Mirror Mirror On The Wall....

We got up early this morning to head to Versailles. (well, I was up at 5AM... the fight in the courtyard this morning kind of killed any sleep that was left to be had.. nothing like people swearing at 4:30.. picked up a few new words anyway... ;-) So we headed out at 9:30 this morning, and headed on the RER train to Versailles. *shudder* It's one thing to head out on the metro trains, but the RER trains are a little scary. You can see the route, but not all the trains stop at the specific stop you want. Therefore, you can hop on the RER train, but you could, potentially, not get to your destination. But, we found the right RER train on the first go-round, so it was all good. The problem was that we were going during rush hour... that was fun! People smushed into a small space..... anyway, we survived the trip (with wallets intact) and arrived at Versailles.

The day was cloudy, looked like rain at one point, but the sun prevailed, and it was a perfect temperature for quite a bit of walking. We started with the outskirts of the Chateau. You have to understand, that this place is IMMENSE, and to see it all in 1 day was quite the challenge! Starting point was Marie Antoinette's house - "La Petite Trianon". The was Marie Antoinette "house" whenever she didn't want to stay in the palace walls. Marie Antoinette seemed to be all about fun, as she liked to play games (in fact, had a whole play village made up - life size houses to you & me - so she could have some fun, playing in the "real" world), perform plays, etc. Her "little" house was so decadent, it was hard to imagine that it could get any more rich from here - boy was I wrong! The cutest thing about the village... was the parrot that J1 & I ran into while visiting the play "farm". (it is currently an animal refuge - someone obviously donated the parrot). The parrot could mimic anything. We stopped and listened to him for a while - we heard a car horn, the sound of an axe, goose honk, chicken, dog, cat.. I could have stayed for a bit, but J2 was waiting for us, so onto the next stop!

The next stop was "Le Grand Trianon" - this is where the king stayed when he didn't want to stay at the palace. Grand rooms, close to the hunting grounds, meeting places... all very opulent. Surely, I thought to myself, that it couldn't get any more decadent & opulent that this... marble floors, huge crystal chandeleirs, every lily gilded... and on and on... again, I was wrong.

We went to the third stop on the outdoor tour, the canals. The king & queen had them built so that they could have a mini harbour - so sail boats would sail. This is the place that is most photographed.. people can rent row boats to go up and down the "harbour". It's quite the scene. By this time, it's 2pm, and we are a little hungry (considering we all ate an early breakfast, it's a long time to go between meals!). We stop at the cafe on site by the harbour... well, we'll just say, they know they have you trapped there - a little pricey! But, most of it was good...

Anyway, we walked back up to the chateau... it was quite pretty actually to see the water, fountains, and statues. (photos to be posted shortly) Then, into the chateau itself...

Words can not describe the interior of this place. I have run out of words to describe it. You'll just have to see it... there was just so much!

My favourite part, of course, was the hall of mirrors. From the chandeleirs, to the gilded frames, to the statues.. it was breathtaking. (see photos).

At this point, we had been at Versailles for 7 hours, so it was time to head back to the flat. It had been a long day, so we are calling it a night - after all, we have to be up bright & early for the FLEA MARKET tomorrow!