Photo Blogging

Blogging about adventures in Paris will have to wait, for two very important reasons:

1. I only got a new camera yesterday, so I have yet to document the city well enough to include photo evidence of my travels, because...

2. I went to Versailles today! I took more pictures than one would ever need, and decided that, in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words. With that, let the photo blogging commence!

"A Toutes les Gloires de la France"

When we first arrived at Versailles, following the massive amount of people forming a giant line to enter, I wondered what could be so great about a palace. But as I soon discovered, it is certainly one of the most beautiful man-made places I've been. To all the glories of France, indeed.

It is rather impressive, complete with a statue of Louis XIV himself prominently displayed at the entrance. To be honest, half the fun of Versaille is learning about all of the trouble Louis and Marie were able to stir up during their time at Versailles. There is nothing like 18th Century Gossip!

Here's proof I was actually there! I really can't stress enough how beautiful everything was. Generally, I don't enjoy manicured lawns and trees, man-made lakes and general extravagance, but there's no way to deny that the $2 billion or so that it would cost by today's standards left all of us with a real gem of a place. The grounds are incredible, with beautiful flowers, fountains, and orchards everywhere. I had this strange realization while adventuring (and it certainly was an adventure, it took a couple hours to travel by foot) that Marie Antoinette was a real person. She existed. I couldn't help but think of her as some sort of giant mythological creature,

who needed all of that space in order to survive - there has to be some plausible reason why the palace is so big! But no, she was my size, maybe even smaller, just walking around like she owned the place! Which she did! Let me tell you, being here made me want to watch Marie Antoinette the movie. Really, really bad. Why is that I idolize someone who oppressed hundreds of thousands of people? Well hey, the girl knew how to keep a garden, that's for sure. Or at least, the royal garden-keepers knew how to keep a garden...

There were also hedge mazes off the Allée Royale that lead to secret fountains, statues, monuments, benches, etc. This picture was one of the cooler ones we stumbled upon, with arches enveloping fountains all the way around a statue in the middle.

We also went for a row-boat ride, and were subsequently attacked by a small army of swans. I guess there are worse things that could have happened. This was one of the highlights of the day, getting to see the sights from a different vantage point, and working our arms for once, giving our feet some much needed R&R. Oh, and if you look really closely, you can see the Château in the background of this picture!

You might think this is inside the castle proper. But no. No, this is simply Marie Antoinette's private get-away house. Everyone had them back then.

A picture of the grotto.

Fun Fact: Marie Antoinette was quite close to escaping France when things got tough during the revolution. In fact, she was right next to the border, "disguised" as a servant (although she required a black silk gown and private carriage with a built-in tea set), but our poor Queen got hungry. She was so famished that she pulled over and bought food with gold coins - that had her face on them - and she was (shockingly) captured. Don't worry, it was totally worth dying over.

Left: The Queen's Hamlet

Another fact: Marie literally went through her life having never opened a door for herself. There were specific people within the castle whose sole purpose was to make all of the doors in Versaille automatic for the King and Queen. One day, Marie came to a door, but it did not open. Not having the knowledge on exactly how a door worked, she stood in front of it for half an hour until someone finally came and opened the door for her. It's hard being the Queen sometimes.

Pictured left is part of the village that the Queen had built on the Palace grounds. Strangely, Marie Antoinette loved to "play peasant", and in her faux-peasant village, she was allowed to pretend to be one of the commoners for a day or two. The citizens of France loved her so much for it, they took her head as a keepsake.

At exactly 3:30 in the afternoon, all of the fountains in Versaille turned on. When Versailles was home to

King Louis XIV, the fountains were turned on only as the King walked by. Now, they are turned on for an hour and a half each day, for spectators to pretend like they're royalty, too.

This one I found particularly beautiful. After extensive google searching, I found that this one is called the Fountain of Latone. I'm sure there is some great symbolism in there, but I've worn out my search bar skills for the day.

After exhausting ourselves exploring the gardens, we decided it was finally time to go inside and see the Château. Pictured here is the outside. Just in case people weren't sure whether the royal family was wealthy, they trimmed the entire outside in gold leaf. Pretty classy.

This was just the entrance. It must have also been used as an orchestra hall, as there was an orchesta set up to play for us as we walked in. You can see the gold organ in the background, with chandeliers hanging between each arch. Part of me wonders how much of this was destroyed during the French Revolution and just re-constructed for tourism purposes. If I was a peasant back then, I know I would have smashed a Roman-style column or two.

A better view of the ceiling. All of it was painted like this, with many religious scenes depicted across the entire castle. Needless to say, I spent a lot of my time looking up, and a lot of time running into other enthralled tourists. Technically, I wasn't supposed to take this picture. Lucky for all of you, I'm a rebel.

The Hall of Mirrors

Yes, there were many photos of myself taken in these mirrors. No, I will not post them.

It was about this time that my eyes started to cross over the amount of gold, feathers, and powder blue chairs I had seen. And so ends my photo blog of Versailles. But I leave you with this:

Original portrait of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette themselves. Pre-decapitation, of course.

What a great day! À tout à l'heure, mes amis!