Curious chateau

Last week I was very lucky to go to a conference just outside Paris. First shock was the plane - I'm not a good flyer. Actually, flying is OK, its taking off that's the problem. Doesn't matter how many times I do it, I don't like it. and I particularly don't like turboprop planes. Also irrational but I prefer my plane to have jet engines. 4 of them, 5 if possible. Although this was a pretty good flight. Landed at Charles de Gaulle and found a taxi. I'd printed the name and address of where I needed to go, as well as a Google map, and I'd got the route on my phone.  The French taxi driver was having none of it. He shrugged, huffed, and keyed the name of the village into his satnav. We had a nice journey, past the Chantilly Chateau - so close I thought we were in the car park, and then i noticed we'd gone too far. Once I realised we'd been lost for a good 10 minutes, I tried to show him the route, but this was obviously a problem, so he carried on. Finally I persuaded him to look at the phone and turn round - quite difficult as I'd forgotten most of the French I'd ever learnt.

When we arrived I discovered a beautiful chateau, Les Fontaines, which had a modern conference centre and small residential blocks in the grounds.

I was early, so went for a walk and discovered a park, complete with lake, and had a pleasant walk in very warm sunshine considering it was the end of September. As I came back past the chateau I notice lots of people going in and out, obviously preparing it for the evening event on the following night. So, I walked in, complete with camera, and wandered around taking pictures. In my experience, if you look confident and act as if you should  be there, no one will notice or question you, and they didn't!

One of my  pleasures in life is eating good food and I wasn't disappointed. I love being able to help myself and take a little of lots of different things, and with so many delegates, all of the meals were buffet style. The food tasted as good as it looked! Strawberry soup is an acquired taste though.

The evening event was the Chateau of Curiosities with each room having a different theme. There was live jazz, an oriental buffet, a room dedicated to chocolate and brandy.  We had our pictures taken next to a  3d artwork:

and watched a robot solve a Rubik's cube in 14 seconds:

Great conference - report of all the sessions over here. Lovely to get a couple of days in the sun as well. Didn't see Paris at all, but at least on the way back the plane had lovely jet engines. And good old BA - plane was only in the air about 35 minutes but everyone got a drink and something to eat.