Everything ends this way in France – everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs – everything is a pretext for a good dinner.
– Jean Anouilh, French playwright

We said au revoir to Amboise, the Loire Valley, and La Tartue, our sweet home here. After chocolat chaud and croissants, our breakfast of choice in France, at Bigot Pâtisserie & Chocolatier, a family-run establishment for more than 100 years, we headed out. Our next stop was Versailles, a two-hour drive away. We ended our AirBnB accommodations and landed at the Hôtel le Cheval Rouge, which was built in 1676 as Louis XIV’s stables. The hotel was not that far away from the château. It was not the most appealing accommodation, but it had history, so we appreciated that.

Once we checked in and dropped off our luggage after lunch, we footed it to Château de Versailles, about a 10-minute walk to the entrance. To say it was overrun with tourists and tourist groups is an understatement. We would have fared better to come at the opening. If we had come later in the afternoon, we would have had our visit cut short even more, as the château and gardens were going to close early, at 5:30pm, for a light show.

We were body-to-body as we went from one room to the next. It was difficult to really appreciate what we were seeing with so many tourists in the rooms. We did the best that we could. I enjoyed the paintings on the ceilings – at least there I didn’t have to have tourists in my photos!

Versailles was home to French monarchs and was the center of culture in Europe for some hundred years. Louis XIV (1638-1715) turned his father’s hunting lodge into the grand palace that is Versailles, using the public treasury to fund his venture. Louis XIV gave himself the name Sun King because he “gave life and warmth to all he touched.” He was also compared to Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, with Versailles being the personal temple of Apollo. That’s why there are numerous statues and symbols of Apollo, the sun, and Louis XIV himself throughout Versailles. He was the absolute monarch for 72 years. His great-grandson, Louis XV, reigned from 1715-1774. Towards the end of his rule, France was faltering – its power abroad was weakening and civil unrest was brewing. When Louis XVI came into power in 1774, he married Marie-Antoinette, from an Austrian royal family, and they retreated to an idyllic existence in Versailles. Meanwhile, the natives were getting restless. The French Revolution of 1789, of course, turned everything upside-down. In 1837, King Louis-Philippe opened the palace as a museum.

We walked through many rooms either very slowly because we were hampered by the crowd in front of us, or quickly to avoid said crowds. So, we didn’t the backstory to what we were seeing. Of course, we knew about the Hall of Mirrors. At the time, mirrors were a luxury, so the sheer quantity of mirrors, along with their size, made for a breathtaking sight. Nearly 250 feet long, the hall boasts 17 arched mirrors on the interior wall and 17 windows that offer an expansive view of the Gardens. In modern times, June 28, 1919, the Hall of Mirrors served as the place where Germany and the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI.

The gardens were spectacular. We walked past the big fountain and all the way down to the Petit Canal, or Grand Canal, where once French royalty glided by in imported Venetian gondolas. No gondolas here now. We would have rowed a boat on the canal, but the rental shop was closing early, too, for the light show. For that reason, I’m glad we didn’t come later, though at the expense of being elbow-to-elbow with tourists. We didn’t explore all of the gardens, which I regretted because I could see down the trails here and there that beauty awaited just around the corner. You could spend an entire day just in the gardens, which was my favorite part of what I saw of Versailles. We also didn’t see Trianon Palaces and Domaine de Marie-Antoinette. If we ever come back – David would likely say no – I’d come first thing in the morning and spend the afternoon exploring the gardens.

While we were waiting in line to purchase a souvenir for Isabella’s friend, Jacob came from another part of the museum shop and said he saw a girl who looked like an exchange student we had housed three years ago for three weeks in the summer. We told him it was probably someone who looked like Violette. Another clerk came to the register to help out the lone clerk. She called us up since we were next in line. As she rang us up, she said, “Aren’t you the family who I stayed with in San Francisco three years ago?” How bizarre to have stumbled upon her at this particular time and place! It was also awkward, as we did not bond with her; otherwise, we would have kept in touch and let her know that we were visiting her homeland. We chatted for a few minutes and then we were on our way out of Versailles.

We dined at Le Bouchon du Marche, near our hotel. The chalkboard menu was all in French. Our server was quite accommodating, trying to explain the various menu items. She was great and we had a really nice meal in Versailles. We were only staying one night in Versailles, and we were gearing up for our last full day in France, and our last night in our hotel.