Chateau de Versailles

We arrived this morning at the Chateau de Versailles along with a gazilion other tourists.

And of course had to stand in line before being allowed to enter.

If you ever wonder why there was a French Revolution, take a trip to the Chateau de Versailles and take a look at the lavish rooms, fine furniture, and opulent gardens. While the people of France were strugling with famine, the royals were building themselves a nice little country manor...that only had 551,220 square feet. That's over twelve acres of wall to wall luxury and that doesn't even begin to take into account the gardens that surround the palace! Due to the sheer size, as well as my inability to narrow down the pictures I wanted to post, the Chateau de Versailes will consist of a little mini-series of posts.

The Chateau de Versailles was constructed over a period of 40 years with various kings adding different features to the palace. We started off our tour by taking a quick peak into the chapel. Certainly quite impressive and larger than quite a few churches I have seen. Moving on, we viewed some amazing period pieces dipicting life around Versailles in the 17th century as well as some of the characters involved. From there we moved upstairs where we viewed many of the rooms used for entertaining, socializing, and meetings. Of course, each room was unique from all the others and the level of detail really amazes one as you stroll through the chateau.

The chapel at Versailles. The king and other nobles took mass from the balcony while the "common" folks remained on the bottom level.

Mindy and Gabrielle stop to listen to our audio-tour.

Mindy is very impressed by both the painting and the desk. No, we did not purchase either for our new home back in Canada.

I think I found a statue of one of my ancestors as the physique seems to be very similar to my current form. Actually this is one of many staues of Louis XIV.

Hey! Check this out! Wouldn't this look great in our room!

Not your ordinary fireplace and mantel.

Nothing cookie-cutter about Versailles as even each fireplace had a unique design or feature. Here the hearth is cased in marble with an ivory carving.

Let's move through this extravagent door for more in the King's Apartments...