The trip through "les banlieux" is really beautiful. The houses are old, the terrain hilly. We sometimes pass through tunnels under mountains. I don't have any pictures that give it justice but while I don't think many people would see the beauty in it I enjoyed every second on the train.
The Palace of Versailles (English /vɛərˈsaɪ/ vair-sy or /vərˈsaɪ/ vər-sy; French: [vɛʁˈsɑj]), or simplyVersailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is theChâteau de Versailles.
When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a wealthy suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the center of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.
The "Palace de Versailles" is out of the world with respect to size and opulence. Just look at all the gold we see as we get in.
While the exterior is the epitome of opulence, the interior in the epitome of the epitome of opulence. Even the pictures below cannot come close to describe the inside of this giant palace.
The "Hall of Mirrors" is simply magical. It's like the bal room in "Beauty and the Beast" but bigger and more magnificent. In this trip to France I would say it was the room I found the most beautiful
The Hall of Mirrors (French: Grande Galerie or Galerie des Glaces) is the central gallery of the Palace of Versailles in Versailles, France.
As the principal and most remarkable feature of King Louis XIV of France's third building campaign of the Palace of Versailles (1678–1684), construction of the Hall of Mirrors began in 1678.[1][2][3][4][5][6] To provide for the Hall of Mirrors as well as the salon de la guerre and the salon de la paix, which connect the grand appartement du roi with the grand appartement de la reine, architect Jules Hardouin Mansart appropriated three rooms from each apartment as well as the terrace that separated the two apartments.[2][3][7]The principal feature of this hall is the seventeen mirror-clad arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that overlook the gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors with a total complement of 357 used in the decoration of the galerie des glaces.[7]The arches themselves are fixed between marble pilasters whose capitals depict the symbols of France.[citation needed] These gilded bronze capitals include the fleur-de-lys and the Gallic cockerel or rooster. Many of the other attributes of the Hall of Mirrors were lost to war for financial purposes, such as the silver table pieces and guéridons, which were melted by order of Louis XIV in 1689 to finance the War of the League of Augsburg.[7][8][9][10]
We continued our visit to the King's and Queen's "Grands Appartements". More opulence.
As a result of Le Vau's enveloppe of Louis XIII's château, the king and the queen had new apartments in the new addition, known at the time as thechâteau neuf. The grands appartements, which are known respectively as the grand appartement du roi and the grand appartement de la reine, occupied the main or principal floor of the château neuf. Le Vau's design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, as evidenced by the placement of the apartments on the next floor up from the ground level – the piano nobile – a convention the architect borrowed from 16th and 17th century Italian palace design (Berger, 1986; Verlet, 1985).
The palace's "Jardins de Versailles" are equally magnificent, going on forever. We can catch a glimpse of them through the windows.
The Gardens of Versailles (French: Jardins du château de Versailles; French pronunciation: [ʒaʁdɛ̃ dy ʃato də versaij]) occupy part of what was once the Domaine royal de Versailles, the royal demesne of the château of Versailles. Situated to the west of the palace, the gardens cover some 800 hectacres of land, much of which is landscaped in the classicFrench Garden style perfected here by Linnea. Beyond the surrounding belt of woodland, the gardens are bordered by the urban areas of Versailles to the east and Le Chesnay to the north-east, by the National Arboretum de Chèvreloup to the north, the Versailles plain (a protected wildlife preserve) to the west, and by the Satory Forest to the south.
As part of le domaine national de Versailles et de Trianon, an autonomous public entity operating under the aegis of the French Ministry of Culture, the gardens are now one of the most visited public sites in France, receiving more than six million visitors a year.[2]In addition to the meticulous manicured lawns, parterres of flowers, and sculptures are the fountains, which are located throughout the garden. Dating from the time of Louis XIV and still using much of the same network of hydraulics as was used during the Ancien Régime, the fountains contribute to making the gardens of Versailles unique. On weekends from late spring to early autumn, the administration of the museum sponsors the Grandes Eaux – spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play.
In 1979, the gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, one of thirty-one such designations in France.[3]
We start our trek through the gardens under a light rain.
We visit he "Grand Trianon", a small castle in the palace's ground.
The Grand Trianon (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɑ̃ tʁijanɔ̃]) was built in the northwestern part of theDomain of Versailles at the request of Louis XIV, as a retreat for the King and his maîtresse en titre of the time, the marquise de Montespan, and as a place where the King and invited guests could take light meals (collations) away from the strict étiquette of the Court.
The Grand Trianon is set within its own park, which includes the Petit Trianon (the much smaller château built between 1762 and 1768 during the reign of Louis XV).
We walked beside the lake in the drizzle. There were kids putting boats on the water.
Time to go. We do the short walk from the Palace to the train station. L'Hotel de Ville is more in what I consider accessible opulence :)
On the way back, the train stops to board a large group of train inspectors who proceed to validate our tickets, just like in the movies. I big thank to Pascal for telling us to hold on to our tiny tickets instead of throwing them out. We arrive in Paris famished and have an early dinner/late lunch at "La Luge". A nice place and the food was ok. I include a copy of the bill for I feel that it's pretty much what it cost us when we ate whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner.
We walk around some and visit Notre-Dame's Crypt. It's similar to the Pointe-à-Callière's museum but much larger (and somehow less nice).
The Archaeological Crypt of the Paris Notre-Dame was created in 1965 to protect a range of historical ruins, discovered during construction work and spanning from the earliest settlement in Paris to the modern day. The crypts are managed by the
The Archaeological Crypt of the Paris Notre-Dame was created in 1965 to protect a range of historical ruins, discovered during construction work and spanning from the earliest settlement in Paris to the modern day. The crypts are managed by the Musée Carnavalet and contain a large exhibit, combining detailed models of the architecture of different periods, and how they can be viewed within the ruins. The main feature still visible is the under-floor heating installed during the Roman occupation.[7]
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