Versailles. Versailles! What a beautifully ornate place. Graham always lets me make all the plans, and he is my little tag-along pal. We caught a train leaving the heart of Paris to the visit the Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of the capital. This, for all of my readers who may not know much French Monarchy info, was home to royals like Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. This was a large sprawling landscape consisting of the Palace, the gardens, the Grand Trianon, the Petite Trianon, and, within the Palace, the Hall of Mirrors!
We have been through so many mansions, cathedrals and monuments now; it's fun to compare and contrast throughout them. Yet again Europe showed that they have an affinity for painted ceilings. There was so much gold leaf paint throughout the Palace, adding that touch of elegance. The chandeliers and mirrors created an aurora around the Hall of Mirrors allowed for another perfect moment in France Funfact: it took us about 30 minutes to get a photo as good as the one above. It was crawling with tourists and it was practically impossible to get everything in the landscape in one photograph.
The sheer amount of distance in the Palace's grounds is overwhelming! I knew it would be grand but I didn't really have an understanding of how spread out it would be. As soon as we finished touring the inside we were ready to explore the remaining parts. Of course, like every day we were in France, around 2pm the rain would fall. We were prepared with our raincoats, but I was pretty disappointed that we couldn't view the grounds, with the mystical melodies chiming in from a performance on the grounds trickling in, as detailed as I wanted to. (And I was wearing new flats that rubbed my skin off my foot, so I was walking like an imbecile for the bits we could see.) We trudged onward, buying a trolley ticket to take us to each of the sprawling locations.
WOW wish I had the same gardeners the Palace has (Lonnie & Annette- if you're reading this, you also wish you had them). Everything was so well groomed. The intricacy! The ornateness! The showstopping glory of the greenery and water! We were privy to see a great number of fountains, flowers, and lakes. Doesn't water always seem to make a place even more heavenly? Everywhere was bright with colored trees and bushes; walking by provided a sweet scent. There were many paths between all of the aforementioned places. We would pick a beaten road and stroll along, just following it into the gardens.
The Petite Trianon was my most favorite; we had a really cool experience there, too. While walking in the gardens it began to rain again (it was very on and off). We ran for shelter under a very large tree that was on the banks of a lake, and on the other side of the lake were vintage cottages and a large windmill. We were hanging out and enjoying the day- for it wasn't a heavy downpour and we were staying rather dry- just repeating "France, can you believe we're here? France!" When we saw a gorgeous swan. He swam right next to the bank, where Graham would reach out to touch him whilst I recorded. The swan, the love of my life, the lake, the windmill, the cottages, France- all in one spot. Picturesque.
That experience was the epitome of France- beautiful and awe inspiring. We left no food untouched or large monument unseen. It was a grand old time. I am determined to revisit to this kind, historic country again one day!
No comments:
Post a Comment