Royal Château

Day 8

We arrived in the city of Versailles and stayed in this really nice hotel.  The room rate was reasonable due to the off-season, but not so much with everything else.  Like . . . wifi was 25 euro per day and wired internet (yes, this still exists) was 15 euro per day.  Ridiculous.  Somehow we managed without it!  

We are always grateful that so many hotels welcome pets and almost none charge even a small fee.  This one was different.  They charged a small fortune for Winslow, but you can see he felt like he got our money's worth.  He loved this bed.

It was beginning to get late in the day so we took a stroll with the dog.  The hotel had plenty of space for dog walking.

Then we ventured over to the palace.
The Palace of Versailles.

It was beautifully lit and although it was freezing cold, it wasn't raining so we (Jim) got some great pictures.

The white building to the right is the chapel of the palace.

This picture is taken from the statue of Louis XVI in the foreground.  The entire palace and grounds cover nearly 20,000 acres.

The next morning we walked around the palace grounds and it was a bit foggy.

We saw quite a few people on horseback that morning.  Turns out, about 30 horses live in the restored royal stables (which at one time held 600 horses) and there is also an equestrian academy.

The fog slowly began to dissipate so the views got better and better.

From the palace looking toward the Grand Canal. Of course we were there in November so the gardens were probably not as beautiful as they are in the spring, but they were impressive just the same.  Another reason for a return visit!

This is the Apollo fountain.  Extremely popular with the seagulls.

Trees like this were everywhere.

Despite the cold temperature, we saw plenty of joggers.  This place might make me want to take up jogging!  Peaceful, huge and beautiful.

I counted about 15 of these boats with what appeared to be teams of rowers.  In the summer, wooden row boats are available for rent.

The palace grounds are completely free and open to the public.  We walked all around the palace and the gardens freely - no security or anything.  Admission is only required to enter the palace itself.  And by the way, Versailles is a really nice city.  It's almost like a mini-Paris with wide tree-lined boulevards, nice stores and restaurants.

We stopped for coffee in this really cute little cafe' on the palace grounds near the Grand Canal.  

Next stop . . . we did go inside the palace!