Hangin' out with the royals...

On our third day in Paris we took the train to Versailles to check out what else but the Palace of Versailles.  Ok, a little history lesson....Versailles became the center of political power in France in 1682, when Louis the XIV moved there from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution.  It started out as a "modest" hunting lodge and was added to over the years to make it an enormous (I mean ridiculously huge) palace.  You know how that goes, you move into a place and think "oh I'll just add one more bedroom out back" then before you know it you have a house the size of a 4 shopping malls.  The palace has it's own chapel, opera house and multiple different "apartments" (which are really large houses) on the property.  This place was overly luxurious and somewhat gaudy from the get go.

Front gates of the palace

Painted ceiling in the Chapel of the palace

 A lot of the original furnishings have been removed and the rooms are more museum like, housing paintings and artwork from the palace.  I really like this sculpture below with a monkey riding a goat...why? I don't know it's just funny!

Ginormous paintings!

 The ceilings in most of the rooms were intricately painted with scenes depicting everything from love, war and biblical characters.  The molding was also incredibly detailed. 

Imagine how long it took to paint that ceiling.

Statue of Louis the XIV I think

One of the most famous rooms in the palace is the Hall of Mirrors. It was built in 1678 to connect 2 of the apartments. The principal feature of this famous hall is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen windows that overlook the elaborate gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors with a total 357 mirrors in the room. 

Hall of Mirrors

View out one of the doors into the gardens

One you walked through the Hall of Mirrors you entered the Queen's apartment.  The walls were covered with fabric that matched the bed curtain and lines. Could you imagine sleeping in that bed?

My favorite part of the palace was actually the gardens out back.  Marie Antoinette, the wife of the Louis the XVI, made the gardens what they are today.  She wanted a traditional English Garden and you know, "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" so the gardens were redone.  I'm sure the upkeep of this place is budget breaking!

 

The fountain below sat just outside the back of the palace and overlooked the lawn and pool below.  When we walked passed it wasn't on yet.

 

The fountains are only on for certain periods of the day and we were lucky enough to catch them come on.  

These guys have a big job keeping everything pollinated!

After a long day of walking around Versailles we headed back to Paris.  I wanted to check out the Eiffel Tower at night all lit up so we ended the day back at the tower.  It was even more dreamy and romantic in the dark!

  

The very next day our good friends (and Chad's co-residents) Katie and Devon were set to arrive in Paris!  I was super excited since we hadn't seen either of them in over 3 months.  Katie and I are shopping partners in crime so we new some potential damage could be done seeing as that we would be in the fashion capital of the world together!