Versailles

We left Paris on a gloomy looking morning for Versailles, and arrived a short 45 minutes later before the grounds opened. It was always our plan to head to the hotel first to drop off our bags and then make our way into the line to get into the palace, and then tour the grounds in the afternoon.

Hubby and I were especially excited because we were going to stay at the Trianon Palace Waldorf Astoria, which was supposed to be gorgeous, an obvious step up from our Paris hotel, and bonus: it's within the Hilton family so we can get some perks and points.

Anyway, we got to the Waldorf to drop off our bags and since we were there close to 8:30 in the morning our room wasn't ready yet, but no big deal. We walked literally next door to the Versailles grounds and went through the palace:

Extravagant is the only word to describe it, the place was dripping with it, from the mirrors (a rarity during the time), the chandeliers, and practically every wall covered with art. Opulence at its finest.

We even stopped to get a quick picture in the Hall of Mirrors - just think about what these mirrors reflected back during its heyday!

During the tour, we saw the door that Marie Antoinette escaped from her room during the revolution:

And this gifted painting was so large that the room was built around it:

After we went through the bulk of the palace, we stopped at the Versailles outpost of the Paris tea room, Angelina, where we'd been to a few days before. This location did not disappoint - we each got a pot of tea (perfect at 11am) and hubby got a dessert item he'd thought of getting in Paris while I went for the quiche. It was absolutely delicious, and a college girl with her group of friends kept eyeballing it at the next table.

We made our way back through the palace, hit the gift shop, got some macaroons, and headed over to see if our room was ready. After waiting a while in their "gallery" area.....

It was ready. We were upgraded to a suite, which could either be the result of us being on our honeymoon (after I insisted we include that juicy bit of information in the reservation), or because we have a ridiculous amount of Hilton honors points. Who knows for sure.

What we do know is that one of the perks we got to use were free drinks in the bar later that night. We went for the champagne.

The room was incredibly large - there were actually two doors we could use from the hallway to access it. One big bedroom, another separate living room area, and then an awesome bathroom.

 (With Versailles views off to the side)

 Crazy waterfall shower....

After we hung out for awhile, we decided to venture out in the rain. This was the only day I regretted not bringing boots on the trip, since we were in for a muddy afternoon. On the plus side, the only real crowds we experienced were a group of sheep:

With the main palace covered, we set out to check out the gardens and also the smaller palaces and buildings built for when the royals were overwhelmed with the main palace activities. (Keep in mind of course that the main palace was supposed to be their "getaway" spot from the Paris court, but people still traveled all the way down to Versailles to even watch them eat their dinner... talk about celebrity status!)

My favorite part of the grounds, and probably for hubby too, was the Hamlet, Marie's epic replica of an English farm - a real working farm. You turn a corner and all of a sudden you're in England:

Hubby definitely agreed with the uprising of France after visiting. Here he is inspecting the rather large fish in the pond:

The rain let up briefly so I could get some more pictures:

Then we made our way back up toward the middle of the grounds. Hubby was disappointed that not all the fountains were on, and some were gated off. We saw though that during the summer the area does lots of fireworks and lighting shows, so we definitely need to come back for that! Even though it was rainy, we still got to share a crepe and small bottle of wine with this as our view:

We got back a little before our dinner reservation at the hotel so we headed down to the gallery to get our pre-dinner champagne and relax as the rain continued outside. Our meal was one of my favorites... I started with the pressed foie grais with beef bourgenion and my main was the special of the day - beef tenderloin with delicate potatoes and veggies, followed by an apple tart. Hubby got caesar salad, salmon and chocolate mousse. Yum - a perfect end to a busy but fabulous day.