The king and his castle.

So yesterday we went to Versailles with Coach Mas to see the chateau of the king and learn a little history. It was the longest walking I've done it quite some time. A little history first before I jump into explaining the chateau... So King Louis the XIV started building the castle out of his father Louis the XIII's old hunting grounds. The grounds where in the countryside, not so much now, and the king decided to move from Rome to Versailles because the lords had tried to overpower him while he was a boy. Louis the XIV became king at 5, and took full power once he turned 22. So he didn't trust the lords and decided to move away from Paris and make Versailles the center of all political power.

So he began building on his father's land and never actually got to see the completion of the chateau. Louis the XV then built on the Opera and the Petit Trianon. Louis the XVI then took control and he was actually the king there when the French Revolutionaries marched upon him from Paris and took him back and beheaded him. Louis the XVI could have stopped them and had his army kill the French people, but he did not want his French people to die. So he let them come. There is a neat part of history because as the people were coming to kill the king, someone shouted "God save the Queen" and was able to warn the Queen from three rooms away, so she could escape. We actually got to see the secret door from which she left and made her way out safely. It was neat standing from the King's bedside balcony looking upon the courtyard imagining that he once stood there greeting the people who were coming to kill him. Also in one of the king's room, it is noted that Benjamin Franklin actually signed a peace treaty with France in that same room. It is nuts when you really start thinking about the history and viewing the castle with that type of mindset.

So as we walked in I must say the rooms are granduer. They are magnificent. The detail throughout the chateau is incredible. There are so many paintings and sculptures that really show the French love of arts. I can't even begin to describe all of them. Some of my favorites though included the line of sculptures coming from the bottom floor of the Orleans family and other important members of the time. The rendetion of the last supper. The painting of an overview of Versailles. The ceiling in the chapel. The chapel itself. The sculpting of the king on his horse. ETC. ETC. ETC. There's just so many...hopefully you can see some of the pictures.

Anyways the beds in the bedrooms looked so small, but actually it was just the overwhelming size of the room that made it appear so. I couldn't believe that it was the same bed a king slept on. That's nuts. Hundreds of people would actually come and watch as the king awoke or went to bed. I couldn't imagine that. Why would he entertain people coming to see him sleep??? There is a brillant painting above the Kings bed of a woman (symbolizing France) watching over him as he slept. Also I laughed when the audio tour told us that a woman would come change his shirt every morning because apparently the king sweats a lot!! Ha ha. This was Louis XIV.

Could you imagine though being a king? I mean you could never be alone, never. I mean I know sometimes I need space and just want to get away. Even with the kings "get aways" people were still around him. Tough job to inherit from divine right. Anyways I don't think it was that bad always getting what you want. I mean imagine the parties he threw and the music he listened to. Speaking of, the kings favorite was Lully. As we drove to the castle coach mas played some Lully to get us in the mood. I love it.

So after checking out the house. The Kings chambers, Queens chambers, the Dauphines apartements, the Salle de mange, the chapel, the antichambers, and all else we grabed a bite to eat next to a class from middle school. They were all munching on some sandwich's and we were as well. We then started one of the longest walks every. The grounds are huge. I mean it goes further then we could see. It's enormous. The walkways are so beautiful. Trees line the never ending baths, coble stone streets. Beautiful sculptures. The fountains come on as the king marched by and went off as he left. I imagined how he entertained himself. I mean instead of plugging in an IPod he just said "Maestro, play that new jam." What a life. I imagined the king walking during the day through the same park I was walking and the minestrals following him, the musicians playing. The people gazing. Apparently the park was open to the people as long as you had a hat on back in the day. Oh and that reminds me.

That reminds me of the billards room in the Grand Trianon. The king would be playing some pool and the musicians sat up top opening the windows playing down to the king. How cool. The Trianon was the kings get away. A place to get away from the Pomp and Circumstance and unwind a little bit. After viewing this, we saw the Petit Trianon, a place for Marie Antionette and later Napolean's wife. It was small and quaint. We then took the walk to the village built by the King for Marie Antionette to remind her of home. The villagers lived in this and it is actually still used today for some of the same purposes. Oh but the walk...haha... we went all the way around to the back entrance, and it was locked. So coach had a bright idea to hop the moat and just climb up. HAHAHA. YEA RIGHT. Then we walked all the way back to the Petit Trianon and then from there walked back through the garden paths to the village.

It was neat, I felt like I was in another country. I mean it's such a different look and feel. I knew Marie must have loved this. A swan followed me around for a little bit looking for some food. The coy in the pond was definitely overstocked. I loved that they hadn't restored this village, but kept it as it was. It made me think, other countries have so much history. I mean ours seems really small, in comparison. I guess maybe that's why some Americans do not have much pride. I remember writting a paper about that for college my first year. I wish I had this experience to help me understand why. Our history is so young. We don't have the same length of time as other countries. Maybe that's why A-Rod wants to play for the Dominican Republic instead of America, why athletes take dual citizenship so they can play in the olympics, why people have more pride in their Mexican, African, Asian, South American, or European heritage. There's more history in those parts. I have no problem with that, I just wish maybe if we had more of a history, the American people would have more American Pride. Maybe more like Texas pride!! (sorry gotta throw that in every chance I get...DONT MESS WITH TEXAS!!!)

I digress... so we walked back and found Marie Antionette's secret grotto, where she met probably just a few people. It was hard to find, and you also could barely see it. If I didn't know I was looking for it, I probably would of passed it over as some rocks. In fact, I actually did that without even knowing it. There is a little peep hole to see who is coming and a door that blocks off. How cool to have a secret meeting place. I imagined the Queen talking about secrets or even meeting a secret lover or something of that matter. I think there was definitely some of that going on.

Overall it was beautiful even in the snow. Maybe I'll get to go back and see it in the Spring. The picture link is here. Pictures. I have to go to Paris now, so I will come back and re work on this and add some photos, but I wanted to get it out ASAP.