Le Chesnay

♬ Louis, Louis! Me gotta go! ♬

By all accounts we've heard, the Palace of Versailles was THE Palace when it was completed. France was at the top of its global influence and all nobility wanted to visit this high brow party house. Created by Louis XIV and finished in 1632, the palace was originally a hunting lodge created for his father Louis XIII. The hunting lodge was a private place of no architectural significance. It was one of Louis XIV's favorite places as a child and when he became king he could think of no better place than to create his palace.

The palace grounds are HUGE. They cover 800 hectares, or 2,000 acres. It was intimidating standing at the first staircase and looking at what was in front of us and then looking at our free map. We did walk a small part of the grounds though. It was nice to see that, while the palace is paid entry, the grounds are free access. We saw many locals jogging or biking a road that cuts through the middle of the grounds.

The palace itself is 2,300 rooms and 63,154 square meters or about 679,784 square feet. Not all the rooms are open to the public, but what is available is amazing. The most famous room is the Hall of Mirrors where balls were held. At the time, mirrors were rare and very expensive. So this room was practically a world wonder to party guests.

None of the original furnishings of the palace survived the French Revolution. In fact the lavish-ness of the Palace, was part of why the French Revolution occurred. The monarchy sat comfortably on their high throne, while the rest of France suffered in poverty. Marie Antoinette was actually captured here by the mob as they stormed the castle. Reportedly in the Queens Antechamber seen in one of the images.

There was a lot we didn't allot time to see at the Palace as well. Somewhere in the Garden was the Queen’s Hamlet. Sort of like a 17th venture she-shed, which was probably a sight on to itself. There is also the Grand Trianon which seems like a small village in the east part of the Garden. Part of it (La Petite Trianon) was built by Louis XV for his mistresses.Read more