Gardens of Versailles

Today we visited the palace of Versailles, where Louis the fifteenth fancied himself a god/king. He decided he was Apollo and built a whole palace and miles of gardens to convince his subjects of this fact. He imagined himself in art, driving his chariot across the sky to start the day for the whole world. Versailles is very pretty and extremely …

On Saturday we - Melisa, Mike, Richie, John, Alex, my - all took the train out to see the Palace at Versailles. This was the residence for the royals after they left the Louvre to be a display location for their art. It is an amazing place with such gilt and grandeur in every room.

We saw the Hall of Mirrors, the King's and Queen's …

On the second day of my trip, I took the Metro to Versailles. Now that I knew where the Revolution began, it was time for me to explore some of what made it happen in more detail.
The palace of Versailles was constructed from Louis XIV's orders. He wanted a new place to rule that was not in Paris. By 1789, there was a new Estates General and …

One of my definite must-sees this trip was the Palace of Versailles. I'm an avid history buff, and love the stories surrounding Marie Antoinette and the French kings, who rose like the sun in the East, and set in the West, with the entire French court following them. I guess part of it is why every young girl is obsessed with princesses - their …

The gardens of Versailles stretch for miles. They are beautifully manicured and, in the French tradition, you can't walk on the grass. In the end we opted to take a ride on the "Petite Train" which took us down to the Petite Trianon and boy, did we feel every single cobblestone we drove over!

The Petite Trianon was a quaint and beautiful …

Morning began with a ride up to the top level of the Eiffel Tower. The first elevator went up one of the side legs to 132 meters. We could have got off there; however, we wanted to go to the top observation deck. We then got onto another elevator that went straight up the centre of the tower. The elevator has glass sides so we could see ourselves …

My time in Paris was great! I ended up flying out Thursday night because I was able to have a field trip moved to a different Friday. Garrett and I spent the morning at Versailles on Friday before my roommates arrived that afternoon. When they got in, we went to see the Notre Dame Cathedral.

For dinner, we went to a great restaurant and …

Our plans were to touch base with the Sieverts today at about 9:30, so we got to sleep in and have a slow breakfast. Last night we bought coffee at the Monoprix, so I made coffee for the first time of the trip. The coffee maker in the kitchen needed a good scrubbing down, but it turned out an acceptable brew.

The Sieverts' favorite …

... we'd left we realized they over corrected by five euros!). More here if you like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_of_Versailles The kids aren't particularly impressed. They liked the grand golden gates at the entrance, and enjoyed the ducks and ...

... favor. Then the Globetrotters "tagged" him (much to his surprise) as we went on our way.   In the gardens of Versailles we found hundreds of people admiring the beautiful fountains, passing life-size sculptures and strolling the maze of hedges ...

... when I come home. I don't know. Interesting conversations.     Today, Kara and I went for a run in the gardens of the Chateau between meetings. We ranfrom our apartment about 2 minutes to the gardens then ran one turn less than half ...

... 10 degrees. So that was a nice night.Change in plans for today. We'll be spending the rest of the day in the gardens of the Chateau to do our sketch assignment and then leave in the morning tomorrow and spend the whole day and evening in Paris. So, ...

... aware that the palace isn't open on Mondays, which I only discovered as I approached the empty ticket counter. Not to worry - the gardens of this palace are as celebrated as the palace itself and in recent years, the exterior of the palace has been the ...

... an hour later) and exhausted while an old couple jogged passed us. Okay we have to start walking more! The gardens of Versailles are a heaven for strolling couples and families, children on bikes and nature lovers. The Fountain is surrounded by forest ...

... .  the Hall of Mirrors, it looks just like it sounds, overlooks the gardens of the palace and it is where the WWI Treaty of Versailles was signed.  if we thought the palace was fancy and big, it is nothing compared to the grounds, talk about a ...

... to my hotel near Charles de Gaulle Airport.   Shortly after arriving at the complex of buildings, chapels and gardens of Chateau Versailles, I sadly learned that it was closed on Mondays (which it happened to be).  Determined to still see some ...

... fountains on and pipe in some classical music. Now don't get me wrong, they were really pretty (and there were a ton of them, the gardens of Versailles are really expansive) but they didn't dance. So, after the two hours or something, they promptly ( I ...

Then we went to Versailles and of course with me loving gardening I was mesmerised by the gardens of Marie Antoinette, spent a long time there and could have spend the whole day, this is my highlight to ...