Day 8: Versailles

 


Let me start by saying that Versailles is humongous! There is no way to experience all the sights there in a single day, though we bought the passport ticket that includes the palace, the musical gardens, the Trianon Palace, and the Queen's Hamlet (who ever heard of a 'hamlet' bigger than the biggest American houses?). The art above is a diagram of the palace and grounds, which makes the palace itself seem tiny. It is not. All visitors to the palace follow the same path through the exhibits and rooms, which makes for a very congested experience. We ended up skipping the king's bedroom because the wait was very long. We bypassed it in the hall of mirrors and went straight to the queen's chambers. Her bed must have been four feet off the ground! Did she need servants to help her get into it at night? Grace wanted to know why the king and queen had separate bedrooms!


Some of the other sights were spectacular and I have posted a few below, though my phone battery was drained after spending an hour fruitlessly trying to get Eurostar to put us on a train for the date we originally booked. 




The view of some gardens from the palace second floor window

The Hall of Mirrors Leading to the Peace Rooms


After touring the palace, we headed back to Paris for the last supper near the hotel at Quai 33. Then it was time to pack up and prepare for our trip to Burgundy on Friday morning. Looking forward to seeing another region of France for a couple days before heading to the foothills of the Alps and, perhaps, Chamonix (Mont Blanc).

Au Revoir,

Rob


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