So we finally made it to Versailles! And it was totally worth it.

Versailles is a palace that was "built" by Louis XIV, king of France from 1643 to 1715.



Of course, most of the work was done by talented artists, architects and other skilled laborers, in addition to a massive amount of money provided by 17th century taxpayers (thank you). There are many guesses why Louis moved from the Louvre in Paris to what was just an old lodge in the boonies before all the renovation, but I think he did it so he could have a fully blinged out palace and gardens without too many people asking questions.

The palace is gorgeous, and while it's hard to believe someone said "The Louvre is too modest. I must have fancier!", I'm glad they did because it is beautiful.



When you walk up, you see tons of gold and impressive statues all over the place.







The floor is really cool, too.



Every room inside is insanely ornate. There isn't an inch that isn't covered in some sort of art, fabric, gold, etc.

Literally every room had a beautiful, extremely detailed painting on it. Here's the ceiling of the chapel.



Another stunning ceiling.



Marble statues lined the first hall we went down.





The most famous room is probably the Hall of Mirrors. Apparently the Venetians were the best mirror-makers in the world at the time, so Louis had to lure a few of them over to France even though Venice threatened death upon anybody that shared the mirror-making secrets outside of town. Clearly that wasn't enough.



Here I am holding my audioguide in the Hall of Mirrors!



Although used by several queens, the Queen's room is kept the way Marie Antoinette decorated it. I can totally see why she thought cake could keep people from starving.



Works by Japanese artist Takashi Murakami were also being showcased at Versailles when we were there. At first we were like "this totally clashes!" but it quickly grew on us and by the second piece we loved it.









The gardens. They're huge, and on a warm day I'm sure it would be a great place to spend tons of time. Note, we paid extra to see the gardens that day because they were playing music. So when we entered the garden and heard the classical music, we were looking for the live orchestra. Only we never found them. It was recorded music played over outdoor speakers!!! And although it was nice, the first question is why make us pay extra for them to hit "play" on their ipod? And the second question is how much do they pay the person who hits "play" that they can only do it on Tuesdays and charge an extra 7 Euros per person?





Just keep two things in mind when you visit. First, even on Tuesdays, it gets crowded so get there early.



And second, try to go to the bathroom before you get there. This is what the bathroom line looked like.



Those women might be smiling, but they haven't seen a 17th century bathroom yet.