This is the last of the Paris series! I decided to group my 3rd and last day of Paris together in one post since I’m a bit behind in my posts…I’m currently living in the Netherlands and am really excited to give you guys all the updates in my next post!
The palace of Versailles has been a place I’ve wanted to go ever since we learned about the French Revolution back in high school history class. That also happened to be around that time when that Marie Antoinette movie (with Kirsten Dunst) came out and I was a little bit obsessed with it. The last time I was in Paris, there were so many things I wanted to do in the city that I never really got to venture outside the city centre, but this time the boyfriend was like, “we’re going to Versailles” so we went to Versailles.
If you’re a EU resident 25 or younger, admission to the palace is free, or otherwise it’s 15 euros. Unfortunately for me, if we had gone two days before I would’ve gotten to go for free (damn you turning 26!)
When we were there, the place itself was pretty packed so I can’t imagine how big the crowds must be during peak season. I would definitely recommend going early to try to beat the bulk of the crowd (it’s definitely worth it!)
Versailles itself was super gorgeous but I was a bit disappointed that you don’t get to see that much of the palace itself and of the rooms you do get to see, most of them are only half or barely furnished. Nonetheless, if you can get past the sheer number of people frantically taking photos on their iPads and with their selfie sticks, it was fun walking around imagining what it must’ve been like living here as a royal back in the day.
As always when I post about somewhere historical, some super interesting fun facts await…hooray!
- Versailles was built for King Louis XIV (nicknamed The Sun King). Before Versailles, he lived in the Louvre Palace but apparently he didn’t trust the Parisians and wanted to move further away from the city
- The architects were Louis Le Vau and Charles Le Brun
- Construction costs of the palace totalled what would be 2 billion USD today
- The garden of Versailles is one of the largest gardens in the world, and 210,000 flowers and 200,000 trees are planted annually there!
- The palace can accommodate as many as 5,000 people at a time.
- In the mornings, King Louis XIV would wake up to be greeted by 100 members of the court who would then help him perform his daily detailed ceremonies (he loved ceremonies). These ceremonies also took place at night before he goes to bed.
- Louis XIV had made Versailles accessible to the public, so anyone could visit to stroll around the gardens or even watch one of the King’s elaborate ceremonies!
- Because the distance from the kitchen to the dining room was so far apart, many of the King’s meals were often served cold!
- The Hall of Mirrors is one of the most impressive and well-known places in the palace. 3000 candles were used to light up the room! (The candlelight would reflect off the mirrors to illuminate the room). On special occasions, 20,000 candles would be used to illuminate the palace!
- The Treaty of Versailles (which ended WWI) was signed also in the Hall of Mirrors in 1919.
- During the French Revolution, most of the artwork in Versailles was moved to the Louvre.
- Today, the palace is still used for political functions.
Have you guys been to Versailles?
What did you like most about the palace?