Versailles

The last day of our trip to Paris we decided to take the metro to a station that met up with an above ground train that took us to the Palace of Versailles.

Louis the XIV used to live in the Louvre but one day he turned to his wife and said “Honey, this Louvre place is too small! We have to get out of the city, go to the country to a bigger place.” Hence, the largest palace and gardens in Europe was built.

And, we thought the Louvre was big.

Once off the train, you can see the palace in the distance. It’s one of those tricky things – it’s so big it actually looks closer. Upon walking about a half a mile on cobblestones you finally reach the front entrance.


(See! It looks like you're never gonna get there!)

Once again we breezed inside with our museum passes and got an audio tour. This tour was actually great! The procession actually led you in some sort of order so you wouldn’t get lost. However, the only portion of the museum that the tour included was the central palace. I could see if one wandered off into one of the wings they would be lost for days finding them later huddled up behind a statue somewhere eating leftover crackers for sustenance.
Each room had a purpose and meaning along with the artwork that adorned the walls and ceilings. The most impressive was the Opera that Louis the XVI had built in 1770 and the Hall of Mirrors which is 233 feet in length. I could go on and on with the many political powers of France who lived there, the paintings, halls and antiques, etc. but honestly it’s too much. Entire books are written on this place and it does have quite a bit of scandal behind the history of it. If you want an interesting historical read then check it out.

After the palace tour we walked the gardens.



I say this lightly because like the palace it’s enormous as well. After walking down 104 steps you come to the central grand canal that practically ends on the horizon it’s so long.



The gardens go off in all directions for miles and miles. And, also like the palace, one could get lost in a shrubbery garden or orchard for days and not be found.

We did ambitiously walk to the Grand Trianon about a mile or so through the cherry orchard.



Louis XIV built this small (I say this lightly, too) palace of stone and pink marble in 1687 to escape the rigors of court life, and to enjoy the company of his mistress, Madame de Maintenon. Uh-huh, that’s what kings did back then instead of checking into a Hamilton Inn. They just built another palace in one of the orchards.

By the time we hobbled back down the half mile of cobble stones (how do women walk on these things in heels?!) to the train station it had felt like we had walked about 10 miles and saw a lot.

Again, later we watched the Versailles video and exclaimed “Where was that?”

Like the Louvre do not expect to do this place in a day. It is an incredible thing to see and I highly recommend it but if you can take more time do the palace one day and the gardens in another (and take crackers in case you get lost!).

But, like everything in Paris one could take a lifetime and never see and feel all the amazing things in this city. It was a wonderful experience, and very inspiring!
I know Paris hasn’t seen the last of me!

This concludes the Paris trip. Next up: Zermatt
I will finish with pictures of our walk down Des Champs-E’lysees the last night.