Day Five: Versailles

So, we land, um, arrive in Versailles. The train dumps you off downtown, with helpful "this way to the chateau" signs (go this way, or this way, or that way... Shortest path would have been helpful). Problem number one... Cobblestone streets with "cute" shoes. Shoes with heels are highly unstable on cobblestones. Walking is very difficult and the wearer is prone to falling. Ugh, not good when you are about to enter the largest palace and grounds in the world!



Notice the grimace of pain on the subject's face as she stands by herself with no support.

So we wander the chateau... Not a bad place, though I wonder if they ever had to really dust all of it.



It seems Louis XIV was a bit of a religious fanatic and attended Mass every day at 10am. Probably just after having his morning espresso and reading the papers... Having the room filled with the same bunch of people every day would get wearing after a while, I bet. At least he had a decent chapel right down the hall. And the priest was responsible for the dusting I bet!



At least the place is setup for a crowd, the stairs could hold a real party sized crowd thundering up to Mass.

Not all the castle seems to have been very appropriate for an elderly, religious monarch with no wife. Not sure what Louis' decorators were thinking...



We wandered through the king's apartments as well as the queen's (several Louis' used the place it seems). Very famous stuff happened here, Marie escaped from some unhappy subjects down a secret hallway from the queen's bedroom (why was THAT there?) and there is some lightly decorated quaint little room called the Hall of Mirrors. Definitely shows the minimalist decorating technique favored by the French monarchy.





We did also make a halfhearted attempt to do the historical museum part of Versailles, but hunger and thirst drove us to lé café. We did see statues and paintings of a number of famous Frenchmen, including brilliant mathematical minds like Laplace who continue to torture students to this day.

Beyond the castle there are the gardens, canals (in the shape of a French cross!), Marie Antoinette's house, and other interesting residences. Due to the aforementioned "cute shoe" issue, we only ventured down to the top of the waterways.



We did meet one very unhappy doggie, though, being squished by some unsavory characters!





We limped back to the chateau at that point and somehow made it back to the train. It was the big day, after all, we had to make it back to Paris for a real French meal!