Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Versailles - the Rest of the Story

We got to Versailles around 10:30 in the morning.  It was very busy with tour groups.  We decided to go through the chateau first.   
Above - The Pipe Organ in the Chapel 
Below - the ceiling in the Chapel.  
This is the Hall of Mirrors in the morning with all of the tour groups. It is a zoo and the lighting is dark not really showing off the hall.

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Later in the day as we were exiting the grounds we noticed all the tour groups were leaving. So we decided to go back through the chateau. It was still open for an hour and a 1/2 so we had plenty of time.  Big difference we practically had the place to ourselves and the afternoon light was much better.


This is how it looked at 4:30 PM, very few people and light pouring in through the windows.


Here we are taking a picture of ourselves in the mirrors.  Can you believe people have been able to write on these mirrors?  Amazing.



Versailles is a full day excursion. In fact I would recommend 2 days if you want to see the gardens as well.  We only really had time to walk by the gardens on our way to Marie Antoinette's  Domain.



Below is part of a painting of Napoleon crowning Josephine. This copy hangs in the Coronation Room.  The original is in the Louvre.  I think it is so beautiful.


All in all it is easy to understand why the citizens of France revolted.  They were starving and the monarchy was gilding everything in gold.

2 comments:

  1. Um sounds like some rich politicians running for office in CA.

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  2. A bonus to this trip is I missed most of the political campaigning.

    ReplyDelete