Versailles

A group of family and friends went to Versailles a couple of weeks ago on a beautiful sunny day.  It is only about one-half hour on the RER train from Paris.  It seemed hundreds got off the train with us to see Versailles.  I laughed when two American students asked me how to get to the chateau--I told them to just follow the crowd.
For some reason I didn't take a picture of the front of Versailles but here is a picture from the back.  A picture of the front would have shown long lines of people waiting to get inside the chateau.  I think half of the tourists were Japanese who had arrived in large tour buses.

There were not many flowers out yet-just a few daffodils.  But we didn't mind with all the sun shining and the weather in the sixties.
We were wowed by the Hall of Mirrors inside the chateau.  I had last been in Versailles in 2005 when the Hall of Mirrors was being renovated and we felt we had been cheated.  It did not disappoint this time.  This is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed after World War I.

Jeanene and Sande Hall of Mirrors

Breanne and the Japanese Tourists in the Hall of Mirrors

Louis XIV, unlike the previous kings, decided to move all the nobility and members of his court to Versailles where he could keep an eye on them, keep them busy and prevent them from gaining regional power.  He also wanted to be away from the noise and the rabble in Paris.  He had to keep these nobles occupied, so one of the daily ceremonies included nobles watching his rising in the morning, or the Lever du Roi. 

King's Bedroom

Mom in the Queen's Bedroom

We ate lunch at Angelina's inside Versailles in a room that was the bedroom of Louis XV when he was a child.

Angelina's Pastries

Then we went to the gardens behind the chateau to find where Marie Antoinette spent her time at the Petit Trianon and the Hamlet.

Breanne and a View of a Portion of the Gardens

When we reached the canal, we found that they had rowboats to rent.  Our neighbor Jenny and her girls, Morgan and Breanne, and our neighbor Sande went out for a spin in the row boat.

Jenny Rowing

Sande Takes her Turn Rowing

Everything involved a lot of walking at Versailles.  So when Sande, Jenny and the girls found they could ride bikes to the Petit Trianon, they couldn't pass that up.  My parents and I opted for walking-we weren't so sure about those bikes!

The Petit Trianon was a "little"chateau where Marie Antoinette could get away from Louis XVI and the court at Versailles.

Morgan and Breanne in the Petit Trianon

Marie-Antoinette ordered the construction of a hamlet in 1783 near the Petit Trianon. There she regularly found the charms of country life.  It became a veritable farm, directed by a farmer, whose products supplied the kitchens of Versailles.

The Lake and Lighthouse in the Hamlet

The Hamlet was created over four years to look like a Norman village.  Eleven houses were spread around the lake.   Five were for the Queen and her guests and four were used by the peasants for the farm.

Mom and Sande

We thought it looked like a great place to get away from it all.  We could understand why Marie Antoinette preferred it over the palace with Louis XVI.

Morgan, Sande and Breanne

Mom and Dad at the Hamlet

We were happy to find that for a few euros there was a little tram that we could take back to the chateau after doing all that walking, much of which was downhill.  We weren't looking forward to making our way uphill after a long day at Versailles.  It was a great little excursion out of Paris.