The Palace of Versailles

When my family and I visited Paris in February of this year (2020), we did get a chance to visit the beautiful Palace of Versailles. It was a very windy and cold day, so we were limited to the main entrance and the inside and could not go out into the garden. Still, the palace is very beautiful.

My family at the entrance to the Palace of Versailles.

This was a trip with all our kids, all of whom are in this photo.

A street near the Palace of Versailles.

Of course to get to the Palace of Versailles you have to take public transportation which can mean a train, Uber or other. This is a street near palace.

An imposing building, built by a king.

Everything at the Palace of Versailles seems to be excess, but that was the era of Louis XIV.

I don’t know the name of this statue.

One can see that the sculptor tried to inject some kind of political statement about “on the backs of others” in my opinion of this statue at the Palace.

The Palace of Versailles has a very large entrance.

One can just imagine the various ladies in their large dresses and the gentlemen in their overstate outfits walking up these steps to visit the king.

A special place to worship.

If you’re the king you get to build your own place to worship, complete with organ. No, they did not play it for us while there.

Pretty good detail in this wall sculpture.

When walking the halls of the palace you can expect to see art of various forms everywhere.

Long hallways evoke the line from Jack Lemmon after walking one like it, “That was exhausting!”

Statues line most of the long hallways of the palace.

Statues everywhere you look in the halls.

All the statues were of various people or more. I couldn’t begin to list them and didn’t try to keep track during my short visit.

I guess he’s no longer with us.

I don’t remember it being a tomb, but I think it was meant as a way to honor a valiant knight.

The gardens of the Palace of Versailles.

The fountains were not running in the gardens because the winds were blowing very, very hard. The trams tours of the garden were also cancelled. This photo was taken from a window on the side of the palace facing the gardens. I wonder what it’s like to mow those lawns and trim those hedges?

Ceiling art.

Not just satisfied with paintings on the walls of the many rooms, the king had paintings done on the ceilings of many of the large rooms.

Very large paintings everywhere.

As you can see, the paintings hanging in many of the large rooms are not small at all.

One wall of paintings in one very large room at the Palace of Versailles.

When the room is larger, have even more paintings commissioned. Empty spaces are not something the king wanted in his palace.

Pondering the paintings is something many do.

The gold leaf above the huge “walk-in” fireplace and the huge painting caused this lady to stop and ponder her ideas for decorating her house, I am sure.

I hope you enjoyed this visit to the Palace of Versailles.

You can click on this link to see the photos and read about the visit to the Eiffel Tower.

There are more photos from the Eades’ family tour of the Palace of Versailles and you can click on this link to see them.

Back in February of this year, I and my family were in London for 6 days. Then we went to Paris for a few days. But before we leave London, a couple of parting shots.

The Sherlock Holmes Pub in London.

I stopped off for a pint at this pub close to the middle of London town. I could not find Professor Moriarty. The pint was great. Then some sleuthing was done at the flat where we stayed and we found this in a drawer of the nightstand.

Those are not my wife’s unmentionables.

Obviously, someone had some interesting fun in the flat in London when staying in it the week before we were there. Well on to Paris via the train through the Chunnel. But when we got there, well, we had a problem. Or rather, I did.

Be very wary in Paris. There are gangs that work on grabbing your wallet.

As our family of 10 plus a baby made our way onto the Metro in Paris from the airport, we were surrounded by a large group of “rowdy” folks. Well, it turns out they were trying to steal our suitcases and more. Unfortunately, I had ignorantly left my wallet in my back pocket instead of an inside pocket like I had done the previous six days. The end result? The wallet was plucked clean. There were two credit cards, a debit card, my health cards, driver’s license and about $200 in cash. I discovered it right after the Metro train doors closed. My eldest immediately got on his smart phone and we were able to alert one of the card issuers. The only money I was out was the cash, but they very quickly tried to charge nearly $3800 on one of the credit cards. Yes, I had to get a new driver’s license when I got home and all the credit and debit cards were replaced. Luckily, they did not get my passport.

Now on to Paris.

The Eiffel Tower in its night time glow.

We absolutely had to go see the Eiffel Tower in all its night time glory the first night – after settling into our hotel room and dealing with the stolen wallet.

One of the legs of the Eiffel Tower.

You can see the stairs that lead up the legs and eventually to the top in this blurry photo. We took the elevators.

The view up from beneath the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower is very tall, oh and its darned windy and cold at the top – where we were headed.

Going up in the elevator of the Eiffel Tower.

Riding the elevators up to the top of the Eiffel Tower reminds me of the finale sequence of “Impressions de France,” a film in the France Pavilion at EPCOT directed by my friend Rick Harper. That film holds the world record for the longest playing film ever. It is marvelous. I am proud to have been associated with it.

One elevator then another.

You have to ride a couple of elevators to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The view from the middle level.

At the middle level you have to change elevators, so there is a moment to view the city from that vantage point.

Even higher to go.

Though the middle level of the Eiffel Tower is quite high, we’re going to go even higher.

Another view from the middle.

From the middle level you can see why Paris is sometimes called the “City of Lights.”

Elevator wire wheels.

One of the wheels associated with the operation of the elevators that take visitors to the top and back to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.

Not a Disneyland queue line.

Though not as busy, this is the queue line maze for visitors wishing to board the elevator that will take them to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Where is Shrek when you need him.

Gustave and Thomas

This is Gustave Eiffel’s office at the top of the tower. He is depicted here when Thomas Edison paid him a visit. He really did.

Going down?

Visitors to the Eiffel Tower can opt to take the stairs down from the top if they wish, instead of the elevator. I don’t recommend it.

The stairs start.

Here is where you actually start to take the stairs down. Again, I don’t recommend it.

Waiting for the elevator.

Since the Eiffel Tower is an open air steel structure, the elevator shaft is not really a shaft, as much as an open space in the lattice work of the steel.