JULY 3: Château de Versailles

So today we went to the Château de Versailles (Palace of Versailles). We got another presentation by one in the group that gave some amazing insight of the Château and its first owners. Some facts I found interesting were:

• The Château standing today was of King Louis XIV’s doing. But the land was owned before that by an earlier King Louis and had a hunting cabin on it.
• King Louis XIV called himself the sun king and wanted all to be about him. Every day he woke up and every night he went to bed would be a whole ceremony that had to be performed perfectly.
• Marie-Antoinette had a cabin and working farm built on the property where she would spend her time and have her children do chores such as milking cows.
• The hall of mirrors was a way of showcasing his (King Louis’s) wealth as they were super expensive back in the day.

Getting to Versailles was the easier part but actually getting into the Château was a challenge. The line to enter if you already purchased a ticket, like we did, wrapped up and around in zig zags. We ended up waiting for a hour to finally enter the Château.

The courtyard we ended up in was beautiful. There were bust on the walls, the windows had sculptures that reminded me of soldiers around them. The floor over towards the center doors was raised and all tiled in a smooth black and white checker.

The first thing we did though was eat. After skipping breakfast and waiting in line forever we were ready for some food. We decided to go to their cafe/restaurant called Angelina. I got to enjoy a very nice lemon tarte.

After all of that my partner and I went off to see the Château. We ended up getting a audio tourguide for free and went into see the Château. The rooms were amazingly beautiful. They were filled with beautiful paintings (some on the ceiling), sculptures, and furnishings.I really loved one of the princess’s rooms that had a light floral and some dark green.

One of the rooms for dining showed that King Louis would have it has a big event where he would sit with his back to the fireplace his family at his sides and the other important people around in a semi circle.

We of course had to make at the famous hall of mirrors. There were just as spectacular as others have exclaimed.

Once we were done looking around the Château we decided to go the gardens. One thing to know about the gardens is that the are so big it would take days to go through all of it. What we saw of the garden was magnificent. There were statues and sculptures everywhere. There was this really amazing fountain filled with golden figurines at one location.

While in the gardens we decide to go visit Marie-Antoinette’s estate. The colors were amazing. The Grand Trianon was almost completely pink. The decor was a spectacular accompaniment. It was just as amazing as the Château.

At the end of the day I decide to go to their Neptune’s fountain show that only happens once every day. It was absolutely worth it as the fountains were amazing and the music was wonderful. It was a good day in Versailles.