London/Paris 2011 trip report–part 12

Our main destination today was the Chataue de Versailles.  We took the Metro to the RER (the light rail of Paris) and then 30 or 40 minutes out to Versailles.  It was nearly lunch time so we grabbed a light sandwich and then walked the few blocks to the palace.  Our Paris Museum pass let us go through the short (non existent) line right into the palace grounds.  In a few minutes we, and many thousand of our friends, were touring the King Louis XIV's house.  Photography is allowed, but no flash pictures.  Since many of the rooms are rather dark, and since there are so many people there, it's hard to get good interior photos.

 I concentrated on the ceilings for photos.  They are each a masterpiece  of their own, each telling a story and making a statement (most generally about how great a person Louis XIV was).  He believed it was his right and duty as King to show the rest of the world just how good life could be and, because he was quite a party animal, the palace was quite an active place.  A couple of generations later the French people would vote against this philosophy right in this same place as they stormed the gates, grabbing some of the nice things their royalty had accumulated and bidding their royalty "adieu."

We got audio guides, included in the price.  I decided I'd try English - and it turned out to be a good choice since I wouldn't have understood any of the other 7 or 8 languages they offered.  Seriously, we really liked using the guides, they explain each room in 3 or 4 minutes.  That makes the experience more interesting.

Having seen the inside we opted to not pay for a shuttle ride to some of the other buildings, but instead, to look over the gardens around the palace.  Really, a person could just spend their time at Versailles doing that.  We didn't see the fountain run, but it was interesting to remember that during Louis XIV's day he would send out servants to hand pump the fountains so his guests could look out the windows of the Hall of Mirrors and be impressed by the view.  These days, the fountains run at specified times, maybe the servants unionized.

Leaving the palace, we walked back into town.  I enjoyed snapping some shots of Paris as we rode our double decker commuter train back.  We're a bit leg weary, so we're taking a few hours of downtime before venturing out to find some supper later on.

You can see lots of photos from our trip my photo album.