Versailles
No one can truly explain Versailles, or see all of it in a day, but we gave it a try. Arriving about 10 am we beat the crowds on this beautiful Saturday in January. Having once visited on a crowded arctic day in November I was a little leery of the Palace experience. However, we had a fantastic day, in the main house, Marie Antoinette's residence (Grand Trianon), the Petit Trianon, the Queen's Hamlet, and the gardens.
This is the front of the residence. Louis, the Sun King, made the entire court move to the "country" to his little "cabin" in the woods. The Baroque ceiling murals were breathtaking throughout the entire residence but the chapel was really spectacular.
Louis' bedroom was, in my humble opinion, was ostentatiously unsightly. While I, like every other young girl, dreamed of being a princess at some point in my childhood this is not my style of castle.
Louis was known for throwing grand parties and the Hall of Mirrors was definately a grandiose place to do it!
A frescoed hallway 
Hall of sculpture
Returning in the spring/summer would be worth the trip to see the gardens in their glory. The sculpture was wrapped for winter and the fountains were unfortunately not festively spouting the water they will in the warmer weather.
Several of the students wanted to see Marie Antoinette's house(s) and thus we trekked down the orderly shrubs and trees to the Grand Trianon.
This is Marie's bedroom, still a little ostentatious but a little less so than Louis'. Below is the 'breezeway' between wings of the residence.
We walked further, and continued to find even more intriguing things around every corner.
Temple of Love 
Goat
Whitney and the students looked at me, my coat, and the scenery, and thought I might be able to camoflage myself pretty well.
Can you see me now?
No one can truly explain Versailles, or see all of it in a day, but we gave it a try. Arriving about 10 am we beat the crowds on this beautiful Saturday in January. Having once visited on a crowded arctic day in November I was a little leery of the Palace experience. However, we had a fantastic day, in the main house, Marie Antoinette's residence (Grand Trianon), the Petit Trianon, the Queen's Hamlet, and the gardens.
This is the front of the residence. Louis, the Sun King, made the entire court move to the "country" to his little "cabin" in the woods. The Baroque ceiling murals were breathtaking throughout the entire residence but the chapel was really spectacular.
Louis' bedroom was, in my humble opinion, was ostentatiously unsightly. While I, like every other young girl, dreamed of being a princess at some point in my childhood this is not my style of castle.
Louis was known for throwing grand parties and the Hall of Mirrors was definately a grandiose place to do it!
A frescoed hallway 
Hall of sculpture
I had to take this picture, it is in all of my Art History books, so I felt I needed to reproduce it.
Returning in the spring/summer would be worth the trip to see the gardens in their glory. The sculpture was wrapped for winter and the fountains were unfortunately not festively spouting the water they will in the warmer weather.Several of the students wanted to see Marie Antoinette's house(s) and thus we trekked down the orderly shrubs and trees to the Grand Trianon.
This is Marie's bedroom, still a little ostentatious but a little less so than Louis'. Below is the 'breezeway' between wings of the residence.
We walked further, and continued to find even more intriguing things around every corner.
Temple of Love 
GoatWhitney and the students looked at me, my coat, and the scenery, and thought I might be able to camoflage myself pretty well.
Can you see me now?
If you look at Versailles and salivate because you wish you could live there, I recently heard on NPR that they are opening up one of the out buildings next year (2012) as a 5 star hotel. I personally, love the quaint thatched roof buildings near the farm, I would like to stay there!
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