The Palace of Versailles was our adventure for Day 3. It's about a 30 minute train ride outside of Paris in the small town of Versailles. King Louis XIV made his dad's hunting lodge (WHAT A LODGE!) into a palace that also housed all the government offices. Once I saw this, I understood why the French Revolution occurred. Such opulence for some and extreme hunger and poverty for others.
The chapel inside Versailles. The king ordered everyone to attend mass everyday. He was said to be a very "religous man". However, when you visit each of the main rooms in the palace, the huge ceiling paintings contained all the Greek myth gods. Hmmmm...very unique religion he had going!
This is the hall of mirror. A huge room where the ceiling is completely covered in paintings, the walls are marble, covered in gold and then mirrors.
The gardens - emmaculate and absolutely stunning. They go for miles - all the way to the horizon. Just hard to fathom - even when it's right in front of you!
Versailles brought about some very mixed emotions in me. It was lovely in places, gaudy in others, and ridiculous in most. By the end of the tour, I was so thankful to be through. I just couldn't believe someone would choose to live like this while others were struggling to survive. But I could also hear the Lord tell me that Versailles is nothing even close to how beautiful heaven will be.
It was a good day. I loved the train ride. Wes is the master subway dude! He knew how to get us around everywhere by subway and it was such fun! I was even picking up a little (and I do mean LITTLE!) French.
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