We signed up for a day trip to Versailles, France to see the historic palace that has been a
French treasure for centuries. The weather was soggy to start with, but improved steadily
throughout the day. We even managed to find and have lunch at a ‘Tex-Mex’ restaurant, and
though it was a pretty good meal, the folks in France have a lot to learn about what ‘TexMex’ actually consists of.
Below is a picture of the double-decker bus that brought us to Versailles from Mons.
We arrived at the palace complex around 10:45 and were given free rein
to view the sights as we wished. We promptly bought a couple of oneday ‘passports’ and started strolling the grounds…
The palace area is enormous…the gardens extend for several kilometers
from the main ‘apartments’ that the king, queen, princes, and other
assorted royalty used to live in. Everything you see in this picture
(almost to the horizon) is considered to be palace property…which is now
simply a proud national monument.
This area about one kilometer from the palace (the term
‘chateau’ is used…but that’s not a good enough description)
was part of the royal gardens, and now is a rest area and
park for the citizens.
Intricate carvings and statues are the rule rather than the exception. This
pool is between the main palace ‘apartments’ and the country estates of
Triannon and the petite Triannon, which were retreats for Marie Antoinette
back in her day…
This is the road that leads to the Triannon area…do
you think the peasants appreciated this beautiful area
being kept from them when they could barely feed
themselves?
But enough of the
grounds… let’s go inside
and see what the French
royalty spent their money
on…
This is the view from the
King’s balcony. Below is
the cathedral where
services were conducted,
with the royal court and the
invited subjects
worshipped their God…
French royalty was resplendent with thoughts of itself, and liked to commission
statues and busts and display them throughout their estates. And in the true
gesture of selfishness, they often fashioned and directly compared themselves to
the Greek gods of old.
Side note: What do you suppose the young lady at the center of the photo is doing…
and why did she choose to face my way just as this photo went off?
Here’s a shot from the King’s Bedchamber…you can see that there
are a ‘few’ carvings, inscriptions, and paintings throughout the
royal bedroom. The royal bed is at the lower left…oh yes, nice
chandelier, huh?
This is the entrance to
the Hall of Mirrors, which
unfortunately for us, was
under renovation. It was
designed as a royal
passage way from the
King’s apartments to the
meeting chambers for
matters of state.
Originally, the entire hall
was decked out in
mirrors, and there were
seventeen outside
windows to ensure that
enough light was
refracted and reflected
throughout…oh, and
there was also the
seventeen chandeliers
for those pesky night
conferences…
And everyone needs carvings on the ceiling, right? Here’s an
example of some ceiling work just outside the King’s
guardroom.
This photo kind of speaks for itself. As Mel Brooks noted centuries later,
it is good to be the king.
If you think that Greek gods had an influence here, you would be
correct.
Another great place for the royal wife to hang out…
And the final shot… the Eiffel
Tower, from a distance.
See, I told you we were in
France…