Versailles

On a day showing promise of clear weather, we headed to Versailles.  During our visit five years ago, we spent 80 percent of the time in the palace and about 20 percent of the time in the gardens. 

While the palace is lovely and the restored Hall of Mirrors is beautiful, we decided this time we would skip the palace to spend more time exploring the gardens and subsidary structures, the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, and the Hamlet.

 

Once we moved away from the palace, the crowds evaporated.  Unless you get an early start on the palace or rush through every thing, it's hard to see all of it in one day.

 

 



In addition to the buildings, there are countless gardens to explore.

 

 

 

Even though Marie Antoinette probably never said, "Let them eat cake," by the time we reached her Hamlet, I could feel the justification behind the French Revolution.  Imagine the gossip mill back in Paris that the Queen was playing make-believe in her very own peasant village while the people were struggling with a crippled economy and rising bread prices.

 

Nevertheless, Versailles is beautiful.

The skies darkened briefly as we were walking back to the main gates, but thankfully no rain, just a faint rainbow.

Coming next...We depart Paris and travel to Lyon.