A Lesson in Opulence

My children now know what the word opulence means.

We have seen several examples of opulence in our tours of chateaux on this trip, but today was the most extreme case.  After a bedtime discussion with our kids we all agree that we could do with less in our lives.  My ideas of less may be a bit different than theirs.

We traveled about 45 minutes outside of Paris to the Palace of Versailles.  We know this place from the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWII.  However it had been built hundreds of years before, under the command of King Louis XIV.  It was here that the famous Louis XVI and Marie-Antionette lived and infuriated the commoners of France as they lavished in their riches while the rest of France was starving to death.  It was here that the royalty conintued to build more and more, even when it was more than unnecessary.  And it was here that the commoners rushed the castle and took over during the French Revolution.

This is the chapel where King Louis and his family and courtiers would have mass every morning at a.m.

The most unique feature of Versialle when compared to other chateaux are the ceilings.  The Versialle ceilings were unlike any other, painted, ornately decorate in every corner.

King Louis XIV and his wife, Maria Theresa of Spain:

Emmeline was quite taken with one of the princes, but Grace thought otherwise.

Joan of Arc was honored at Versialle as well.

A globe Louis commissioned for one of his sons.

I may just have to redecorate my bedroom....

The famous Hall of Mirrors.

And into the gardens....

Anthon trying to fix a wire he broke.
I fear we have left a small wake of distruction in Europe.

Lunch for us.

And lunch for the ducks and very large catfish!

A little after lunch entertainment of "Waddlie Atcha!"

And then we took a little walk (2 miles) to the little get-away cottage King Louis decided to build.....

And a few snaps of the inside...

A few of Marie-Antionette's dresses.

 A few more shots from the day:

Erik got tired of carrying the backpack
so he handed it off to Audrey.

Then after miles and miles of walking for the day, we made it back to the train and headed for home.

 Stephanie this photo is for you and your question about my sandals, because this is after all a post about opulence and Marie-Antionette did have over 500 pair of shoes.