Gardens of Versailles

 My favorite part were the gardens.  It was unbelievable how beautiful they are and so well planned and thought out.  I now understand the meaning of a French garden.  Straight lines and a well ordered garden.  Bushes pruned and manicured.  We ate lunch out here and walked around the gardens for hours.

 This was an area where the Royal family would hold dances.  The wall area behind Mike was made all out of seashell and there were little waterfalls everywhere.

 Paths made out of stone that were so pretty.

 This is the main area that led down to the huge lake area.  People were all over the property sitting around the gardens or on the grass just enjoying the beauty.

 Water fountains.  This one was actually a water show with music.

 Another entertaining area of the gardens.

 The Back side of the Chateau.

 We had a fun afternoon walking the gardens.  They play classical music throughout the gardens and you felt like you had just stepped back in time.  It was perfect!

The Chateau of Versailles

 On Sunday we went to Versailles.  I guess everyone else in Paris had the same idea because it was packed this day!  Here is a look walking up to the main gates.

 Here is the front of the Chateau.  The gold plated roofing was unreal!  I can't imagine the amount of money it took to build this and then plate it in gold.  King Louis XIV wanted to make it look super powerful on the front but, as you go around the back there is no more gold and it's more modest.

 They had their own Chapel.  This is the called Chapelle Royale.  The Royal family would just walk down the stairs to go to church.

 Hallways and windows in the Palace.

 This portrait was a gift given to the king and he had this room built just to house this painting.

 The king would sit on this bed type throne and the peasants would come to make pleas or ask things of the king.  The peasants had to follow strict proper rules or they would be thrown out of the Palace.

 The Hall of Mirrors was beautiful and this is where the King and Queen would hold balls and other parities in this hall.  This is also where The Treaty of Versailles was signed which ended World War I.

 King Louis bedroom.  This is also the room that he and Marie Antoinette were hiding when the people stormed the castle and took the Royal Family.  The king was beheaded and then later the Queen was also beheaded.

 The Queens bedroom.  The Royal family was always on display and there was no privacy.  When the queen would give birth they would let the public come to watch in this room.  This room faced the main courtyard and the public could come and watch her.  People would watch them eat and go to the bathroom.  I really felt for Marie Antoinette who hated this life.  She built her own little getaway on Versailles.  The getaway was farm where she could be a normal person and not be watched.

 Their harpsichord

 The main gates made out of pure Gold.

The clock on top of the Chateau.  The Chateau is massive and was living quarters at one time to 20,000 people.  Government offices were in one part of the wing.

Paris on a Saturday

 This arch is right by the Louvre and is one of the arches Napoleon built.  He was in Rome and saw all the arches that Ceasar built and so, he built even bigger and better arches.  This starts you on the path down to Champs-Elysees.

 We went to the Musee d' Orsay.  This was the only picture I could take...no cameras allowed where the art was.  But, this museum was fun because it had all the Monets and Van Gogh's.  They were big and beautiful to look at.

 The Dome Church was built to house the ashes of Napoleon.

 Here is Napoleons tomb.  Pretty big for such a little guy!

 We then headed over to the Musee Rodin.  This museum used to be Rodin's home and it was pretty.  He did all the sculpting in the home and donated all his work to the city of Paris.

 The famous Thinker

 The Kiss.

 This was his back yard!  When he lived there it was run down and this was all weeds.  Once he died the city took it over and turned into a museum with this beautiful garden in the back.

 That night we went up the Eiffel Tower and saw Paris on night.  We were up pretty high and it was fun to see the city all lit up!

It was a great day!

The Louvre

 We got up and headed to The Louvre.  This place in unreal and the amount of art and artifacts is unbelievable.  We were told that if you spent 1minute in front of each piece it would take you 9 years to walk through the whole Louvre.

 We headed first to the Mona Lisa.  This was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci and for some reason is super famous.  I do not know a ton about art but, I guess she is suppose to have the most perfect face.  She could either be a man or woman.....Interesting.  But, she is a woman in this painting.

 The huge crowd around the Mona Lisa.

 The Wedding Feast

 The Raft of the Medusa

 A painting of the consecration of Napoleon

 Winged Victory was sculpted in Greece in the 3rd or 2nd century BC.  So, So, Old

 One of halls in the Louvre.  This once was were the king and his family lived so, the museum itself is just pretty.

 Egyptian tablets.  This would have been around the time of Moses.

 Seated Scribe was done about 2500 BC.  This sculpture is so neat because other art at that time was almost like a stick figure.  There are no eyes or definition of fingers or toes.  So, this piece has such great detail for the time.

 His eyes were amazing and look like they were marbles.  This Egyptian Sculpture had real talent.

 There is a wing of the Louvre that is like a Smithsonian.  So, they had Marie Antoinette's make-up case, her dishes, and jewelry boxes.

 Knights armor.

 The King and Queen loved Napoleon and gave him his own wing in the Louvre.  It's called Napoleons apartments and they had gold and chandlers every where.

 His living room.  Just Gold plated walls and Chandeliers every where.

 Napoleons dinning room.

 King George's bed...kind of small and short.

 Napoleon's chair.  This was also small and I guess he was a small short man.

 More art... The lace maker

 The area with all the big statues

Winged Bull was sculpted in 8th Century BC

 The Venice de Milo.  She is the model of the perfect woman body.... So, they say!

 The Statue of Ramesses.

 It took us all morning do get through the main art pieces in the Louvre.  Here we are coming out through the glass pyramid.

 This was the photo shot everyone was getting so, we had to have one too!

The outside of the Louvre.