Versailles

As a large group we traveled by train to the Palace of Versailles, Louis XIV's home outside of Paris.  The chateau is huge, over-whelming, intense.  Because of the cold and rainy weather we were having in the morning everyone who visited Versailles today were inside the building.  The sea of people would pick you up and carry you in their current.  Trying to take it all in and photograph it was nearly impossible.  To be honest, Versailles was too big, sparsely decorated and way to crowded.  What I did like were the gardens out the back, the fountains, and Marie's Petit Trianon and her Hamlet.  The Petit Trianon was her escape from Louis and the court.  A place where she and her children could enjoy the countryside, animals, and "a simpler" life.  The buildings that make up the Hamlet were quaint, romantic and it is easy to slip into the fantastic "world" she created for herself and her children.

I did not enjoy the Palace of Versailles nearly as much as I enjoyed the simplicity of Marie-Antoinette's slice of cake, I mean heaven.