The Palace of Versailles was the residence of the King Louis XIV during the late 1600;s thru the French Revolution.  He moved from his residence at the Louvre to be outside the city because he felt unsafe living in Paris near the French people.  The Chateau was lavished with gold and art from floor to ceiling and at times I felt that it might be even greater than the Vatican in Rome.

There was gold all over the outside of the Chateau including the fencing.

 

 

Once we stepped inside we saw sculptures everywhere.

Every room was decorated with artwork and more gold from from the doors to the floors to the walls and ceilings.

This one room below was made just to house this one massive painting.

And of course there was the Hall of Mirrors.  Back then mirrors were even more expensive than gold.  The King bought all the mirrors he could in Venice and then had even more made in France.

And there was a music room.

And the bedrooms.

And this went on for nearly 700 rooms.  It was unbelievable to see how royalty lived.

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And if all that wasn’t enough we went outside to the Royal Gardens.  William and I must have walked over 10 miles that day just trying to see the main gardens and water fountains.

This is just a very small portion of the wealthy contained inside this Palace.  Although it was very beautiful I kept thinking about how the people lived in poverty and were starving yet the King was able to live like this.  It’s no wonder the people revolted in the French Revolution and had both the King and Queen beheaded.  When I get back home I am going to have to check out netflix and see what I can find about this era of the French Revolution.

If you do go to Paris it is worth the visit out to Veresailles which is only 16 miles from the city.  Take a picnic lunch and plan to spend the entire day there.