Do you dream of stopping on the steps of the Elysée Palace, of entering the president's office or the Council of Ministers room?
It's grated for this year.
Each year taken by storm for the Heritage Days, the Palace has again had to reduce the number of visitors this weekend, due to the health crisis, and reservations are full.
Missed therefore, but not completely: this Friday evening, the services of the presidency posted a link for a 3D virtual tour, totally new and accessible from any screen.
In other words, the Elysée for all and from his sofa!
This virtual walk, we tried it.
The principle is simple.
Four buttons allow you to move forward from room to room, right to left, bottom to top.
Two others, the most curious will be delighted, allow you to zoom in or out.
At each stage, stars are just waiting for a click to deliver short explanatory notes on the place or a work of art.
And that's not a luxury: it's not always easy to find your way around the sequence of rooms, even knowing the place ...
Sunglasses, family photos ...
It all starts of course on the gravel gray of the Cour d'Honneur which was used, for the construction of this mansion in 1718, to "preserve the promiscuity of the street", according to the notice ... You are then in the vestibule of honor, with on the left the Murat staircase which gives access to the holy of holies, the President's office.
But the ground floor is worth the detour, especially to contemplate the lounge of the ambassadors where, every Wednesday morning, in the Council of Ministers, the fate of France is decided.
You then have to go through the Pompadour lounge, where Emmanuel Macron sometimes grants audience, to arrive in the Ferns, Brigitte Macron's office.
No one will resist a zoom shot.
The books on the small table?
Two on Picasso and one on the architect Wilmotte.
On the desk, tidy files, family photos and a pair of sunglasses ... At the end of the row, lovers of little history will not miss the Silver Room where Félix Faure succumbed to the caresses of his teacher.
The Golden Salon, where Emmanuel Macron has set up his office.
/ Screenshot / Elysee.fr
After admiring the grandiose village hall and the Winter Garden, you must of course climb the stairs that lead to the first, and access the landing, where an essential character of the Elysée usually awaits you: the usher.
Here you are in the anteroom, where the ministers waiting to be received are waiting more or less long.
Finally, after the Green Room, the presidential office opens, the decoration and arrangement of which changes according to the occupants.
Emmanuel Macron has chosen sobriety with black furniture in contrast with the original decoration of this golden Salon.
Take a walk in the park?
Why not.
Big advantage of the virtual, you have all your time to come and go, go back, dwell on a detail.
Leaves, after a while, to feel a little dizzy or get lost.
But whatever.
Because if nothing replaces reality, you will have offered yourself a completely new, personalized visit, free and fun and ultimately surprising of the most fascinating of places of power.