Versailles

Before I get to the palace, I want to take a moment to talk about the cool little township of Versailles.  It's what you imagine when you think of a little village with everyone out at the local market buying their produce and catching up with friends.  The streets are really busy with bustle, the cafes are full of people and mum’s are out with their small children going for a walk.

We turn into the road leading to Versailles which is lined with these huge old trees and you suddenly become aware of the enormity of the Versailles structure.  These people know how to organise large amounts of people, getting into our allotted timing for the Palace is a breeze, we follow everyone else like zombies, and knowing how shite the public toilet situation is in Paris head straight to the toilets before starting our walk through the rooms open to the public.

The way you go through the rooms seems to build on your senses.  The daughters' apartments are covered in the most amazing artwork, and as you move through each room you start to get a sense of the hierarchy of the family as each room very stealthy builds on the opulence of the last room.  Even the fireplaces in most rooms are taller than us.

Probably the most well known room is the Hall of mirrors, you can’t help but be in awe of the room, it doesn’t matter where you look, your surrounded in luxury, the detail is insane and walking through the room you understand why Courtiers spent most of their time here, the old school version of influencers today.

The gardens….. I guess you can say, there’s loads of room to walk and the statues in the fountain areas are pretty amazing.  For the kids, the water fountain show to classical music was the highlight, and if you have the energy, I would recommend walking back to the palace to exit, the little train that takes you from the end of the gardens back to the palace is not really worth it.

Like the rest of Paris, I found the upkeep of what little greenery they had really disappointing.  The amount of visitors in our “off peak” period I'm sure would be sufficient to keep the lawns regularly mowed.