Early start for a busy day today. First mission: drive from Loches to Versailles (about 3 hours drive time), find our hotel, drop off bags, then find car return place and drop off car. That filled in the morning. Second mission: visit the chateau and gardens of Versailles. This was made easier by the location of our hotel, about ten minutes walk from the chateau. Actually, I don’t think you can call Versailles a chateau. It earns the title ‘palace’.
Versailles was most notably the home of Louis XV - the ‘Sun King’, named partly for his love of gold, and this shows in his palace. The place shines in the sunlight, due to large amounts of what looks like gold leaf, on its roof, gates, statues, everywhere. We had a look through the palace itself, marvelling at the amazing opulence. No wonder the peasants revolted back in the late 1700s, when the disparity between the rich and the poor was so blatantly demonstrated. In Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, we saw the small door to the side of her bed, through which she ran when the revolutionaries stormed the place. Little good it did her.
After the chateau we spent time looking through a small part of the XX odd hectares of garden. Not just garden though, more like an outdoor sculpture gallery. The statues in the fountains were particularly spectacular - pity that all the fountains were turned off for some reason! We walked all the way down to the Grand and the Petit Trianons, on Marie Antoinette’s estate, which gave us a good idea of just how big the gardens are - it took ages and we were all fairly footsore by the end. Pleased to get home and fall into bed.
 |
| 16th century staircase at our accommodation in Loches |
 |
| Versailles |
 |
| Look at the gold on this place! |
 |
| Stairs worn away from centuries of footsteps (probably more in the last twenty years than in the previous 300!) |
 |
| Ceiling at Versailles |
 |
| Hall of Mirrors |
 |
| Sculpture in the Hall of Mirrors - made entirely out of saucepans and lids |
 |
| "The" doorway in Marie Antoinette's bedroom |
 |
| Globe in the drawing room where the dauphin lived - look which country happens to be at the top of the world |
 |
| Gardens at Versailles |
 |
| Recreating the Sistine Chapel ceiling |
 |
| Fountain sculpture - very reminiscent of the Trevi Fountain |
 |
| Romy and Kia at Versailles |
No comments:
Post a Comment