Versailles
I have written and re written the beginning of this blog because I simply didn't know how to begin my commentary. It was such a momentous trip to Versailles and I was so excited to visit! Since coming back however it has taken me two weeks to sit and browse the photos trying to chose the best images to show you all.
Honestly everything I have captured does not in any way do justice to how overwhelming the Palace really is. It is a real life fairy tale Palace in the heart of France. I am pretty confident I didn't take enough photos to give you a real impression of the house and grounds but we also didn't manage to see everything. I naively thought 'you don't need a two day ticket!' but after our trip I would absolutely revisit just so I could see the remaining part of the Palace and gardens. You could easily buy a three day ticket!
We hired a golf buggy to take us around the immense gardens and we still didn't manage to see it all. Anyway! Let's start at the gates....
The Palace is as opulent as you think it would be (even after the Revolution) the entrance is so exquisite! Can you imagine driving up in a horse carriage to this magnificent gateway.
You enter at a slightly smaller tradesman entrance to a row of busts dedicated to the arcitects and designers who helped design and build Versailles.
As we then walked through to the main hallway we were greeted immediately by luscious colour. The walls are covered in bold textured wall paper, oil paintings and the ceilings are beautifully muraled. Just look at this deep blue wall paper that's sitting against the gold and marble. Yum!
The restoration on the Palace has been huge! The majority of the furniture was sold during the revolution so many of the chairs are from the era of the Sun King but they may have not actually been in the Palace.
Now, I don't know enough about French history to know where their artistic influences originated but they were certainly fond of Greek mythology which appeared in every room in the form of statues and murals all over the Palace. I clearly need to do a little more research (especially around the French revolution) to make sense of the references.
Admittedly I don't have an extensive knowledge about Versailles or the King who built the Palace, so it was really quite interesting to see all the paintings hung proudly on display for all to see.
The most popular paintings were of course, Marie Antionette. The picture below is of her and her two children in a corner of the vast gardens at Versailles.
This is the famous Hall of Mirrors, it is unquestionably a magnificent room …. but oh my goodness the amount of selfies going on! I couldn't roll my eyes enough or try and express my annoyance at the tourist interrupting my photos! Anyway, all the carvings and fittings along with the mirrors were simply exquisite! Even the ceiling was adorned with golf leaf carvings, I haven't seen anywhere that could rival it's beauty apart from perhaps the Vatican.
As we moved away from the Hall of Mirrors to the next few adjoining rooms it became abundantly clear who they belonged to..... from floor to ceiling the room was dressed in sumptuous pattern and colour that adorned every inch of the Kings apartments. IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL!
Sadly we weren't able to visit the Queen's apartments because they were being renovated, but that's really alright because it gives me another reason to visit Versailles.
Now for the gardens! You can hire gold buggies to travel in style around the Palace grounds. And honestly after visiting just a few of the places in the gardens I can completely see why it was a brilliant idea! The other option is to muddle in with a group of tourist and take a train around the gardens at a much lower price, which I would opt for on the second visit.
I really only have a few shots of the Palace gardens because they were so vast! You could spend a day walking around and you would only scratch the surface. Each section is steeped in history and the fountain below is prime example. It is called Latona's fountain, which was inspired by The Metamorphoses by Ovide. It illustrates the story of Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana, protecting her children from the insults of the peasants of Lycia and pleading with Jupiter to avenge her. The God obliges by turning the inhabitants of Lycia into frogs and Lizards. Lovely story!
There were also four smaller ponds spaced equally around the gardens with figures representing all seasons. At that point however I stepped out of the buggy to take a photo so I missed the explanation….oops!
Of all the fountains (see below) this was the one I most excited about! It was built during the reign of Louis XIII who added this spectacular work of Apollo in his chariot (the King's icon). The God is seen bursting forth from the water in anticipation of his daily flight above earth. and how beautiful is it? It was just a shame it wasn't in action.
We lost hours in the seemingly never-ending gardens of Versailles. Between the English gardens, French gardens, Petit and Grand Trianons, fountains, orangeries, greenhouses, lakes, grottos and finally where my next photo takes place ….. The Temple of Love.
Queen Marie Antionette, had the Trianon Gardens extended to incorporate the beautiful Temple complete with Cupid sculpture.
The Queen also built a small English village quaintly named 'The Queen's Hamlet'. It was comprised of a mill, dovecote, guard house, barn, working diary, model dairy, lighthouse and the Queen's living quarters. She wanted to experience the simpler pleasures in life, but she must have had no real concept of all the hard and backbreaking work that went into running a small farm. Never mind Marie.
After walking around Hamlet we visited the Petit Trianon (the Queen's retreat). There is not much in the building itself as much of it was sadly destroyed or sold during the revolution. However there was a small exhibition on the ground floor to show how simple the architecture was in comparison the Palace.
Although on the first floor they clearly couldn't resit a bit of opulence. All the bedrooms and adjoining living quarters for the Queen were dressed in lavish pattern and colour.
The final stop on our whirlwind trip around Versailles was of course the café! We couldn't leave without tasting some of the delights the Palace had to offer. Naturally everything looked stunning and I can confirm it tasted even better. I went for an éclair, and it was delicious.
The entire visit to Versailles was spectacular! But there simply wasn't enough time for me to see everything, so maybe I should brush up on some French history and revisit with a well educated knowledge of the Palace.
I am incredibly lucky and fortunate to have visited such a spectacular Palace and I certainly won't forget any of it. You must must must must visit!
Honestly everything I have captured does not in any way do justice to how overwhelming the Palace really is. It is a real life fairy tale Palace in the heart of France. I am pretty confident I didn't take enough photos to give you a real impression of the house and grounds but we also didn't manage to see everything. I naively thought 'you don't need a two day ticket!' but after our trip I would absolutely revisit just so I could see the remaining part of the Palace and gardens. You could easily buy a three day ticket!
We hired a golf buggy to take us around the immense gardens and we still didn't manage to see it all. Anyway! Let's start at the gates....
The Palace is as opulent as you think it would be (even after the Revolution) the entrance is so exquisite! Can you imagine driving up in a horse carriage to this magnificent gateway.
You enter at a slightly smaller tradesman entrance to a row of busts dedicated to the arcitects and designers who helped design and build Versailles.
As we then walked through to the main hallway we were greeted immediately by luscious colour. The walls are covered in bold textured wall paper, oil paintings and the ceilings are beautifully muraled. Just look at this deep blue wall paper that's sitting against the gold and marble. Yum!
The restoration on the Palace has been huge! The majority of the furniture was sold during the revolution so many of the chairs are from the era of the Sun King but they may have not actually been in the Palace.
Now, I don't know enough about French history to know where their artistic influences originated but they were certainly fond of Greek mythology which appeared in every room in the form of statues and murals all over the Palace. I clearly need to do a little more research (especially around the French revolution) to make sense of the references.
Admittedly I don't have an extensive knowledge about Versailles or the King who built the Palace, so it was really quite interesting to see all the paintings hung proudly on display for all to see.
The most popular paintings were of course, Marie Antionette. The picture below is of her and her two children in a corner of the vast gardens at Versailles.
The Sun King and the Queen of France holding his portrait.
See what I mean about all the paintings!
Quite literally wherever there was a free wall, there hung a painting.
This is the famous Hall of Mirrors, it is unquestionably a magnificent room …. but oh my goodness the amount of selfies going on! I couldn't roll my eyes enough or try and express my annoyance at the tourist interrupting my photos! Anyway, all the carvings and fittings along with the mirrors were simply exquisite! Even the ceiling was adorned with golf leaf carvings, I haven't seen anywhere that could rival it's beauty apart from perhaps the Vatican.
I realise the irony of this next photo.... let's move on quickly haha.
As we moved away from the Hall of Mirrors to the next few adjoining rooms it became abundantly clear who they belonged to..... from floor to ceiling the room was dressed in sumptuous pattern and colour that adorned every inch of the Kings apartments. IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL!
I haven't edited the images above because I wanted to show you quite how gold it really was. Everything is either embroided or painted gold! The Palace is the ultimate power symbol and they show it constantly throughout.
Sadly we weren't able to visit the Queen's apartments because they were being renovated, but that's really alright because it gives me another reason to visit Versailles.
Now for the gardens! You can hire gold buggies to travel in style around the Palace grounds. And honestly after visiting just a few of the places in the gardens I can completely see why it was a brilliant idea! The other option is to muddle in with a group of tourist and take a train around the gardens at a much lower price, which I would opt for on the second visit.
I really only have a few shots of the Palace gardens because they were so vast! You could spend a day walking around and you would only scratch the surface. Each section is steeped in history and the fountain below is prime example. It is called Latona's fountain, which was inspired by The Metamorphoses by Ovide. It illustrates the story of Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana, protecting her children from the insults of the peasants of Lycia and pleading with Jupiter to avenge her. The God obliges by turning the inhabitants of Lycia into frogs and Lizards. Lovely story!
There were also four smaller ponds spaced equally around the gardens with figures representing all seasons. At that point however I stepped out of the buggy to take a photo so I missed the explanation….oops!
Of all the fountains (see below) this was the one I most excited about! It was built during the reign of Louis XIII who added this spectacular work of Apollo in his chariot (the King's icon). The God is seen bursting forth from the water in anticipation of his daily flight above earth. and how beautiful is it? It was just a shame it wasn't in action.
We lost hours in the seemingly never-ending gardens of Versailles. Between the English gardens, French gardens, Petit and Grand Trianons, fountains, orangeries, greenhouses, lakes, grottos and finally where my next photo takes place ….. The Temple of Love.
Queen Marie Antionette, had the Trianon Gardens extended to incorporate the beautiful Temple complete with Cupid sculpture.
The Queen also built a small English village quaintly named 'The Queen's Hamlet'. It was comprised of a mill, dovecote, guard house, barn, working diary, model dairy, lighthouse and the Queen's living quarters. She wanted to experience the simpler pleasures in life, but she must have had no real concept of all the hard and backbreaking work that went into running a small farm. Never mind Marie.
After walking around Hamlet we visited the Petit Trianon (the Queen's retreat). There is not much in the building itself as much of it was sadly destroyed or sold during the revolution. However there was a small exhibition on the ground floor to show how simple the architecture was in comparison the Palace.
Although on the first floor they clearly couldn't resit a bit of opulence. All the bedrooms and adjoining living quarters for the Queen were dressed in lavish pattern and colour.
The final stop on our whirlwind trip around Versailles was of course the café! We couldn't leave without tasting some of the delights the Palace had to offer. Naturally everything looked stunning and I can confirm it tasted even better. I went for an éclair, and it was delicious.
The entire visit to Versailles was spectacular! But there simply wasn't enough time for me to see everything, so maybe I should brush up on some French history and revisit with a well educated knowledge of the Palace.
I am incredibly lucky and fortunate to have visited such a spectacular Palace and I certainly won't forget any of it. You must must must must visit!
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