This, Madame, is Versailles

Let’s just start by reveling in this.

The Hall of Mirrors is an insanely opulent place. Look at the gilding and the rich colors in the paintings – are you kidding me with that ceiling?

But we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back to the other palace, shall we?

Just a stone’s throw away, I was getting ready for a full day of visiting the Chateau de Versailles, while enjoying the plushness of the Waldorf Astoria – Trianon Palace.

I will admit this photo is clearly staged, and while I did spend some time gazing out into the gardens that morning, I did also, in fact, move this chair directly in front of the window for purely aesthetic purposes.

Once I was done being dramatic for the sake of Instagram, I put on the only other outfit I had in my carry-on, said a prayer that my luggage would arrive that day, and made my way downstairs for breakfast, excited to see what that would entail in France, and specifically, the Trianon Palace.

The hotel offered a complimentary breakfast at it’s restaurant, La Veranda. I felt extra fancy, because there was a literal guest list to get in, and instead of just setting you free to roam around a breakfast buffet, you were walked to a table and told a waiter would come by shortly to assist you. I was so excited about breakfast that I neglected to take a decent photo of my seat, but I was fortunately placed at the front of the restaurant, right in front of a window, where I could again gaze at the gardens of Versailles. It was winter, so they were by no means in full bloom, but it was still lovely to see some greenery – and, for some reason, sheep. There was a whole flock of sheep roaming around!

Moments after sitting down, I had the coolest conversation in French during my entire trip. A waiter came over and said “Bonjour,” so I returned the greeting. He then asked me how I was doing in French, and I responded with a very pleased “Très bien, merci. Et toi?” Very good, thank you. And you?

He then responded that he was doing well, and thanked me for asking. Then, he began speaking very quickly in French. I felt very proud of myself, because while his sentences went far beyond my knowledge of the French language, I was able to figure out that he was asking me if I wanted any coffee to drink, so I responded with “Un cappuccino, s’il vous plait.” One cappuccino, please. Though it may sound silly, at this point I was just excited that I had made it further than my usual greetings in French. But wait, there’s more! He then asked me if I wanted any chocolate on my cappuccino. I thought, what the heck, why not! So I responded with “Un petit peu, merci.” A little bit, thank you.

He began speaking quickly in French again, but this time I could not understand what he was asking me, so I responded with a solid “Désolé. Parlez vous anglais?” Sorry. Do you speak English?

He looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face. I wondered if I’d said something incorrectly, but I was confident that was how you asked someone if they spoke English. I wondered how I made it through the rest of the conversation, but had messed up this one key phrase, especially because I’d used it in other places with no problem. He asked me to repeat myself, so I did – which ended up being a recurring theme whenever I was speaking with a French person, and then pivoted to this phrase. I later realized it was because I had held entire conversations with these people in French, and then randomly asked them, frequently in response to their question, if they spoke English. I assumed they already knew that I was not French based on my accent, and that I was asking them that question because I couldn’t understand them anymore, but I came to find that was not the case, and apparently my accent was quite convincing!

Eventually he responded: “Oui, mademoiselle.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand your last question,” I replied.

“Oh! You sound like you are French!” he said, which made me want to die with joy.

“Merci!” I said, putting a palm to my heart, because I was so flattered that he complimented my French.

He spoke in French again quickly, and I told him I wasn’t able to understand that sentence.

“Your accent! It’s very good!” he said.

It turns out that he had originally asked me if I wanted any juice, and then listed the varieties they had on hand, including green apple juice, which I’d never had before. I decided to change that!

When he left to get my beverages, I once more said “merci.”

He turned toward me as he was walking away, a perplexed look on his face again. He said something again in French, which I didn’t understand, so I asked him what he’d said.

“When you say ‘merci,’ you sound like you are French!” he said, still staring at me as he walked away.

His compliments made me incredibly happy – not only did I want to show respect to the French by utilizing their language as much as possible (and as well as possible), I also wanted to be a good representative of the U.S. by being a respectful guest in another country. It made me happy that I was nailing the accent so well that he actually thought I was French.

My ego sufficiently stroked, I was ready for a fantastic day. And it continued to get better.

Here was the delightful green apple juice and tasty cappuccino he brought for me. The foam on the cappuccino was heavenly. I watched the sheep in the gardens as I enjoyed a delicious French breakfast. I’d heard the butter in France is amazing, so I made sure to get bread and butter on my plate – and let me tell you, the rumors are true. French butter is better. It has a much cleaner, pure taste to it.

After my breakfast, I headed to the Chateau. While my hotel was on the grounds of the Chateau, the main entrance was only a few cobblestone blocks away, so I headed in that direction. I’d caught a glimpse of it when my Uber brought me to my hotel, and I was surprised by how close the Chateau was to the rest of the city. For some reason, I’d expected it to be a bit more in the countryside.

The opulence of the Chateau cannot be overstated – everything is coated in gold, from the moment you first see her.

Imagine this is the gate surrounding your home. The details in this gate were phenomenal.

I tried to get artsy with this picture, and I’m actually super happy with how it turned out.

Louis XIV holds the record for the longest recorded reign of any monarchy at 72 years, and he was known as the Sun King, which is why you seen suns speckled across the Chateau, including in the gates above. He gave himself the name because he saw France as a kingdom that revolved around him, just like the planets revolve around the sun. You really do think the world revolves around you, huh?

Anyway you’ll see how humble he was through the architecture of the Chateau as we continue on. The Chateau had previously been a hunting lodge, but during King XIV’s reign, he decided to turn it into the new royal palace, and completely renovated it, adding buildings and gold everywhere.

Versailles is a place I’ve dreamed of traveling to since I was a child, and getting a whole day to visit was truly something special. It was a dream where my heart was filled with butterflies as my feet took approximately one million joyful steps!

When I entered the Chateau, we started off strong with a stunning view of the Royal Chapel. Again, modesty is key here.

The hallways of the Chateau were lined with statues, many of previous inhabitants, and some made as gifts for previous inhabitants.

Louis Philippe took the throne after Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were forced to leave Versailles. The palace was never to be used as a royal residence again – instead, Louis Philippe dreamed of turning the Chateau into a museum for all of France. His initials are scattered in discreet place across the Chateau, including this window.

Several of the rooms are dedicated to the history of the Chateau’s constructions and renovations, as well as the history of previous occupants.

There was also an exhibit on the menagerie at the Chateau. Louis XIV had a variety of wild animals at court – scientists studied them during and after the animal’s lives, including a set of elephants.

This particular elephant escaped from the menagerie and drowned. Scientists at court dissected and stuffed her, which taught them a lot that was unknown about elephant anatomy. Yay, science. Boo, captive wild animals.

The exhibit also showed the theme of wild animals throughout the art and possessions at the Chateau. Above is a sled that was used during the winter, which I thought was extremely interesting to look at. Not only does that cushion look like it would be super comfy, but who wouldn’t want to ride around in a gold-covered sled in the shape of a sweet leopard?

This set of paintings blew my mind. The second from the left, in particular, is phenomenal. I knew it was a painting, but I was almost convinced it was real. The closer you approached the painting, the more real it looked. It wasn’t until my nose was practically brushing the painting that I felt like the brushstrokes made it obviously not real.

And what we (and childhood Ana) had all been waiting for, just around the corner – the Hall of Mirrors.

I still cannot get over that ceiling.

Cannot or will not? There is no difference.

I spent a lot of time in the Hall of Mirrors, just soaking it all in, watching people’s reactions as they stepped through the threshold, and snapping photos and videos to capture the essence of the room.

It also had a lovely view of the main gate and courtyard.

Just outside the Hall of Mirrors was another room with a stunningly painted ceiling and gorgeous chandelier, which also spoke to my soul.

And up next, Marie Antoinette’s bedroom.

Once I got over how beautiful and overwhelmingly detailed this room is, I grew a little sad. I’d downloaded the Chateau’s app on my phone, so I could listen to an audioguide as I walked around, and I learned that there were waking up and going to sleep rituals for the king and queen every night, wherein the most notable members of the court where invited. You can see how her room is set up like a stage. Imagine having to put on an act for most of your life. Oof. Marie Antoinette has a reputation for being a spoiled “let them eat cake” queen, but honestly, I have a lot of empathy for her. She was only fifteen years old when she was married to a rando, moved to a different country, and then lived this life of observation. Now, she clearly lived a very privileged life, but there’s something to be said about the emotional impact of the removal of your agency and privacy, especially at such a young age where you are still developing in every single way. If you gave me this room at age 15 and said that the catch was that I had to let people watch me fall asleep and wake up, I’d be like, uhm…yeah, that’s super weird. I think I’m going to pass.

On a shallow note, I’d also just like to get in the mind of whoever designed the rooms in this palace. There is a lot happening in this room, but it’s gorgeous. I can’t even fathom the planning that went into designing this space. It hurts my brain to think about all of the moving design elements, and how to bring them together in the way that they did.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the secret door. Do you see it? The piece of furniture to the left of the photo is Marie Antoinette’s jewelry box (I will admit that am very jealous of this), and immediately to the right is the secret door. This is the same door that Marie used to escape when the revolution came to the Chateau’s doorsteps. She was escorted to the King’s chambers rapidly through this door.

The wallpaper in the room next to Marie Antoinette’s room is insanely luscious. It was unsurprisingly perfectly coordinated with this famous painting of Marie Antoinette.

Imagine this just being your home. Like these are your stairs. Just casually.

I really loved the black and white tile throughout the Chateau – it was especially cool to see the difference in height between the tiles. If you pay attention to the center of the hall, you can see that the black tiles are raised slightly higher. I wondered if years of footsteps had rubbed away at the more fragile white tiles, or if this was how they had been set from the beginning.

After seeing as much of the inside as I could (and purchasing several canisters of tea and other treats in the gift shop) I wanted to tour the rest of the grounds.

This is the l’orangerie at Versailles. I wish I could have seen the oranges in full bloom! They’ve also converted these side buildings into a new hotel, which I would utterly die to stay in, even for just one night. Adding it to the bucket list? Oh, it’s absolutely already there.

This is the Latona Fountain, a truly stunning fountain – it tells the tale of a goddess who wanted to drink from the river. The local peasants refused to let her, so she turned them into frogs and turtles as punishment. You can see the process of the curse taking effect through the tiers of the fountain.

I walked through the park, entirely around the Grand Canal. There were many golf carts that you could rent to drive to the other buildings across the grounds, which I had regretfully wished I’d done several times, just so I could have seen more. However, it was very beautiful and peaceful to walk across the grounds, so I was equally as glad to have had that experience. My first stop after my stroll was the Grand Trianon, not to be confused with the Petit Trianon or the Trianon Palace (which is where I stayed).

I really enjoyed the bright, loftiness of this space.

And there was just something about this color palette that I adored. It was beautiful, calming, and warm.

And I’m clearly a sucker for chandeliers and mirrors now. That particular shade of blue has always struck me, but the mixture of it with light pinks and the breeziness of the space was very soothing.

I asked a stranger to take a photo of me outside, which I was very glad to have done! The checkered pattern of the floors was beautiful, but the Grand Trianon was made of this exquisite pink marble that I couldn’t get over.

It was so unique in comparison to anything else I’d seen on the grounds, or anywhere else in France. I loved it.

The interiors were even cooler than some of the spaces in the Chateau, in my opinion. Simply because of the color schemes. I’m not a big yellow person, but seeing this room in real life was really something else. It was an extremely fun, cheery room to be in, and I could imagine entertaining company here and having a wonderful time.

This room took the cake for me. This room was used by Napoleon to house the malachite sculptures he received as gifts (I’m still trying to figure out what to do with mine, too). The genius in the room is the contrast between the pink/magenta tones and the rich green malachite. Oh my goodness. Stunning.

The final thing on my list to see at the Chateau was Marie Antoinette’s hamlet. Frustrated with life at the court, she had a hamlet built as far away as one could get on the Chateau grounds from the rest of the royal life.

I have mixed opinions on this. On one hand, the hamlet is credited as being a place of agricultural discovery, as people were allowed to study various agricultural activities on the hamlet’s grounds. I also feel that this clearly exemplifies Marie Antoinette’s need to get away from the court, and a desire for something more simple. On the other hand, it really does feel like the queen is playing farmer, and I can see how that would have been unappealing to the French, given her vast privilege.

I’d hoped to be able to tour the inside of the spaces, but unfortunately, they are only offered during specific times that you must book an extra ticket for. Having not known that in advance, I wasn’t able to tour inside.

Which just means I will have to come back!

This space was also another example of the French’s kindness. I found the hamlet, but it was surrounded by a gate, and I was unable to find my way in. While I was walking the perimeter of the gate, I saw a middle-aged woman step out from within a one-way gate (there are bars up to keep folks from entering, though anyone can exit). She looked so happy and pleasant in the sunshine of the afternoon, that I decided to ask her if she spoke English, and if so, how I could get into the hamlet. She was such a kind soul, and gave me very specific directions. She then struck up a conversation with me, asking me where I was from and about my trip. When our conversation ended, she very genuinely told me that she hoped I had a lovely rest of my day, and enjoyed the rest of my time in France. It was so kind!

After my tour of the hamlet, I had to hurry on back to my hotel so I could check out and head to the train station. Luckily, my hotel was extremely close, and I was able to exit the Chateau right onto the street in front of my hotel, so exiting was as quick as a snap. A concierge at my hotel was extremely helpful in finding a train for me – she even wrote down directions on how to get from my train to the Metro, and which stops to take to get to my hotel in Paris. She also gave me maps of Paris, and circled my route and my hotel location. It was so nice, and made traveling a breeze.

I couldn’t believe how incredible Strasbourg and Versailles had treated me, and I was ecstatic to visit the city of all cities next – Paris.

More adventure? Ahead.