Today we went to see the Palace of Versailles along with about half the people in the northern hemisphere. It was CROWDED. We started off taking the train from Paris (a 37 minute ride). Poor Courtney barely made it on. The doors started closing on her with one leg in and one leg out. Another passenger and I pulled on the doors enough for her to squeeze in. The Paris train system isn't like Amtrak. If it's your train, you'd better get on quick.
My favorite room was the Hall of Mirrors - 240 ft long with 17 mirrored arches on the left side and 17 arched windows on the right. The ceiling was totally covered in gilded framed oil paintings and crystal chandeliers. This palace is dripping in gold ornamentation, but surprisingly the most expensive decorative item of the time was the mirrors, because it was extremely hard to make smooth glass without imperfections.
Never let it be said that the Perrin girls didn't get their money's worth at a tourist site. We walked every square inch of that estate - some sections more than once when we got turned around. There are sculptured walkways and gardens with statues and fountains everywhere. This is the Palace of Trianon on the back of the property. It was the "country home" built for recreational purposes. The rooms were filled with card and billiard tables, and there was hunting, boating, and horses outdoors. I think you could rent a little golf cart to drive around the grounds, but we opted to order the chocolate dessert at lunch and walk off the calories.
Another one of my favorite parts was Marie Antoinette's hamlet. I'd been to Versailles before, but I do not remember this section being open to the public. It is so completely different from the rest of the palace grounds. These buildings were covered in grapevines which will really look amazing when everything starts to bloom again.
After a long day of walking, we rewarded ourselves with some macaroons. Each one of these is a different flavor - chocolate, pistachio, strawberry, vanilla, and cherry (we ate the salted caramel and Marie-Antoinette macaroons before I remembered to take a picture).
