Versailles is the most visited tourist site in the world and I definitely noticed. In spite of the crowds one could still admire the grandeur of the palace. Built by Louis XIV “the sun king” in the 1600s this massive palace was covered with gold and sun figure. Heavily inspired by the Italian renaissance there were lots of marble pillars and frescos (the ceiling were not actually paint but canvas paintings glued to them) in every room.
A room I was interested to see was the bed chamber of Queen Marie Antionette. The room is ornately decorated with many roses her favorite flower. But there is some good French revolutionary history that happened in this room. In 1789 thousands of women marched on Versailles. Early in the morning some let the mob in and they started storming the palace. Her guard attachment yelled to her and she fled into a secret-ish doorway that connected to the kings bed chamber but it was locked. The mob filled her room, calling for her head, and for a few minutes Marie Antionette was trapped in this small, dark passageway. Eventually the Louis XVI gets her and they leave with the mob to Paris, unsure if this is merely a suggestions or a demand of the people of France.
I was also excited to see the famous hall of mirrors. It was extremely crowded but still impressive. The fun fact I learned was the treaty of Versailles that end World War I was signed in that very room. Also it was featured in the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris which I love.
When we were done with the inside of the palace, we spent almost 3 hours inside (and only a fraction is open to the public) we explored the gardens. Also massive, we spent almost 3 hours wandering the hedges and groves. Today they were doing fountain shows accompanied by baroque music.
Once we returned to Paris we spent the evening in the Montmartre neighborhood, viewing the Eiffel tower from the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre, and exploring the Place du Tertre.