This was a hard day for me, seeing all the extravagance, the gold, the many egotistical paintings, and the sheer size of everything. Richard claimed it made me cranky.
8.59 miles, cloudy, 50 degrees, 88% humidity.
Richard covered more pictures from the palace in his ReLive that you can get here: https://www.relive.com/view/vwq1z7xrYBv
We’ve traveled to get here, stood in line until our timed ticket was good, had our bags examined, and now we’re finally ready to head for the apartments. Whew!
Louis XIV is ready to show us his palace.
This is one of the king’s beds. Look at the feathers above the canopy!
Speaking of egotistical images, Napoleon really liked to show off.
Here he is again in just a little different pose.
And in case you didn’t get enough, here is Napoleon again.
It’s not all paintings either. This statue is Louis XIV dressed as an ancient warrior.
This room is The Royal Chapel.As expected, it’s big and decorated with gold.
The vaulted ceiling is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Every morning the Court attended the King’s mass. The sovereign sat in the royal tribune surrounded by his family. The King never descended into the nave, except during religious celebrations when he took communion, ceremonies of the Order of the Holy Spirit, and the baptisms and weddings of the Princes and Princesses of the Realm.
Oh, the ceilings. It is good to see art that is not all about the royals. The only problem is looking up and taking pictures that aren’t skewed.
As we went around the upper floor of the palace, we could see out to the sculptured garden below. We thought it might be a quick visit through the garden, but we were really wrong!
We had been seeing only one corner of a garden. When we made it over to the center pool, we had a better view of what to see. Now there are pools, mythological statues, more sculptured landscape, and fountains.
This is the view from the top pool looking down and out through the garden area with fountains and pools. At the very end, there is a canal extending almost to the horizon.
Looking back to the palace from a lower pool, you can see the stone urns decking this lawn area.
There are also scads of statues.
Side lanes extend from the central area to lead to more fountains, pools, statues, and forested areas.
In the canal, it is possible to rent a row boat to explore even further.
And if Marie Antoinette ever got tired of her life at Versailles, she could escape to the nearby chateau Le Petit Trianon shown here from its gardens.
Time for us to escape back to our apartment’s comfortable courtyard with no glitz nor gold, for a relaxing evening.
9 Responses
Versailles is pretty amazing. Both the buildings and grounds were equally spectacular. We did our visit with friends and remember I was so tired by early afternoon that I took the train home ahead of everyone else. Great you are managing to see all the highlights the several weeks you are (were) there. Richard, always enjoy the Relive.
Versailles was very tiring and I think the timing was hard for me. We had fun and a wonderful lunch in the gardens.
Oh that place was huge! I remember being very tired, and feeling very shocked by all the gold and glitz of that day. I wonder, in Richard’s relive video, there’s a picture of a big tree that looks like a smoke tree. Could it be? The trains are so efficient looking.
Good that you spotted the smoke tree! The trains and all metro options are efficient but a bit complicated—all kinds of options with different tickets. They are very popular and some are very crowded!
Yes, as I look back through the last several days of your entries, you are hitting the preserved history of a country proud of all of it. I see the statue of Joan of Arc, the king she helped bring to coronation, then the crazy time of Napoleon. What seemed totally insane was the get away retreat home for Marie Antoinette. Well, I guess all leaders must have a retreat. But how fancy must it be. Well, you may have more answers by the time you finish your journey. The churches have such beautiful windows. Your travel by train and foot have their own intrigue. So far we have not heard a call to come find you anywhere. You seem to find your way home. By the way, did you take the jewels? A game is afoot.
I know, a different museum, but I could not resist.
Your backpacks may be searched once again. Sorry, but you are in Paris in the middle of a caper.
Backpacks are searched everywhere, but it’s sometimes a cursory look. Sometimes I think they are just looking for the owner’s reactions as much as anything else.
We will eventually find our way home but meanwhile we keep wandering. I’ll keep it in mind that you are volunteering(?) to come get us? FYI: Julia is first in that line!
Jewels are not my thing—I don’t have or wear enough. We’re surprised to see so much US publicity about the heist. I hope they catch them quickly before history is gone forever.