Day 9 - Tuesday

Off to Versailles today, Louis XIV's dripping-in-gold palace. This is a full day tour. It was originally a hunting lodge and later enlarged drastically, as you will see from the pictures. Cost to construct? Half of France's entire GDP for one year.
Oh, we visited the palace with Stephanie, another senior missionary couple's daughter and her two friends, thus the repeat of these girls' in some pictures. They were fun to hang out with :).

All of the building segments you see are part of Versailles

Louis XIV made Versailles his main palace (instead of the one in Paris) because he could control the nobles there. He was very involved in the politics of the time and Versailles was part of his tactics. He would distract noblemen with the pleasures of the flesh so that he could do what he wanted. A genius at the game, he even lent money to gambling nobles who lost so that they would be indebted to him.
The golden gates, but not of heaven. The security guards behind the fence gave Rob a dirty look as he pretended to touch it.
Another line. Fortunatley we were able to skip the ticket line here because we saw a ticket office in town, where we purchased a museum pass which covers a number of sights in the Paris region.

Hall of dead famous people's statues. The intricacy of work on stone was astounding.

Corner detail on a ceiling, a pretty common sight

Another impressive ceiling. I wonder why they went to so much work on a part you have to crane your neck to see.

The famous Hall of Mirrors. Back when it was built, mirrors were relatively new and very expensive. Ambassadors would be shown into this room to see the wealth and power of France.

The king's formal bedroom. He usually wouldn't sleep here, but in a back bedroom. If he didn't sleep in this bed, he would arrive in the morning to "arise" and perform various rituals, such as drinking water from a particular holy source. Outside detail on the palace
One of the fountains on the property Versailles

After visiting the palace and town of Versailles, Rob and I decided to return to the Effiel Tower area and take a night boat ride. Sorry the pictures didn't come out clearly!


Off to the Louvre tomorrow!