The Smell Of The Place...

Next on my agenda was the Forêt de Fontainebleau - the forest of Fontainebleau, one of the most charming and peaceful attractions of this tiny commune. 

But the visit to Château de Fontainebleau and Jardin Anglais left me famished, so I stopped by at a bistro on Rue Dénecourt for a quick and light salad lunch with some fresh cured black boar jambon...

And then I was ready to go...

Cycling down Boulevard de Constance, past the Obelisk of Marie Antoinette...

The obelisk is a replica of the one which stands on the St. Peter's Square in Rome...

And the forest did seem magical...

With the varied colours of summer...

And it got a lot more greener as I cycled deeper into the forest...

Most of Forêt de Fontainebleau is located primarily in the canton of Fontainebleau, although parts of it extend into adjoining cantons and communes, such as Milly-la-Forêt, Barbizon and Avon. The forest itself is quite large and has an area of 280 square kilometres.

The forest has had an intimate link with the shaping of French history over the last 800 years or so. This is where generations of French royalty had their favorite hunting grounds and it is believed that this was the theatre where Napoleon’s most intimate dramas were played out.

The forest was once home to wild boar, deer, foxes and hounds but a lot of these have been hunted down by the nobility of the yesteryears. Today, the forest is home to oaks, pines and beech trees and over three thousand species of mushrooms.

The air smelt fresher as we went deeper into the air and that reminded me of what the legendary management guru, Sumantra Ghoshal had said about this forest. "There is something about the smell of the air, about the trees, that will make you want to run, jog, jump up, catch a branch, to throw a stone, to do something. You will find that even though you entered the forest to have a leisurely walk, you are doing something else - and that is the essence of the issue of revitalising people."

The forest is also home to several unique and oddly shaped rock formations of all sizes, which attracts rock climbers...

And it did feel as though a black boar would running out of the bushes with Obelix and Dogmatix chasing it furiously, for the Gaulish village banquet. And Asterix would not be too far behind...

But the days of Gauls and the Romans and Caesar are over. It took me a while to realise I was in modern France... 

And I grudgingly move on, a bit disappointed...

The mighty oaks look impressive...

Indeed the smell of the place is magical and definitely not describable in this post. You surely need to smell it yourself...

Did I see the druid, Getafix there?

And finally the sun shines brightly again...

And the skies are clearly up a bit...

And I am reminded of Robert Frost...

The colours look pretty in the bright sun...

There we go back...