Versailles (day twenty nine)

Exhibit at Versailles

back of Versailles

Marie Antoinette village 

Marie Antoinette village 

Marie Antoinette village 

The Grand Trianon

a room inside the grand trianon

the hall of mirrors in the chateau

Good old Versailles.  After taking a train and a bus we reached Versailles.  I learned about Versailles in my History class, but seem to remember it differently.  I didn't remember the chateau being made out of so many different styles.  We started in the gardens.  This is usually what makes or breaks the estate for me.  The manicured gardens were very pretty. Bernar Venet has an exhibit in the gardens of Versailles right now.  The sculptures are all curvilinear and made of red, brown Corten steel.  Bernar wanted to do curved sculptures to contrast with the angular manicured gardens.  It was surprising to find the sculptures in the gardens, but they were a nice contemporary touch.

 The first building we visited was Petite Trianon.  It didn't open until noon so we sat and sketched the building.  Before we could finish our sketches it started to sprinkle which added a cool aspect to my sketch.  Anyway, this is a smaller chateau that was a gift for Marie Antoinette from Louis the XVI because she didn't like to be in the main chateau because it was too big.  Petite Trianon is fashioned in the neoclassical style.  There is a room inside the Petite Trianon where the windows can be hidden by walls that move up and down.  Next we explored the gardens on the way to Marie Antoinettes village.  Walking through gorgeous gardens on a warm summer’s day was perfect.  Sometimes dreams do come true.  

Marie Antoinette found the Petite Trianon to big still so next she had built a village.  This is pretty far from the main chateau.  Walking into this village felt like walking into a fairy tale. We took time to sit on the bridge and sketch here.  As we were sketching, students around the age 9, walked by and the boys kept saying beautiful, beautiful as they glanced at our sketches. When I was about done with a sketch a woman and her daughters came and told me how good my sketch looked.  I thanked them and they realized I spoke English.  We began to talk and they were from the east coast, I think South Carolina.  First of all I was pretty proud of my sketch, I felt like it is one of the better sketches I have done and second it was nice to speak to someone who spoke English.  

Next we started walking again to who knows where and then we appeared upon Marie Antoinettes theatre. It was amazing!  It is like finding a hidden treasure.    

The day progressed with walking through more of the gardens to find the Grand Trianon.  The Grand Trianon was built by Jules Hardouin Mansart for Louis XIV to escape court and house his love affair with Madame de Montespan.  It is the first smaller chateau built on the property.  It is made out of yellow and pink marble, which I normally wouldn't like, but found beautiful in the sunlight. .

The day of Versailles ended with visiting the main chateau.  There were a lot of people to navigate around to be able to see all of the wonderful features of this very expansive chateau.  After walking through the huge rooms I understand why it was desirable to have a smaller place to go. Overall the trip to Versailles was wonderful.