Versailles

Versailles.
I'm not sure what I expected. Perhaps an elaborate castle surrounded by gardens and woods. Or a mansion akin to what one finds in Newport, RI.

I had no idea.

We were driving through a typical town in France, on the outskirts of Paris - an odd combination of suburbia and old-European village - when the road suddenly opened onto a very large courtyard-turned-parking lot. It surrounded by a network of imposing branches of building, which at first appeared to be separate and only upon closer investigation did I realize most of them were all connected, like massive fingers reaching out from the giant palm which is the heart of the Palace of Versailles.

The Queen of my family in the courtyard of Versailles

Approaching the gates.

The main entrance, but tourists are redirected through a security building on the side.

Major restoration work is in progress, including restoring all the gold-leaf and filigree along the entire exterior roof line.

The gardens of Versailles. Those ominous looking clouds in the background became foreground very quickly and prevented us from touring the landscape.

Bo & Vivi admiring the view.

The chapel for King Louis XIV where he attended mass every day.

The Famous Hall of Mirrors.

A view of one of the fountains from the Hall of Mirrors.

I have a ridiculous number of ceiling shots because EVERY single room had elaborately painted ceilings. They were dizzying.

You should be grateful I only included two ceiling shots.

The King's bedchamber. Sadly, this doesn't do it justice. It was WAY gaudier than it looks here.

The bedchamber of Marie Antoinette. It was from a secret door to the left of this bed where she attempted to escape the day the people of France stormed the palace.

My mom and dad (he's the one in yellow in the back) taking in the architecture.

 As usual, these photos completely fail to capture the grandeur of this palace. It was so completely over the top. Ornate to a distraction. And we didn't even see Marie Antoinette's separate estate on the other side of the grounds. Nor did we tour the grounds at all due to the rain. And yet, David and I still completely understand what caused the people to revile their king given that he lived like this while they literally went without food. Reign of terror indeed. I think I would have revolted as well.

Joyeux Paques!

Well, despite Vivi, Bo and I being sick off and on this past week with some evil stomach thing, we managed to thoroughly enjoy both having company and celebrating our resurrected Lord. Specifically for Easter we managed to dance at our Good Friday Service at church (video to be posted soon), enjoy local Easter gifts (see video below), dye eggs, and go to an Easter egg hunt at the tallest chateau in France, Chateau Brissac. Minus the vomiting episodes, it was some pretty good memory-making, I'd say!



Some shots from the Easter Egg Hunt:

This is Chateau Brissac. The hunt was in the forest on the castle grounds.

Here are Bo & Vivi hunting for eggs in the woods with all the other families. There were boatloads of people there. At first we thought we wouldn't find very many eggs - it was slow going. But then we discovered there were people disguised as hunters who were actually "replenishers" going around very stealthfully dropping new batches of eggs to be found! It got a lot easier after that!

We walked away with over 85 eggs. The official final count is under review because of unauthorized "taste-testing."

And finally, our annual egg-coloring tradition. We used a tarp on the floor because I was nervous we would stain the tiles. This year I learned I like coloring brown eggs better - they come out a gorgeous muted, earthy tone.

Loches, France

For one weekend of every year the French government opens the doors of all national museums, monuments, and buildings for free tours and special events. It is called "Les Journees Des Patrimoines," or Heritage Days. Essentially, it forces cheapskates like us to utterly exhaust ourselves over two days by trekking all over creation wearing out our shoes and tires. It was great!

For Saturday, we visited the nearby (45 minute drive) village of Loches. The center of the city is enclosed in walls with only one or two ways in:
Little did we know, we parked on the opposite side of the "city" from the entrance, which meant we enjoyed a lovely walk around the perimeter, taking in the enormity of it all.

Once we made it inside, we were tickled pink with all we discovered. In fact, this town quickly became a place we hope to frequent. It was simply lovely.


I just loved this courtyard. It is just someone's house - which just blows my mind.

The entry way and main chapel of the Collegiale Saint-Ours - of which sections date as far back as the 1030's.


The Royal Lodge - construction began in the 1300's. It has provided housing for Charles VIII, Louis XII, Charles VII and Ann of Brittany. It was here that Joan of Arc met with the Dauphin for he second time and convinced him to go to Reims to be crowned King of France in June of 1429.


The Keep, or "Donjon" as the French call it: a military fortress from the 5th Century:

Photo courtesy of http://www.visite-au-chateau.com/loches.htm

Carvings inside a room of the Keep. Soldiers would create these images to record special victories or events. At the top right of this one, you can see a church with a crucifixion scene.The Louis XI Tower. Look closely for David and Vivi who provided my "scale" perspective.The interior of the tower - you can see the fireplaces and floor/ceiling lines which have not survived the times, I'm afraid. Each level had a steel walkway, which of course scared the pants off me.
Nevertheless, David still convinced me to walk all the way to the other side so he could snap this shot of the kids and I from the top of the tower.
Overall an absolute GEM of a place which we plan on spending LOTS more time in, so I am guessing there will be more photos to come!

A Post for Lauryn

I took these pictures at Chateau Usse with my sweet & fashionable god-daughter, Lauryn, in mind. But of course, there are others who may enjoy them as well!

HATS! There were so many hats on display! Most of them were atop mannequins and I couldn't get close enough to take good shots of them. But these were in a display case.

Lauryn and I have had many a discussion about hat pins so I was very excited to come across these! I so wish I could have gotten inside the case for closer photos.


A whole bird. On top of a hat. Beak and all. I don't think I could wear it, could you?

I just loved this outfit! Gibson girl, right?

Love it. The whole thing. It just works! Makes me want to go to the opera.

There are so many people I think of so often, wishing they were here because of this or that which I know they would enjoy with me. This place topped the list I have for Lauryn. Gosh, how I wish I could have brought everybody with me!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

One of the great things about having Wednesdays off from school each week is we can use it to do Field Trips! Last week that's exactly what we did. David took the day off and away we went - to Chateau d'Usse - better known as the "Chateau de la Belle au Bois dormant," which American's would call "Sleeping Beauty's Castle."
It is named as such because the original author of the famous fairy tale, Charles Perrault, was inspired by this castle to write this famous story.


Sorry about the strange angle on this next one. It was the only way to fit the whole garden into the image:
Like all good castle properties, it has it's own chapel


Of which the entryway was simply spectacular. The 12 apostles and Jesus appear carved into the stone. We tried guessing which face belonged to which name. Maybe you would like to try to figure it out:



Vivi served as hostess greeting the castle guests at the main entrance to the chateau:

The rooms were full of beautifully adorned mannequins. Here they are placed in the drawing room:


I loved the dining room! I had to tweak the photo a bit to try to accurately recapture the brilliant color. It was like a room full of lemony sunshine!
A bedroom, believe it or not. Seems like an awfully popular place!
But see? Here's the bed:
We actually got to go in the attic! It was so cool. It was full of dusty old broken-looking things. A real treat!

I took so many other photos. I may have to do a couple more posts to capture the rest. But I'll end this one with one of my favorites: