Up early for coffee and croissant at the petit dejeuner at the hotel, then off to catch the train to Versailles. We spent most of the day enjoying the sights of the grand castle and its beautiful gardens.\u00c2\u00a0 We entered through the huge iron and gilt gates into the courtyard facing the street.\u00c2\u00a0 The current palace grew out of\u00c2\u00a0 a series of renovations to an original modest hunting lodge. The first took place in the 1660\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1678 Mansart added the two large north and south wings and filled in an existing terrace to become the Hall of Mirrors. The chapel was finished in 1710 and the Opera House (not open to public) was added in 1770, built for the marriage of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We entered the north wing and visited the Chappelle Royale, Mansart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s last great work, a two-story Baroque chapel.\u00c2\u00a0 We walked through an exhibition of paintings, walked into the marble courtyard with its huge clock with Hercules and Mars flanking it, into the entrance to tour the Salon de Venus with its statue of Louis XIV amid a rich marble d\u00c3\u00a9cor, through grandly appointed rooms to the Salon d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Apollon, which was Louis XIV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s throne room, to the Salon de la Guerre with its war-theme and then ito the fabulous Hall of Mirrors.\u00c2\u00a0 Great state occasions were held here amid the crystal chandeliers, gilt decoration, and of course those mirrors bouncing light al over the room and reflecting the gardens outside. The interiors were designed by Charles Le Brun, who was obviously the king of more is better!\u00c2\u00a0 The rooms were richly decorated with colored marble, stone and wood carvings, murals, velvet, rich brocades, heavy embroidery, and silver and gilt furniture.\u00c2\u00a0 Off the Hall of Mirrors nestled between two wings were the king\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apartments, including his bedroom, library, boudoir, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 Back into the Hall of Mirrors to get to the Queens Apartments, with her bedroom (where she gave birth to royal children in public view), sitting room and other rooms that afforded the Queen more privacy. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0In Versailles all day Chapel and 17th century galleries, State Apartments (Hall of Mirrors, Kings Chambers), History of France galleries, Dauphin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apartments, Mesdames Apartments.\u00c2\u00a0 And, of course the gardens by Andre LeNotre.<\/p>\n
We ate at a little restaurant along the path to the grand canal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c tucked back into the trees of the garden.\u00c2\u00a0 At 3:45 the water fountain display started since due to the drought, the fountains do not all run nor do they run all the time. The fountain of Latona just down the marble steps between the parterres was the signal the show had begun.\u00c2\u00a0 We walked the geometrically laid out beds and paths to the Grad Canal and eventually to Marie-Antoinette\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s estate Petit Trianon.<\/p>\n
We rode the tram back to the Chateaux and walked back to the train station to catch train back to Paris.\u00c2\u00a0 On the way back, we decided to find the International Food and Wine Festival that was happening \u00e2\u20ac\u0153at the base of Montmartre.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 Making our way up the butte, we found the festival\u00c2\u00a0 surrounding Sacre Coeur at the top of the hill.\u00c2\u00a0 We tasted a few wines, sampled oysters from Brittany, and pushed our way through the mob.\u00c2\u00a0 At 8:30 we decided to leave the area to find a place to eat dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 We metro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d back to Opera and found a bistro where we had salmon, and faux filet and a pitcher of wine.\u00c2\u00a0 We noticed that La Taverne across the street was closed.\u00c2\u00a0 Back to hotel to get ready for train ride to Vannes tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Up early for coffee and croissant at the petit dejeuner at the hotel, then off to catch the train to Versailles. We spent most of the day enjoying the sights of the grand castle and its beautiful gardens.\u00c2\u00a0 We entered … Continue reading