Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Road Trip

Versailles Gardens

Versailles is about a 40 minutes train ride from Paris.  Back in the Sun King's day he liked it that way.  "I no longer want to be the King of Paris.  I will be the King of France."  So he moved from the Louvre to his hunting lodge and began a transformation that created the world's largest royal domain.  And what an excessive display of wealth and power he built to become the most powerful King in Europe.  And, still the people continue to swarm to his Versailles to ooohhh and aaahhh over the gold, the tapestries, the ceilings, the gardens. The line for the tickets was a 30 minute wait.  That allowed us to enter the line for security that was at least 200 yards long and another 30 minutes.  I can appreciate the accomplishment of the poor people who had to build the place under terrible conditions, the artists who decorated it, and the architects who envisioned it.  But I'm always a bit turned off  in these places that were built by idea of one class of people dominating others.  Louis the XIV ruled 72 years, and led France to be the most powerful and influential country in Europe.  
We walked part of the gardens and then hopped on the train home.  Pictures at flickr.