Feel Like Royalty: Palace of Versailles

My favorite part of the Paris area: The Palace of Versailles. The Palace is about 15 miles south of Paris and was constructed for King Louis XIV. In the late 1600s, 3,000 people were required to construct the palaces 700 rooms, 60 staircases, 1,200 fireplaces and the surrounding gardens.

There is a pond on the property where families ride in row boats and swans swim. I lucked out with a beautiful 70 degree France day during my trip to the Palace. After relaxing by the pond for a few minutes, we made our way back to the main entrance of the palace; walking past manicured trees, large golden fountains and various statues.

The entrance line to the palace was another story, but the wait was definitely worth the time we were able to spend inside. The palace is so large, and it is also used for political functions today so we only saw I would say about 1/6 of the palace. We were able to see how the royal families lived in the 1600’s. The rooms were all very large and lavish. There were beautiful paintings on every wall. My favorite part of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors; a large hallway lined by multiple large mirrors. The construction of the Hall of Mirrors began in 1678. Apparently, mirrors were some of the most expensive items to posses in the 17th century. Therefore, the Hall of Mirrors showed the wealth of the royals very well. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI in 1919 took place in the Hall of Mirrors.

It takes about an hour by metro to get from downtown Paris to the Palace of Versailles. Purchase a metro ticket for around 7 euros to Versailles Château-Rive Gauche and enjoy the ride.

Purchase a Palace Ticket for 15 euros which includes an audio-guide in 11 different languages!