Versailles

The school organized a bus trip to Versailles. It is only about 1 ½ hours from here. Over 40 of us took the tour. We arrived at Versailles just after 9:30 but the line up to get in was already long. It probably took about 40 minutes to get inside the gates. It was a good thing, because what we thought was the line for tickets turned out to be the line to get in...we were suppose to have tickets already to be our line. Our guide figured it out and quickly went to another building for the tickets while we stayed where we were, making our way slowly toward the entrance gate. As luck would have it, our guide arrived just as we were in the front of the line.

This is just inside the gates of the palace. The entrance to get into the palace itself (or at least a portion of it) is on the right. I knew the place was big, but I didn’t know just how big until I got the plan – the palace (Château de Versailles) itself is 721,000 square feet (no, that’s not a typo) and it sits on over 2000 acres, 230 of them in formal gardens. It was home to the French kings in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

It boasts 50 fountains. I didn't see them all, but I saw a few of them.

The Apollo fountain

A mother and her children, and

what looks like a man falling down (drunk?) and spewing out whatever he drank. "Wasn't that a party!" (Guess my down home roots are showing :-))

The largest of the fountains - the Latona Fountain - was being refurbished. I watched a short video on how it was dismantled and what they are doing to repair it. Quite interesting. Right now it's just a hole.

But once it is completed, it will look something like this (photo from website)

 There are also over 200 statues. I found a few that I thought were a little different:

This one was called "America"

A boy with his pet eagle

papa and baby - I didn't see many of these types of statues. Usually it was mom and baby

Not sure what's going on here - depicting a fable of some type.

There are also 150 sculpted vases:

I was taken by the different types of stone that were used in the building and the statues inside.

I didn’t know that the stone could be so varied and beautiful – maybe because I’ve only seen small pieces of the stone and not large carved works.

Inside the Chateau  we were able to go through many of the rooms that were restored to former times.

This is the "chapel" (bigger than some of the church's I've been to).

 This is one of the salons, complete with a painting depicting the scripture account of the woman washing the feet of Jesus.

So many rooms had their ceilings painted like many of the churches. And there were chandeliers everywhere - especially in the Hall of Mirrors:

This is what it looks like without all the tourists - absolutely incredible. The room is still used for state functions. It really is over the top.

The bedrooms, too, were very lavish.

I found the beds so short. I remarked about that to one of the staff keeping watch in one of the rooms and he said that people in this epoch did not sleep lying down, but in a partially reclining position - with pillows behind them. They thought laying down was for the dead - or perhaps if they laid down, they would die in the night.

There are different "apartments" in the Chateau, each for a different person. This is the sitting room in one of the apartments. And below a small library.

Outside the Chateau there are several manicured gardens:

As well as a large reflection pool

On the other side of the property is what is called the Grand Trianon – another residence that King Louis XIV had build in 1687 to escape the “pomp of the court”. 

Less pomp?!

I kind of liked the chairs in this room.

Just next door, is the “Petit Trianon” – build in the 1760’s for the private use of Louis VX. His heir, Louis VXI gave it to his wife, Marie-Antoinette in 1774.

Across from the house is a building used for evening soirees.

In comparison to the other residences, this one is fairly modest, yet the rooms inside were very comfortable.

A small chapel

kitchen

a pool room (there was one of these in the other palace as well. I didn't know pool was such a popular pastime in this period of history.)

Another small bed.

I found some of the other buildings on the edge of the property very quaint. These were used for some of the staff.

Alas, with the French Revolution in 1789  the royal family was overthrown and all the property (palace, residences and grounds) became part of the new republic.

One of the things I wasn't expecting to see were a few critters:

Several of these muskrats were in and out of the waterway. There were lots of catfish type fish, but the photos didn't turn out - the water was too murky. There were signs everywhere not to touch the water in any of the ponds because because it could be contaminated. (Maybe trying to keep people from dipping their feet in the fountains on a hot day.)

There were other farm animals

The Chateau and its grounds receive 5 million visitors every year. And it's not just the tourists. There are many French who visit as well. Lots were taking advantage of the good weather to take a stroll through the gardens and take a canoe ride on the canal.

 I didn't take a canoe ride, but I enjoyed walking through some of the grounds.

 As I walked through the space, I had a hard time imagining real people living in these places. I've seen lots of movies from the time period and read a lot of the history, but being here brings another perspective. I'm not surprised at the violence that ultimately was unleashed after seeing such a disparity between the rich and the poor. I can imagine the revolutionaries walking through the grounds and residences and being absolutely incensed at what they saw. I'm sure some wanted to burn it all to the ground, but others wanted it kept for the Republic. The latter won the argument.