Day 2-Versailles

Our 2nd day was pretty busy.   We took the RER-train to suburbs-out to Versailles to see the "Sun King's" Palace.  The train ride was uneventful going to Versailles-we all got off at our stop-lol poor Brenda took and extended stop on the way back ;-)  If you have ever seen the movie "Marie Antoinette" by Sophia Coppola, you have seen part of the palace.  A lot of the movie was filmed there.  I really didn't expect the area to be that populated and built up.When we exited the train station, we saw this to our right....

Yep....a Tex Mex restaurant!!!!  Who knew??  After a Creme Brulee latte from Starbucks, we were on our way.  Just down the street to the left was the palace. 

Versailles was built by King Louis XVI-he really enjoyed the good life!

Here is me and Louis ;-)

  Versailles is a beautiful palace-the gold decorations on the building were almost blinding in the sun!

I love history, and being in a place as historical as this still blows my mind! I remember learning about it in Mr. Brown's sophmore history as well as Ms. Keene's FrenchI and II classes.  I had to keep reminding myself that I was in an actual Palace in France!  The rooms and artwork were magnificent!  The gardens were pretty too-we did not see the fountains-they are set to music on the weekends only.  I missed some of the gardens while I waited for the rest of the ladies to use the restroom.  I was waiting by one exit while the exited the other!!  Not a great time for cell phones to no be in service area!!!  Needless to say, they went looking for me in the gardens while I waited for them to exit the restrooms!!  LOL  But my favorite things were the Hall of Mirrors-pictures don't do it any justice...

My other fave was the Hameau de la Reine-the Queens mini Austrian Hamlet-a reminder of Marie Antoinette's Austria-it was a  little section on the grounds with replica's of an Austrian village....

It had a very fairytale feel to it.  The palace itself was absolutely fantastic, but this quit section on the grounds was the best for me!