Versailles is about a 45 minute train ride from Paris. It’s considered “suburbia” and you don’t take the metro. Instead, you take an RER which is similar to the trains in Sydney. A little slower and you could say a little bit more rickety- made for those longer trips out of town.
The palace is phenomenal. Beautiful. Grand. Ostentatious. Ornate. Gold. All you think when you walk through the palace is-“I’m a Queen, wearing a big bouffant skirt and glistening crown, swishing through my palace” or, more realistically “you could get lost in here”. It is that big. The ceilings are so high- as high as a two storey house. It is so expensive and gives you an idea of how royalty lived in that era. The Hall of Mirrors is breathtaking. Meanwhile, marble is everywhere and the walls and ceilings are decorated with gold sculptures and paintings. Each room furnished with beautiful furniture (ps the beds were really small and accordingly the people must have been really short at that time!). The floor in the main ballrooms/foyer areas are tiled in black and white check (like a chess board) and out the back is a garden that goes for many many kilometres.
The weather was incredibly cooperative. Sunny when we entered and took the token entrance photos, rainy while we were inside, and sunny once more when we were out in the garden. Kudos to you, weather- we appreciated it very much.
[Started off sunny in Versailles:]
[The Hall of Mirrors:]
[Huge artworks adorn the ceilings:]
[Marie Antoinette's room:]
[An idea of how big the grounds are. That yellow speck is me!]
[The beautiful gardens- and sunny again:]
Afterwards, we trekked to the Musee d’Orsay. But we arrived at 5:30 pm, which is when the groundsmen empty the gallery for its closing time of 6 pm. Sadly, we weren’t able to go back in the last few days in Paris, and have rainchecked it for another trip to Paris in the future.
We then met with Miss Ebae at Gallery Lafyette and purchased some coveted Longchamp bags (what else do you buy when in France?). The ceiling of this department store is also pretty noteworthy- and it’s not dissimilar to the QVB.
To end another long day, we met up with Miss LaughingLina and Miss Ann Charlotte. Miss EBae and I haven’t seen them since 2007, where we were all on exchange together in Ottawa- it was a blast from the past, and we first had a lovely dinner at Odeon with Miss LaughingLina, before also enjoying a decadent chocolate gateau with Miss Ann Charlotte.
[Miss Ebae, Miss LaughingLina and I:]
[Moulin Rouge and Montmartre:]
[Miss Ann Charlotte, Miss LaughingLina, Miss Ebae and I:]
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