Versailles

July 30th--We left early this morning for the city of Versailles. Lucky for us, we were able to take a 12 minute train ride from the station right next to our apartment. Our train left the Gare Montparnasse at 8:40 arriving in Versailles by 9:00 a.m. From the train station, we had about a 15 minute walk to the Chateau Versailles entrance. Mike had purchased our tickets on the internet the night before so getting in was fairly easy. The place we got held up in a long line was getting a audioguide, but it wasn't too bad and then we were on our way. We spent several hours making our way through the Chapel, King's and Queen's State Apartments, and the Hall of Mirrors. It was defiently an impressive palace. Then, we exited the Chateau entering the Gardens. The Gardens area is huge. Our first stop in the Gardens was to rent a golf cart. We hopped onto the golf cart for our one hour long drive through the Gardens. We had to follow a map of the route that took us by the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette, but time was not allotted to get out and walk around. It really turned out to be more of a "fun ride" for the kids but it also gave us a good glimpse of the park for us to walk back to. We returned our golf cart back by the Chateau and then walked down into the Garden for lunch. We ate at one of the cafes located by the Grand Canal. After lunch, we headed back towards the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette. This Trianon area was a retreat from reality for the King's and Queen's. We walked through the Grand Trianon which was the king's private residence away from the palace. From here, we went through the Petit Trianon which was built by Louis XV because the Grand Trianon just wasn't a big enough summer home. Outside of the Petit Trianon is the Temple of Love. This is a circle of 12 marble Corinthian columns that support a dome. Further back from the Temple of Love is where the Hamlet (Le Hameau) is located. Marie-Antoinette built this complex of 12 buildings as her own private village. This was an actual working farm with a dairy, a water mill and domestic animals. All the buildings were very beautifully placed out in the beautiful Gardens. After walking miles and miles to see all, we made our way back to the front of Petit Trianon where we got on the tram to take us back to the Chateau. By the time we departed the tram it was around 4:00 p.m. We decided to call it a day in Versailles and made our way back to the train station. We got on the fast train back to Paris arriving a little after 5:00. Mike stayed at the train station to purchase some future train tickets while I took the kids back to the apartment. It was an early evening for all of us.