Seine River Cruise: Palace of Versailles

 Versailles is one of the most impressive landmarks I've ever visited. It's massive and the architecture is spectacular!


It started as a hunting lodge by Louis VIII in 1623.  It went through a series of expansions from 1661 to 1715.  In 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of the government and the court to Versailles.


Louis XV and Louis XVI continued to live and work here and mostly did only interior renovations on the palace.


Then came the start of the revolution in 1789 and y'all know what happened--no more monarchy.  The palace was largely abandoned after that.  Napoleon used it occasionally to host state events.


I wish all these people would go away so I could photograph these amazing gold gates.


Interior of the Chapel.


King's bedroom.



The Hall of Mirrors.  I wish I could have 30 seconds alone in here to get some good pics of the beauty of the room.  The palace gets 15M visitors per year so there's definitely no alone time.


Yes, it's as opulent as it looks.  I would have started that revolution myself if Marie Antoinette had told me to eat cake while she was living in such luxury.  If only these walls could talk.


The people were starving and they lived like this?


Even the horses had it better than the citizens.


Or maybe this was the king's bedroom--I don't recall.  Could they have gotten anymore gold in the room?


A "simple" table decoration.


Maybe this was the queen's room?  Yes, I think it was.


At the start of the revolution all the artwork and statues were removed from the palace and taken to the Louvre.


The famous checkered courtyard.  You see this in a lot of movies.


The famous Orangerie garden built in 1684.  It was amazingly beautiful!


The fountain behind the palace.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the fountains going.  They said that when it's so hot outside they don't like to waste the water that evaporates from the fountain's spray.


See the very top of the photo above?  That's the stadium where the Olympic show jumping took place--the start of our Olympic experience.  I loved how France showcased their landmarks at the various venues.


The grounds were too big to walk on such a hot day with limited time before we had to return to the bus.  They had golf carts to rent to explore the grounds, but the queue to get one was really long.


Rear view of the palace.


Even the top of the buildings were decked out in artwork.


The chapel's exterior.

Next, some random photos from the interior of the palace.














Fully armed guards everywhere.

At the end of our self tour we wondered around outside the palace grounds, found a geocache, and then found a cafe under the trees and enjoyed a cold drink, the amount of work and funds it takes to make these places open to the public.

We visited Versailles 30 years ago with the kids.  Of course nothing has changed, but I think I appreciate things more in my old age.  The history, the elegance, the opulence.


Comments

Yogi♪♪♪ said…
That is spectacular!! A common thing on travel blogs is that it is hard to get photos because of so many people. What do you do, go ahead like you did and take the photo.
September 25, 2024 at 9:35 AM
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