The Palace of Versailles to Catacombs in Paris, France
We visited the Palace of Versailles and the Catacombs. The Palace is absolutely massive as well as the surrounding grounds, not to mention that there is also the Estate of Trianon on the grounds elsewhere. Dave and I were so amazed at the crazy amount of opulence, exquisite carvings, paintings, fabrics and beautiful gardens. We couldn’t help thinking that if this is how it really looked back during the time of King Louis and Marie Antoinette then it is understandable why the people revolted. To balance that we saw the Catacombs, the burial place for millions of relocated bones.
Just look at that glittery gold gate in front.
This is the “backyard” looking down towards the Grand Canal past all the gardens and groves.
A close up of all the landscaping just behind the palace.
I love the combination of wildflowers with the trimmed hedges that they used.This is one of the stairwells/halls.This is just one of the many rooms within the palace.The Hall of Mirrors. Crazy gorgeous! It was used for various events and the Treaty of Versailles was also signed here. The sheer number and size of the mirrors signaled economic prosperity as it was considered a luxury. It welcomes in the sun from one side, disperses it to all corners from another, and holds the twinkling light of magnificent chandeliers from its ceiling. It wasn’t super sunny that morning.The windows opposed the wall of mirrors looking out towards the gardens and pools.
Marie Antoinette’s private apartment. Whoa! She had a lot of influence on some of the updates to the palace we see today.
This was another stairwell/hall on the other side of the palace completely covered in marble and carvings.
The Gallery of Great Battles!
And yes, Joan of Arc is represented here. Represent!!
This was an entire hall decorated with statues and busts of prominent French figures.
Let’s not forget Napoleon.This is the front and is located a nice walking distance from the palace. It was commissioned by Louis XIV as a retreat in his bid to make the Palace the biggest and baddest in all the world. Funny enough, Marie Antoinette preferred the Petit Trianon which was much smaller and much humbler in my opinion although I didn’t have any good pics of that.Here is the reverse side with a partial view of the gardens and fountains.
Loved the selection of flowers.
One of the apartments, but as you can see not quite as crazy opulent as the palace.
Another bed chamber that is also more simplistic in taste. Check out those fabrics.
One of the many corridors leading us down, down, down; a total of 20 meters to the catacombs. Nice and cool here, folks.
At the entrance of where we will see the millions of bones that have been relocated and stacked.
Some sections were stacked differently from others. No two were exactly alike. It’s a constant work in progress to keep it from toppling as the bones break down.Most sections of bones have information indicating where they were transferred from and when they may have been moved.
Here is one such section where it needs to be carefully restacked.
One last section where an actual concert was held a long time ago (before I was born) before heading back up to street level.
