Beautiful Versailles

Instead of spending another day wandering the streets of Paris, we decided to go to Versailles for the day and have a look around the palace and the gardens. It was definitely worth the trip, except for the queues. It seemed that most of Paris was visiting Versailles with us!

After queueing for so long our first priority was brunch/lunch for hungry kids, so we made a bee-line for the cafe. The French definitely know how to rock a sandwich. We have had some amazing baguettes, off the shelf but full of gorgeous fresh ingredients. It almost makes up for the really bad coffee (but not quite).

Palace of Versailles from outside the gates

After lunch we followed the crowd and viewed a couple of pretty impressive rooms, but then found ourselves at the exit, which confused us and left us asking "Really, was that it?".

It turns out the in our haste to get to the cafe we had skipped must of the palace! We backtracked and found the entrance to the royal apartments and weren't disappointed. But it was really hard to get decent photos between the crowds and the glare...

Looking at room after room of intense and ornate furniture and decor, I became increasingly aware of sensory overload. If I had to live in surroundings such as those, I think I would need a plain room with simple furnishings to go to as a sanctuary every now and then.

After the crowds inside the palace it was very refreshing to step out into the gardens. We spent an hour or two roaming. There are three or four lakes, several manicured gardens, some less manicured park areas, and some lovely fountains.

This fountain was dancing to classical music. Very lovely. 

A spare bedroom or two!

And that was our day in Versailles. The next morning we hopped on a train from Paris to Montpellier in the south of France.