Palace of Versaille

Another place we visited while in Paris was the Palace of Versailles! We had heard that this place was over the top in extremism for decorating and gardens.  Plus the kids and I learned during our studies that the treaty to end WWI was done here, hence the name treaty of Versailles.  Versailles is about an hour train ride from Paris and then a short walk from the station.

Our first view of the palace

Statue of King Louis not sure which one--there are so many:)

Map of the Castle and grounds--it is huge

The front gates

Key to the Palace doors

The rooms were so decorated, floors, walls and ceilings at times it was hard to know where to look.  In one room I counted at least 5 different color marbles on a single wall!

Nearly every ceiling was covered in beautiful art work

The Palace was very crowded

King's bedroom, the tapestry is suppose to have gold thread in it--signs in the room reported that there were royal rising and going to sleep ceremonies-- as in people of the court could witness the king going to bed or waking up
In order to get away from the constant feeling of being watched the royal family built another home on the property where they could have more privacy from the court people.

The dining room for the King and Queen again the court people could watch the royal couple eat.   The only ones allowed to indulge in the eating of the food was the children or grandchildren of the royal couple.

Famous room of mirrors  There are 17 large mirrors that match the 17 windows directly across with views out to the gorgeous gardens

View of the gardens from the windows

Another fancy bedroom

Conservation being done on one of the wall paintings

A copy of the famous painting of the coronation of Empress Josephine.   We saw the original one at the Louvre.  

After visiting the palace we headed out to see the gardens.  No sooner than we got outside it started to pour down with rain on and off.  So we hired a mini golf court to drive around and try to stay dry.   Kids loved it

The gardens are enormous.  My daughter loved that there were Greek and Roman statues everywhere and she loved telling us all about them

The property is so large the palace has its own large man made canal.  You can rent boats and tour the canal.  Kids wanted to do this but sitting in a boat while it is pouring wasn't my idea of fun:) so I said NO

There were lots of fountains but none were running this day

Next we went to tour Marie-Antoinette's Chateaux
I don't know much of this part of history but her house was sparse compared to the Kings residence

Her china set

Billard room

As you can see not any marble and fewer art works

Her parlor

Her bed in the corner of this room was a hidden door where Marie Antoinette escape briefly during the revolution 

The back of the Palace

We spent a great day and loved seeing how the royal family of France lived.  It was impressive if a bit overwhelming with the decor:)