Wedneday, September 22

Today was our expedition to Versailles, the grand chateaux of Louis XIV which was built in the 17th century.  I read an interesting back story about Versailles. There is a lovely little chateaux called Vaux-le-Vicomte which Louis' loyal subject, Fouquet, built in the late 1650s - after hiring some young and innovative professionals - an architect, landscape architect and interior designer.  He was so happy with his new estate that he invited Louis to visit.  Apparently, Louis was so enraged and jealous that he immediately threw Fouquet into jail for the rest of his life!!  And then he proceeded to snatch up the architects and interior designers and got them working on Versailles.  Lesson learned - do not to try outdo your sovereign when he has absolute power!!!

For those of you who have visited, you know that the scale and opulence of Versailles is breathtaking.  In comparison to Vaux-le-Vicomte's 100 acres - this has 1,975 acres.  It was the largest palace in Europe, housing 20,000 people.  The grounds include many manicured gardens and groves and a Grand Canal which is in the shape of a cross and must be about a kilometer long for each canal - which was used for boating parties.

Of course we toured the portions of the chateaux which were open, including the Hall of Mirrors, pictured above.   A picture of some of the grounds (not the Grand Canal) are below.

Grand Trianon



Pathway on way to Grand Trianon



We also visited (and this was a first for me) the other chateaux on the immense grounds.  The Grand Trianon was built so Louis could escape court life at Versailles and spend time with his mistress.  Then there was the Petit Trianon, built as another retreat and which eventually became the haven of Marie-Antoniette.

Grand Trianon





<>A picture of the famous Neptune fountain is below although unfortunately, none of the fountains were working the day we went. <>

Petit Trianon

As everyone knows, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were removed from Versailles by the revolutionary mob in 1789 and some years later were both beheaded in what is now the Place de la Concorde.  One of my questions was what happened to Versailles after that?  Well, the answer in part is that the revolutionaries then proceeded to auction off the contents.  An advertisement for what would of course have been some treasured items is below.  I don't what happened from there in terms of how they have recreated the interior rooms.

A trip to Paris would not be complete without a trip to another lovely church, this time the relatively new one built in 1914, Sacre Coeur.  It is atop the butte (hill) to the north of the City in the arty community of Montmartre and commands an imposing view.