Paris - Chateau de Versailles

We took the train from Paris to Versailles and visited the palace and grounds.

We arrived very early, before the palace was open, and had the park and gardens virtually to ourselves. We wandered through the gardens and woods until it was time to see the chateau. (We planned to go back to the gardens later, but a mix up with our ticket prevented us from doing so.)

The Palace of Versailles was the principal residence of the French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. Embellished by several generations of architects, sculptors, decorators and landscape architects, it provided Europe with a model of the ideal royal residence for over a century.

It was built to impress. But while the over the top opulence might have been impressive in the day, to me it came across as gaudy. The hall of mirrors was admittedly impressive. Overall, though, my reaction to the palace was a better understanding of why the French abolished the monarchy. The level of excess was unimaginable.