We planned for a whole day at the palace of Versailles due to the size of the palace the enormous and expansive gardens with fountains.
It was with an early start and a train journey from the apartment to the outskirts of Paris to Versailles. As might conclude Ryan was a little tired and somewhat slow until he had his morning continental breakfast.
Andi did her tour director planning having us arrive with tour tickets pre-purchased with a champagne breakfast prior to touring the palace and gardens. Much needed sustenance for what was to follow.
On our approach from the train station we could see the expansive front courtyard.
Once to the small front gates and beyond into the courtyard
and a 400m dash across the courtyard we found the entrance for the advance tickets, tour and breakfast.
Once breakfast concluded, we moved off to start touring the inside of the palace. We wandered by the built-in chapel and the rooms used for entertaining external guests here were exquisitely decorated. Not a single inch of these huge rooms walls or ceilings were blank and must have taken an absolute age to put together.
We wandered through one of the most famous corridors the hall of mirrors. At the time mirrors were an extortionately expensive luxury and even today would entail large finances. That is not taking into account all the magnificent paintings, gold and crystal chandeliers.
I didn't do a great job capturing it on my camera. I will try and augment this with some more photos, so watch this space.
More inside including the wing with the French military commanders and history of famous battles.
Outside in the gardens we walked by the fountains and through the groves stopping briefly for some refreshments. It felt like the ponds with the paddle boats was large enough to be referred to as a lake.
This palace is enormous and so are the beautifully maintained gardens that surround it and extend what felt like the Atlantic ocean. I can now see why the King moved from the tiny palace called Le Louvre for this more bucolic and spacious residence.
Roaming around the stunning gardens would certainly give our gardener Leo some work with his crew!
