I’m just finishing a busy week visiting the best châteaux of the Loire. Touring these insanely extravagant palaces — and considering the division of economic classes of that time — it occurred to me that most of them were built by bankers and financiers from the courts of the great kings. The parallels between these “hedge-fund managers of the 17th century” and their counterparts today, given the recent political discourse in our country, was fun to ponder.
I had a particularly thrilling experience climbing through the attic of one of these guys and popping out on his rooftop, where I could survey his garden. This was about a century before a “big correction” occurred. Because, back then, there was no political way to reign in these fat cats, the correction was done quite violently. Here’s Vaux-le-Vicomte, the home of Louis XIV’s finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
That`s some place! It would employee many to maintain things. An up side for people and jobs. Yet[INVALID]gotta wonder where the money mctree grove might be. Incredible! Happy travels.
We were just at Vaux-le-Vicomte in early July and I have to say I really enjoyed this palace so much more then Versailles. There were no crowds, the grounds were beautiful and I liked how they told the story of the Finance Minister as you toured the palace. We also rented a golf cart and got to explore the grounds and enjoyed a snack at the little cafe outside in the garden. We spent a full day here and loved it.
The excesses of the Kings and their minions led to revolution which degenerated into a bloodbath. With a failed leader at the controls, we can only hope those who really love freedom will not suffer the same fate. At least Michelle doesn`t want us to eat cake.