Versailles, is a sleepy suburb, maybe unremarkable but for the imposing shadow cast by the palace. The palace is for lack of words - grand! The grandest thing I have seen, maybe conceived by man. It is huge. The gates are gold, and the building is striking. It is a C shape, and again the tour is definitely money well spent. We passed many chambers, the chapel, the Hall of Mirrors, the Royal bedchambers etc. This is what it must be to be royalty, the imperiousity, the elegance and the grandeur. Lesser (or less moneyed) kings would have been stunned, astounded to see such opulence. At times, no corner of the room was left uncovered. Walls covered with paintings of Greek mythological figures, and later, paintings depicting Louis XIV as the supreme ruler, the unquestioned God. It also showcases the disconnect that the Royalty would have had from the masses, which famously led to the French Revolution, when the people stormed in, and Marie Antoinette, the queen, had to escape from a secret bedside route. She had replied to the statement that the Parisians no longer had bread to eat, with “Then let them eat cake”. Was it ignorance, or arrogance, or sarcasm, I do not know. But if she never ventured out of the grand palace, and their opulent gardens, it is likely to be the former! The gardens are so huge, that it would put the Mughals in Delhi to shame. Definitely visit Versailles if you can, when Paris.
Later that evening, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. She is a beauty! We wanted to see her at night, and by the time we reached there, it was quite late, and we decided not to wait in the 2 hour long queue for tickets. We instead roamed around the Seine again, before lying down on a slab of concrete on the bank.
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