Monday, November 02, 2009

France Day 4: Château de Versailles

Day 4 was the last day we were going to spend at Palace Trianon. We wanted to take it easy on this day. Later in the evening we were to catch a train from Paris to the town of Tour.



The day started with just bidding our goodbye to this lovely hotel











A random embossing emerging from a concrete wall. There were no signs of any chocolate stores nearby. Still so beautiful.



Fresh blue cheese salad



Salmon pizza for lunch?



Salmon Pizza for lunch!



Entrance to Palace of Versailles.
The unbelievably gorgeous château of Louis XIV.



This royal palace stated the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV







This is where the King and his subjects prayed. To prevent the nobles from establishing regional power, the King introduced a strict court rule of etiquette with elaborate ceremonies and exacted procedures. This included morning prayers at this church inside the palace of Versailles to assert personal and absolute rule. Part of these rituals were his highness's 'rising in the morning' where the king was awakened by offerings of holy water and a thorough medical check-up.







I found his shoes and the heels fascinating.



Beautiful flooring



Exquisite and grandeur doorways



Marble floors



Ceiling



Hall of Mirrors - one of the most famous rooms in the world



Room-divider



Louis XIV's bedroom



The queen had a bed chamber too that I couldn't photograph properly. Here's a really eerie detail. The queen had to give birth publicly in her chamber to prove the legitimacy of the heir!











Hercules Drawing Room (18th century ballroom)







Restorations constantly happen (See far behind Akhil)


Garden





Château de Versailles gardens















Depiction of hunting dog. The Château was originally built as a hunting lodge. The extensions and embellishments were additions to the palace years later when Louis XIV wanted to escape the revolutions against the monarchy without appearing to have given power.



Beautiful statues like this are aligned on both sides of the garden as seen in the next image.



This is a stunning view in person



Yes. That boy is sleeping at Château de Versailles. No words. :)















End of Versailles Palace



Love this sign!



Yummy chocolate mousse! And ofcourse HOT CHOCOLATE!!! MY FAV!

7 comments:

  1. WOW.. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

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  2. WOW.. Beautifulllllllllllll!!!!

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  3. WOWOWO!!! I really enjoyed this post! I love this whole series actually & for me its great because along with seeing the details of the places I also get to see you & akhil (treat!!) AND what you eat :) For me the most arresting pic in this post is the submerged sculpture at the 'end of Versailles Palace' Powerful.

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  4. Great blog great post...and hey real nice pics :)

    sudha

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  5. Preeti,lovely blog.just came to your blog by chance.its like wow,i get to see so many things in one post..wonderful.

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