The Palace of Versailles

We went for a picnic and explore at Versailles which is about 40 mins from where we are staying.  It was a cold but sunny day, we had a picnic of baguette meat and cheese followed by coffee/chocolate and waffles smothered in nutella - can't beat france in winter!!

We walked all through the gardens and down to the lake before heading back to the chateaux for a tour inside.  Its amazing but the gardens here are free, so you can come and picnic and wander through the gardens whenever you like at no charge, the kids just love it.  To visit inside kids are free and adults are 15 euros, it really is a value for money day.  My only suggestion would be consider coming by train from Paris as to park the car is ridiculously expensive - it cost us 15 euros to park for about 4-5 hours!!

Versailles is amazing, to walk the staircases and know that once Marie Antoinette also walked the same stairs is really quite awe inspiring.  The luxury is quite astounding.  However, the commentary indicates that the picture history has painted of Louis as selfish and unaware of the people may be a stretch.  He was the first person in France to introduce workers compensation for the tradespeople working on the Chateaux and often had soirees where he through the doors open to people in the village to come and enjoy the beauty of the Palace as it was built as much for them as for him he said.  An interesting study in the power of propaganda perhaps?

All in all it was a fascinating day and even thought the kids have been before, 8 and 10 is a good age to actually benefit from the history of the place.  I would strongly recommend a visit and its well worth touring the inside of the Palace - the room of mirrors is also fascinating for its role in history - it was where the Treaty of Versailles marking the end of WWI was signed - it was a good way for us to connect the dots with the kids after the Somme.