Day 4
We decided that Thursday was going to be our day at
Versailles. Versailles is about 2 hours outside of Paris, so Berta and I hopped
a train to get there. The Palace at Versailles was built for Louis XIV, when he
decided to move his entire residence out of Paris. The Palace is massive! Made and built upon an
old hunting lodge, the building dominates the small city of Versailles. Berta and I got to walk up the main walkway,
which hundreds of thousands of foreign dignitaries walked up in the 1600s on
their way to see the King. I was
particularly excited about this Palace because our “history of furniture” class
last semester spent a great deal of time on the ornate furniture of Louis
XIV.
We waited in line in front of the amazing golden gateway,
and the entered into the marble courtyard. The façade is GORGEOUS! In pictures
you do not notice the little details, like the gold rimmed windows and golden
tipped roof line. It truly is amazing. We walked the main hallways and made our
way upstairs. I did not realize there
would be so many people there! There were more people there than at the Eiffel
Tower. It was so crowded.
We caught a glimpse of the Main Chapel, which is a great
example of French Baroque Architecture.
From there we continued into the salons of Venus, Diane, Mars, Mercury,
and Apollo. Each room was even grander
than the next. It was designed as a
procession to build up to the Long Gallery.
The Long Gallery, or Hall of Mirrors, was actually, sadly, a bit of a
let down for me. I guess when you’re comparing everything to the ceilings of
the Vatican Museum, not much will stand.
We continued our tour through the apartments, the king’s stateroom, as
well as the queen’s, and then exited through the gift shop. We made our way around the palace and into
the gardens.
The Gardens of Versailles are world famous! And they are
huge! We definitely did our share of walking. We explored those gardens for all
they were worth. Some parts were just
beautiful, while other hadn’t quite bloomed yet.
After we had thoroughly explored (and gotten a little
sunburnt) we headed back to Paris for dinner.
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