Versailles, France

Versailles, France

The Day trip we took to Versailles, was a long and extraordinary day. The wealth and size of the Le Chateau and the Gardens behind Le Chateau were breathtakingly rich in both culture, wealth, and size. The day we visited could not have been lovelier, and in this regard I spent a large portion of the day in the gardens. The weather was too perfect to stay inside. Le Chateau was breathtaking nonetheless, I took several photographs of the inside, but the postcards which I purchased often captured the rooms in better light and without the tourists which surrounded my view. The Chateau was under construction during our visit, so the front facade was mostly covered by scaffolding, but some of the postcards showed what was blocked from our view. Although the inside amazed me, I enjoyed the outside gardens and fountains most of all. Exhibiting nature as a treasure worthy of accompanying riches of golds and interior design was just another way I was impressed by the European perspective on beauty and art, natural and man-made.

La Grille d'Honneur: a postcard of the front of the Chateau.

A photograph I took of the back gardens and the fountain.

To the left is a photo I took of one of the magnificent pieces of furniture, and above is a postcard of the gallery of mirrors, which was incredibly crowded when we were visiting it.

Above is a postcard of the rear of the Chateau, to the right is Professor W. in her honorary "Movie Star" pose with the Chateau and the blue sky behind her.

"Entry 3: May 16th 2002 Yesterday was a truly amazing day; even with some slight setbacks in transportation the day turned out to be lovely. We began our day trying to get to Versailles and unfortunately were misled by the tour guide from our first day, which made the train ride more strenuous than it needed to be. Getting started and getting going during the morning has been the biggest set-back for our days; however, once we got going and got to Versailles it was one of the best days so far. Touring through the palace was remarkable, but I enjoyed the gardens the most. The breadth of the land and the fountains, as well as the sculptures was a fabulous site. I was startled by one thing, and this was the contrast in how the male figure and the female figure were represented in the sculptures. It is not only in Versailles, but something I have been noticing throughout the trip. All of the male figures are portrayed with confident, bold and uncovered poses; whereas the females are hidden and poised in subdued and shy posture as if to suggest inferiority. This is certainly not an observation on French sculpture, but more of the time-line and history of the artwork. We had perfect weather for the walk around the gardens and all of this week, and walking outside in the country was a refreshing change from walking around Paris."