Versailles
When I think of 16th century Europe, I think about a lot of poor, sick, unhappy people. I didn't realize that kings and queens of the day squandered all their land's wealth on extragavant homes that even the most credit-unconscious American would think twice about. Unfortunately for those kings and queens, their dynasties were taken down, but their palace has long outlasted their reign. To the left is a chapel within the palace that has only recently been opened to the public. In this and every other room, there isn't a square inch of ceiling that isn't painted, decorated, or sculpted. It's not only the interior that's so extravagant; it's all the land around it that stretches so far, you can look to the horizon and see no other buildings. Just really nice gardens.
The French get made fun of over their lack of military victories, but this long hall (with really nice hardwood floors, by the way) is dedicated to paintings commemorating French victories. While none are recent, they did win their fair share back in the day.
Travel tips: 1. Get there early or get there late, but don't arrive around 10/11 AM, because in the summer, you could wait an hour just to get in and shade is not an option. 2. Around the corner from the palace, there's a nice little place to get lunch. The tip is, don't order the chicken and mayonnaise baguette sandwich. In fact, no matter where you are, never get something that says "and mayonnaise" in the name. That's because you expect some mayonaisse to be in any baguette sandwich. But if it's in the title, you're going to get way more of it than you want.Left: Hall of Mirrors
Labels: france, museums, paris
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