The Palace of Versailles
On Saturday May 30th Debbie, Russ Woody and I took the RER out to Versailles. We followed Rick Steve's instructions and arrived early along with every other Japanese and German tourist. We had purchased our tickets from our hotel so we didn't wait long to enter the palace. I had downloaded Rick's walking tour and it was better then the one provided by the estate.
It's really hard to describe the size and scope of how grand and beautiful everything was and still is. This despite the destruction after the revolution when Marie Antoinette was forced to hide in the folds of the curtains from the mob that broke into the palace.
The Palace no longer held any original furniture. What was there was reproductions as just about everything was destroyed during the revolution. You could see that work is being done to restore as much as possible. Here is a picture of Debbie and I in the Hall of Mirrors. This is the same room where the Treaty of Versailles was signed to end WWI in 1919.
This is the bedroom in the Kings apartment.
The Palace no longer held any original furniture. What was there was reproductions as just about everything was destroyed during the revolution. You could see that work is being done to restore as much as possible. Here is a picture of Debbie and I in the Hall of Mirrors. This is the same room where the Treaty of Versailles was signed to end WWI in 1919.
This is the bedroom in the Kings apartment.
After the Palace tour we went for a walk through the gardens. Well as much of the gardens as we could. The scope and size was unbelievable. I can easily see how one could meet secretly in a side garden and plan intrigue and make alliances.
The Grand Canal was one of the center pieces of the gardens and while it didn't look it, the length was over a mile long. Russ, Debbie and Woody decided to rent a rowboat and row up and down the canal.
I didn't want to get into the rowboat, but instead stayed on the bank and watched the others enjoy themselves. I fell asleep and when I woke up could feel the sunburn on my nose and lips. Yet another brilliant maneuver if I say so myself! My lips were so burnt that they are still cracked and split.
I did spy a Basset Hound wandering around and of course I had to take a picture. Her name was Lolita and she was twice the size of my Cindy-dog. I laughed when I saw this dog rowing by from the banks of the Grand Canal.
Here we are at the Temple of Love outside Marie Antoinette's Chateau
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