Oh happy days!

Recently I had a whole day free and decided to drag The Boy to Versailles for a little day trip and I fell in love with it all over again.

I did visit Versailles the last time I was in Europe four years ago and had been astounded then by the beauty and extravagance of the gardens alone, but visiting the palace in high summer meant it was next to impossible to actually get inside any of the buildings unless you were prepared to wait for hours before shuffling through the packed rooms, something I really wasn't keen to do.

But at the moment there is a weird lull in the tourist season in Paris and so it was possible to not only walk straight into the palace but to also take the time to take in the beauty surrounding me and wow, was it well worth it.

The day was freezing and the gardens were quiet, muted in soft greys, oranges and browns but walking around between the palace, the Petit Trianon and the Grand Trianon they were so quiet it was possible to not come across another soul for long stretches of time.

The royal palace dominates the grounds, with the new golden gates visible from the main street as you walk up from the train station and inside there were rooms which took my breath away. There was the Royal Chapel with the exquisitely painted ceilings, the Sun King's rooms which were furnished in completely burnished gold tapestries and the Queen's rooms which were still decorated in the green, pink and yellow fleur de lys Marie Antoinette chose (along with the hidden door in her bedroom through which she fled the revolutionists).

But most amazing of all was the Hall of Mirrors. I had heard a lot about how amazing this famous hall was and so had gone in slightly cynical, I mean a room is just a room even if it does have a lot of mirrors to show the wealth and power of the aristocracy. But it did actually take my breath away. There was a floor to ceiling mirror to match each of the windows overlooking the main gardens, huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and walls and floored made out of a dark red marble. Just walking along it was impressive but when you tried to imagine walking the length of it to have an audience with the king and queen I understood how intimidating it would be.

True to form, while also impressed with the beauty and the artworks within the palace, the boy was disgusted by the extravagance in which the royals had lived, even saying at one point 'no wonder there was a revolution!'

Heading out of the palace we made for the Grand Trianon, restored by Napoleon and made his home which was also very beautiful, although in a more restrained fashion. However it was Marie Antoinette's domain which stole my breath away. A miniature farm built only 20 minutes walk away from the palace it was supposed to be a place of respite for the Queen who was stifled by court life. All the buildings were built in miniature with small paddocks for animals surrounding them.  There is a tiny tower near the even smaller dairy and little vineyards and rose gardens for the ladies to walk in.

The Boy and I had walked all the way from the Grand Trianon to an entrance near the farms however when we got there we discovered it had closed for the Winter season only two days before and now the only entrance was from gardens back near the Grand Trianon. Not quite defeated we decided to do the only true logical, Australian thing - jump the empty moat and climb the stone wall into the area.

Hey you can take a person out of Australia...