Chateau de Versailles Gardens – Keep Calm and Wander

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The well-manicured gardens of Chateau de Versailles is so huge you need two to three hours to explore its entirety. Unless, of course, if you choose to ride on a golf cart around – for an additional fee. In fact, I never had the chance to explore half of it. I was there for four hours only, including the queue that took us more than an hour! The number of visitors to the palace was insane!

The Palace of Versailles. It is known to be the most opulent in all of France. King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette got married and lived here. When you go inside, such vast wealth and power is ubiquitous. Its fabulous rooms are decorated with stunning artistic beauty from floor to walls to ceiling. It’s magnificent! It’s grand!

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

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Inside the Palace of Versailles – Keep Calm and Wander

Palace of Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors

Out of the 700 rooms inside the Palace of Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors is the grandest of them all! If you don’t find it stunning or be blown away by its frescoes and craftsmanship of every thing inside, I’m not sure if you’re still human. LOL… It is here where I spent a long time gazing up at the frescoes from end to end. They’re just not interesting but they also seem to be alive!

The Frescoes. The paintings on the vaulted ceiling shows the political successes of France under the royal leadership of Louis XIV. Their colours are as bright as they were before and you can’t help but look at them with great admiration.

This 73-meter Hall of Mirrors used to be a balcony of the palace overlooking the royal gardens. It connects the Queen and the King’s apartments. But, because of bad weather, the design was changed in 1678 to become what it is today. It took 6 years to build it.

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

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The Golden Gate of Versailles – Keep Calm and Wander

Palace of Versailles

There’s no doubt that the golden gate of the Palace of Versailles displays excess opulence of French royalty. Boy, I was blown away the moment I got a closer look of the iron-wrought gate swathed in gold. Ok, it might not be real gold but it should be something close to that. The palace is also widely known as Chateau de Versailles.

Exact Replica. The 80-meter golden gate that stands today is not the original one. Nothing was left of the old one that was destroyed during the French Revolution. The French government decided to build the exact replica of the golden gate. It took two years to re-create referencing historical documentations. This 15-tonne masterpiece cost 4 million pounds!

By Alain – Full Story at Keep Calm and Wander

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