Versailles + the Wonders of Google Art Project: Paris Part Cinq

One of the last things I did near Paris was visit Versailles, which I recommend doing at least once if you happen to be in France because it is PRETTY:

The Hall of Mirrors

One could say it's almost too pretty, though. There was so much silk and gilding and decoration of all sorts that I felt like I was attempting to appreciate a too-sugary dessert. I may have said that about the Opera, too.

But you don't have to take my word or my pictures for it. Art Project, powered by Google, is a fantastic new website that allows people to explore museums around the world. One of the available museums is the Palace of Versailles. Go visit Google Art Project and make your own virtual way through its decadent rooms. Visit the Hall of Mirrors and stop in Marie Antoinette's bedroom. Stop in Louis XVI's, too. They both have feathers on top of their beds. I found them humorous in person.

I also found some of the greenery in the garden funny:

Humorous Topiaries.

A nude statue holding her hand out and pleading for some clothes.

Versailles is beautiful, ridiculous, and interesting. I had a couple Art History geek moments; there's a bust of Louis XIV by Bernini and a portrait of Marie Antoinette by Vigee-Lebrun, a female painter. You'll see them if you take the Google tour. I also wondered how the people who lived and worked in the palace in the eighteenth century thought of all the decorations as I explored the palace. I wondered what it was like to be in the palace when the French Revolution was beginning, specifically when a bunch of peasant women marched on Versailles and made the royal family move to Paris. If you're unfamiliar with that story, John Green made a very informative series of videos on the French Revolution, starting with this one:



And if Google Art Project doesn't satisfy your desire to explore Versailles from afar I recommend watching the movie Marie Antoinette. Much of it was filmed in Versailles. I watched it a couple years ago and I watched it again when I came back so I could have fun recognizing all the rooms.

Staci, Becca, Me, and Jaimie in front of Versailles. Check out how shiny the palace is--the gates and roof are gilded with real gold.

And since you asked, Myrna, my camera is a Samsung SL620. It's small, red, and does most things that I want it to except take non-blurry indoor pictures sans flash. But I suppose that's asking for the moon anyway. I bought it in the summer of 2009 in preparation for my January 2010 trip to Italy because I broke my old Canon Powershot doing this project for Intro to Design during my first semester of college:

(You have to pretend those bits of carpet around the piece aren't there...)

I was attempting to take a picture of the circular opening of a traffic cone when I dropped my camera onto a sidewalk. It still takes pictures but the lens protector won't close and I have to be super careful with it to keep the lens safe. I didn't want to be super careful when taking pictures in Italy so I bought a new camera.

Up next in this travel series is the Musee D'Orsay and a night to train to Barcelona!