Our last day is Paris we went and spent all day at the beautiful and large estate of Versailles. The palace was enormous (though the Louvre was probably bigger) but what truly made the estate seemed immense was the acres and acres of gardens. The place was very lovely to tour, especially since it gave us free audio guides with our ticket. It was pretty crowded with large tour groups though, so that made it a little tricky to manuver through the rooms.
... the first set of gates with statues standing guard and gold tipped iron fencing.
... the second set of gates, completely covered in gold to glisten and represent the sun.
The first of the rooms was the private chapel for the palace, clean white with white and gold embellishments. Flowery gold ornamentation dominated the entire place.
... one of the many statues of famous french people.
Many of the rooms had large murals across the entire ceiling. The first set of rooms' ceiling paintings were all based on ancient mythology.
... more examples of the elaborate gold decorations and marble and other stone interior details.
... the Hall of Mirrors, nice and full of light in this room.
... the beautiful crystal chandeliers throughout the hall of mirrors.
...another example of some of the rooms (most of them were too dark for my camera to get any good pictures, esp. when large tour guide groups keep knocking you over).
... either the lady or the lord of the house (forget which)... such luxurious furnishings covering every surface, though a little busy for my tastes.
One interesting part was all the art and sculpture of famous people as well as simply the family of those who stayed in the palace.
...this room was soley paintings of major victories in France's history, very huge wall paintings at that.
... more sculptures showing frenchmen with funny hairstyles.
the gardens of Versailles. They stretch in all directions as far as the eye can see, and so specifically planned. I can't imagine being a gardener of this estate, keeping all those trees precisely trimmed.
...some of the sculptures around the fountains.
... one of the many small random open collanades and fountain areas.
... the Dr. Suess -esque tree shrubs.
... the view of the house from the first stopping point of the gardens.
This is the private summer home, a "mere one-story" house (it's still massive), decked out in pink stone with green and gold gates. It was a good 25 minute walk across the gardens from the main house.
... the courtyard.
... the collanade porch connecting thing...
... I just loved this view of the walk back to the main house. With the colorful leaves and the crisp cool weather, it just totally captured the essence of autumn and peace for me. Isn't it beautiful?
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