A house of 2 Ladies and other tales

Cam told us lots of great “stories” about the history of Versailles which began its life as a hunting lodge for Louis 13th. The current palace came into being and prominence under the subsequent 3 Louis… it was built over a 50 year period by Louis 14th (the Sun king – who was crowned at 4 years of age), embellished by Louis 15th (the fun king – who had 300 “special” lady friends (there were young kids in the group), died of syphilis and was the great grandson of Louis the 14th) and Louis 16th (the “done” King who was beheaded in the Revolution) along with his wife Marie Antoinette. Our first stop was Petite Triannon. This was a fairly modest (by the standards of Versailles) house built between 1762 and 1768 as a private place for the use of Louis 15th and his favorite mistress Madame Pompadour. Later it became the refuge of Marie Antoinette who would spend much of her time there retreating from the pomp and ceremony of the court at Versailles. It was she who built a “mock village” and various other follies in the grounds. We visited there for some time, before heading down to the “Grand Canal” to enjoy a lovely picnic lunch.Read more