Extravagant is the word that comes to mind when describing Versailles. The palace, the decor, the gardens, every part of the estate was built with Louis XIV's mindset of wanting to be bigger and better than anyone had ever imagined. Keep in mind when visiting that the palace is closed on Tuesdays, I experienced this the hard way on my first visit. While the Hall of Mirrors is fantastically decadent and dripping with gold trimmings, the crowds are huge and undesirable. My friends and I grew so claustrophobic from the swarms of people at midday that we rushed through the palace tour and spent the majority of our time exploring the gardens. The gardens are HUGE and stretch as far as the eye can see. Everything is clearly organized into a grid of rose gardens, statues, and fountains. Directly down the steps from the Palace of Versailles is a huge pond where you can rent rowboats by the hour and cruise around Louis's private lake. Kind of a leisurely, lazy way to spend an afternoon - which is exactly what we did. We rented a row boat and cruised around, half rowing, half sunning and ta
lking, with the occasional paddle splash to each other and our neighboring boats. It was really fun afternoon just relaxing, taking a little time out from go-go-go travel to just enjoy the spectacular scenery and great company.
Extravagant is the word that comes to mind when describing Versailles. The palace, the decor, the gardens, every part of the estate was built with Louis XIV's mindset of wanting to be bigger and better than anyone had ever imagined. Keep in mind when visiting that the palace is closed on Tuesdays, I experienced this the hard way on my first visit. While the Hall of Mirrors is fantastically decadent and dripping with gold trimmings, the crowds are huge and undesirable. My friends and I grew so claustrophobic from the swarms of people at midday that we rushed through the palace tour and spent the majority of our time exploring the gardens. The gardens are HUGE and stretch as far as the eye can see. Everything is clearly organized into a grid of rose gardens, statues, and fountains. Directly down the steps from the Palace of Versailles is a huge pond where you can rent rowboats by the hour and cruise around Louis's private lake. Kind of a leisurely, lazy way to spend an afternoon - which is exactly what we did. We rented a row boat and cruised around, half rowing, half sunning and ta
lking, with the occasional paddle splash to each other and our neighboring boats. It was really fun afternoon just relaxing, taking a little time out from go-go-go travel to just enjoy the spectacular scenery and great company.
1 comment:
My next trip to to France . . . . . wine tastings galore! I love your blog- you are the female rick steves!
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