Today we bid adieu to France with a visit to the Palace of Versailles, the residence of the last French kings and their seat of power until the French Revolution put that to an end.
I had been looking forward to this day for a long time because of an interesting family tie, and more on that shortly, but first a smidgeon of history. The Palace of Versailles had relatively humble beginnings, starting as a hunting lodge for Louis XIII, but it was his son, Louis XIV, who commissioned most of what we see today. Louis XV and XVI made some additional improvements, but it’s XIV who deserves the credit, if spending lavishly on yourself instead of your subjects can be termed credit.
However, it is Louis XVI, the last French king, who interests me and my family. Ten generations back my great-whatever grandfather was a steward to the king, and his future wife, my great-whatever grandmother, was a lady in waiting to Marie Antoinette. When the revolution came they hot-footed it across the Atlantic and made their way to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where I was born nine or so generations later. How about that.
The palace is now surrounded by a small city of the same name, and is just 12 miles from downtown Paris, so our day began with yet another long bus ride from the pier in Le Havre. We were on the road at 6:55 am, which was a little rough after yesterday’s long day in Normandy, but I slept most of the way and it got us to Versailles at 9:33.
Considering that this is France (I think “It is not possible,” is the first English phrase French children learn in school), we were able to enter the Palace fairly quickly, and spent most of the next three hours seeing as much of the 20,000 square feet of the building as possible.
The Hall of Mirrors gets the most publicity, and rightly so. Imagine walking into a 260 foot long room, lined with mirrors on one side, windows on the other, rows of sparkling glass chandeliers, and a ceiling of gold framed paintings. Actually, it’s impossible to imagine how spectacular it is, or at least it was for me. If you’ve never been there, hopefully my photos will give you some idea of how jaw-droppingly beautiful this chamber is.
However, that doesn’t in any way diminish the magnificence of the rest of the Palace. Room after room was simply stunning. I was prepared to see ostentatiously decorated rooms, and there were certainly a lot of them, but I wasn’t prepared for the incredible ceilings. I think I have a sore neck from craning it to admire room after room of beautifully painted ceilings. One ceiling painting covers 3000 square feet and took three years to complete.
Even after three hours we left much undone. We admired the gardens from inside the Palace, but didn’t have time to stroll through them directly. Likewise, Marie Antoinette had a private cottage some distance from the Palace in the Queen’s Hamlet, but we had no chance of getting over there and back before the bus was scheduled to leave.
Here’s the bottom line. You can hit the highlights and have a very rewarding visit in as little as two hours, but if you really want to see all that the Palace of Versailles has to offer you could easily spend a full day.
We were back on the bus at 1:30 pm and on our way back to Le Havre, where our home away from home, the Serenade of the Seas, was waiting to whisk us off to Merry Olde England. Tomorrow’s excursion will take us to Windsor Castle, and I’m looking forward to contrasting the English royal palace with the French one in Versailles. I’ll be back with a full report, so stay tuned.
First look at the Palace, from just inside the gate.
Closeup of the center, which was basically Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before the massive remodel by Louis XIV.
So of course we needed a selfie there.
One more exterior shot. The look is powerful yet beautiful.
Warning: you’re going to see several shots of ceilings. The ceilings in the Palace are stunning.
Pretty fancy armor on the horses.
Another ceiling.
And another. Apparently I was obsessed with the ceilings.
Is ostentatious too strong a word?
I’m running out of adjectives.
Just an ordinary fireplace.
The famous Hall of Mirrors, 260 feet in length.
More detail of the ceiling and chandeliers in the Hall of Mirrors.
Nice place for a selfie.
The king’s bedroom.
Marie Antoinette. You can buy a full size reproduction in the gift shop for only 3600 euros. I was tempted for a nanosecond due to my family connection.
We got a peek at the gardens through a window.
I wonder what a night here would cost.
Bet you thought I was done showing you ceilings.
This hall has busts of great French military leaders and paintings of their most famous victories.
Me with all the great French military leaders.
Incredible globe.
Another of the Palace’s 2300 rooms.
The Dauphin’s bedroom. Note the short chair legs. Look closely on the far side of the bed and you can see part of the step stool the boy used to climb into bed.
Note the musical instrument against the wall.
There are innumerable statues in the Palace.
Marie Antoinette’s private chamber, which she insisted be tasteful but not ostentatious.
Of course I needed a selfie there.
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