Royal For A Day

Natasha Zainall September 23, 2012 0

Whenever a person says, “France”, automatically the image of Eiffel Tower pops up, oui?

So did I.

Before I came to Paris, I thought Eiffel Tower was the only monument that France could offer. That's how little I knew about France.

As we are all aware, European cities are very famous with their ancient histories and their breathtaking arts that have lived more years than the oldest person alive.

And, Versailles is one of the many cities.

There is a modern proverb saying, “a picture says a thousand words”, but when you step in Paris, it says, “an art says a million words”.

My perception towards France changed when I saw this.

When my parents said they were going to bring me to visit Chateau de Versailles, my first reaction was "We are going to French Palace?"

I have heard of Eiffel Tower before, even the famous Arc de Triomphe, Lourve, Pallais, and Notre Dame, but not Chateau De Versailles.

Being the forever curious and sucker for a good dose of history and arts that I am, I happily agreed. Why not, right. I could play my role as French princess for a day. Lol.

As soon as we stepped in, we were blown away by the beauty of this palace! Everything was so excessive and extravagant! From the beautiful sculptures to intricate and detailed gold ceilings to the marble walls and those fantastic terrific paintings!

No words in the world could describe how amazing everything was and how we felt.

It was beyond what I expected.

Château de Versailles was Louis XIII's hunting lodge before his son, Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government of France to Versailles in 1682. The estate is divided into four: The Palace, The Garden, The Grand Trianon and Marie-Antoinette's Estate.

Let's take a look at The Palace first.

Hall of Mirrors

I feel like was on a fairytale and this was my castle. And the fact that I dressed myself in off-white frilly-lacey-dress made it even more surreal. LOL

Everything was too perfect! The chandeliers, the mirrors, gold every.where, floor-length windows with amazing views, intricate ceilings. It's perfection.

This believed to be the Queen's bedchamber:

My dad took such great photos. Hm. #jealous

Let's have a look at my takes now, shall we. You better say I take good shots too!

It was the most breath-taking bedroom in the Palace!

I just couldn’t understand why is the structure of rooms in this palace are so parallel. Did they planned of doing it as a show room?

Because from my basic understanding, it is a real palace and everything in the palace are real, even the queen’s bedchamber and I believe that bedspread had not been changed for hundreds of years, lol.

Can you actually imagine that hundreds of years ago, in this very room, a real Queen had actually strolled around in this room, in her flowing-elaborate gown, looking all aristocrat? And that she had actually slept on that very bed, sat on that very same vanity chair while her lady-in-waiting swept her hair and dressed her up?

Mind blowing.

We spend the entire day here and it was really a nice rendezvous. We wandered around outside of the palace and came across some of these statues and sculptures. They were spread through the entire garden with different expressions and poses, but they were all beautiful.

As we made our path to the North, we were mesmerised, again, by the sight of the Grand Trianon, which once upon a time was a retreat at the end of the gardens of Versailles with an amazing Italianate architecture and amazing grades all around it.

There was also a Petit Trianon that is connected to the Grand Trianon through the gardens.

The inside of the Petit Trianon was equally breathtaking. What excited me even more was to see the portrait of Marie Antoinette!

There you go.

In this room, you can see an amazing portrait of Marie-Antoinette. The downfall of the French royal and her death was such a tragic.

The Salon de Compagnie was a game room also a music room.

Marie-Antoinnete had a lovely voice and she was amazing with musical instrument. Petit Trianon was used mostly for her to venture on her theatrical and musical self. Hence, the harp.

Her husband gave her full permission to renovate and decorate both Grand and Petite Trianon to her heart's delight, which apparently turned out to be the biggest move in French royal's life.

Another room in the castle. Could probably be, the White Room. Like a drawing room or some sort.

To complete our royal visit, we went to Marie-Antoinette's estate. It was like a small village with small cottages and gardens full of beautiful flowers and vegetables. There was also a little stable with some horses and sheep.