Paris » Gallery #5: The Palace of Versailles
Day 8 of our trip – 6 June 2002:
As we said previously, the best time to see the Palace (which is more commonly called the "Château") seems to be either right after it opens in the morning (around 9:30), before all the tour buses roll in, or after 3pm, when the tour buses begin leaving.
After strolling through the Gardens through the middle part of the day, we decided to take in the Châteaux. We visited the Grand and Petit Trianons first, which were the respective "retreats" for the king and queen, located out beyond the Gardens. Then we went through the Palace proper.
As much as the Gardens overwhelm you with their beauty and variety, the Château overwhelms you with its grandeur and elegance, and with the sheer audacity of its opulence. The minute you walk in, you immediately can feel the power of the place, and there's no mistaking that you are in a king's palace. The only other places i've felt that sense of the power of a place is at the Capitol in D.C. and the Imperial City in Beijing.
Of course, the flip side of that is, after walking around and seeing the sumptuousness and opulence of the Palace, it is no wonder that the French people stormed the place seeking the heads of the royal family during the Revolution. If i'd been a working-class Frenchman struggling to eke out a living back then, and had seen the huge amounts of my tax money being poured into Versailles for the sole benefit of the king and his court, i'd have been a little irked myself.
Anyway, there is very little one can say about the Palace that pictures can't say better – especially when most of what you say is, "Oh, my God!" So have a look at the photos, and keep in mind that what we saw is only a portion of the châteaux.
 The entrance to the Grand Trianon. |
 The peristyle of the Grand Trianon. |
 The Upper Garden just outside the Grand Trianon. |
 The outside of the Small Trianon. |
 Detail of the gate of the Small Trianon. |
 The front gate of the château. |
 Close-up of the front gate. |
 Louis XIV on his horse. |
 Different angle of the same statue |
 The Royal Courtyard |
 In front of the Palace of Versailles |
 Panorama of the entire château |
 The upper half of the Royal Chapel. |
 The ceiling of the Hercules Drawing-Room |
 The ceiling of the Hercules Drawing-Room |
 The ceiling of the Mars Drawing-Room |
 The Mercury Drawing-Room |
 The Apollo Drawing-Room |
 Hall of Mirrors |
 The War Drawing-Room |
 statue of Diana in the Hall of Mirrors |
 The Coronation Room |
 The Marble Courtyard |
 The clock overlooking the Marble Courtyard |
 a building's façade in the Marble Courtyard |