Chateau de Versailles
It used to be just a hunting getaway for Louis XIV. Later on some other king (I think he was the grand grand son of Louis XIV) blew it up and made it into a palace, where he and many other kings lived as their primary residence and center of the French government. Why did this king decide to move the government out of Paris to Versailles (a small town 20 miles outside of Paris)? Because when he was growing up in Paris, his mom and the priminister ran the country and his life. He didn't have any fond memory of this childhood, let alone Paris, so he decided to start fresh by relocating to Versailles.
Faye avoided writing anything about this day because... there's just TOO MUCH to see, and she doesn't know where to even begin. The stories are so rich with different characters and the history background is intriguing and get complicated.
We went on a day-tour and had a good Emglish-speaking tour guide with us. Her name was Veronica and she was quite good at story telling. I have to say, having someone next to you giving the history context sure helps to draw us right in. I really appreciated that.We did not see the king's throne anywhere in the Palace. Later on we were told that the French government was so broke right before the resolution, the King asked his government officials to MELT down his throne (because it was made with 100% silver... a lot of money) to pay for expenses to fight the revolutionaries.
Conclusing: after vising Chateau de Versailles and seeing how extravagant the lifestyle was like for the royals and the nobilties at that time... no wonder why they had a revolution. The king purposely designed and built out this palace to wine and dine all the nobilities full time, 24/7 so they woulnd't have any time to plan to overthrow the king. In a way, it was an honor for the nobilites to be invited to these endless parties. They obviosuly enjoyed it very much and liked to be in the "exclusive" crowd, but in the same time, they were also controled and watched by the king.
Chateau de Fontainebleau
Man, this is another place that just blows your mind... I will leave this one to Faye to write. But for now, here are some pictures.
I am the first one to admit that everything was so grand and full of history, and it's really beyond any description of any kind.
ReplyDeleteI only wish that I had studied harder for all the history classes I took. Seeing those two palaces give me quite of regret not studying hard and remembering much of French history. I am still mesmerized by all I've seen on Sat...
Faye