Day 3: Palace of Versailles, All That Is Gold

Today we took an early morning train to the Château de Versailles, an UNESCO’s World Heritage site. It is one of the most beautiful achievements of 18th-century French art. The site began as Louis XIII’s hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682.

Although we got there before opening there were already several people in line waiting to get in and after an hour we were in taking in all the beauty found there. The Hall of Mirrors, where the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 was signed was breathtaking. This was the treaty that ended WWI.

After we finished up visiting the Palace we rented a gold cart and drove around the gardens for almost 2 hours. There were hundreds of acres of landscaped grounds. We also visited Marie Antoinette’s hamlet on the “back forty”. With all the gold we saw today Janice said that Versailles must be a little bit like what Heaven will look like.

After finding some lunch in town we were back on the train for the30 minute ride to Paris. We got off the train at the Eiffel Tower and had another jaw dropping minute when Janice and Wayne saw the tower for the first time. I am having internet issues in Paris and we have a really early start tomorrow to visit the D-Day beaches so I will catch up on the photos in a few days.