the chateau is miniscule, something on the order of .005 of the total cost, or about half a percent.

Patrick

Topping for PamSF.