Marie Antoinette's Versailles

Our class went to Versailles again. This time, our class got to see a lot more of the secret and forbidden rooms that any regular tourist probably hardly even knows exist. A lot of the things we saw were based on Marie Antoinette and her time at the Chateau de Versailles.

Above: Marie Antoinette's bedroom

If anyone has ever been to Versailles they see that, much like most French buildings, it is built in a square with an outdoor courtyard on the inside. Versailles is so huge that it has many "squares" with courtyards in it. If you take a tour of the inside, you see most of the big rooms that accommodated the whole court, the bedrooms of the king and queen, and the chapels. But in most of the bedrooms there are camouflaged doors that lead to bathrooms, offices, and private quarters. The more "public" parts of the chateau are very grand, large, and rich in paintings and fabrics. The private quarters are just as decadent, but are much smaller. I wish I had pictures of the tiny rooms and offices of Marie Antoinette.

One of the courtyards from the inside of a closed off room

Above is a chair that I thought was really pretty. It is in one of the "dressing rooms" of the queen's that is not really used for dressing or storing clothes. Dressing rooms were more used as private places where one could study, think, or relax in a quiet and secluded area. Hence the pretty furniture. All of that on the wall is real gold leafing too!

A view of the courtyard from a secret window. I snuck this picture. Shhh Valerie doesn't know...

This picture is blurry because flash was prohibited and I apparently don't have steady hands. Which is why I don't have pictures of the other rooms--it was dark and I couldn't use a flash. This was taken in Marie Antoinette's office. The locks on the doors have an "M" and an "A" in calligraphy on them.

This book was an actual belonging of Marie Antoinette's. She actually turned those pages! We saw one of apparently many libraries that belonged to her.

And another picture of the Hall of Mirrors

Art class is usually so long and drawn out for me. We were at Versailles for close to four hours and it did not seem as long because of the things we got to see! The teacher is so knowledgeable about Versailles. I think she got a little excited to show us all of the things which is why we stayed for at least half an hour longer than our class was scheduled to. It's funny because she is very well-educated and knowledgeable; she spoke with such authority and intelligence. But when I asked her a question her reply was, "Well I don't know! I wasn't there!"

Oh okay. Thanks Valerie...