Blog #4: What Versailles Wishes it Could Be

Versailles

This past Saturday we went to Versaille! I freaking love the 2015 show so I’m not going to lie, I was pretty geeked. However, I was not geeking over the heat. My goodness, how a consistent breeze makes a difference in how pleasant the day can be is insane. The air was just so stagnant, it was horrible. Anyway, the actual palace itself was definitely a sight to behold. It truly is an architectural masterpiece. There was just so much to look at and see, I was pretty overstimulated by the end of the day.

The gardens are a work of art, I understand why people (looking at you Charles L’Enfant) took them as inspiration for city/street designs. Though being at the gardens, I completely see why the baroque style really suits gardens but does not translate well to a city’s design. The gardens were truly stunning, I wish I had more appreciation for them at the time, but I kept thinking about how my largest complaint was the lack of shade. Like I get King Louis XIV was known as the “Sun King,” but please have mercy. The sun was just beating down in the open areas of the gardens. I did enjoy the groves though. It felt like a maze, I really enjoyed the design and coming across all the various statues and fountains (many of them being Apollo, of course).

As for the palace itself, honestly, if I could have had some kind of private tour I think I would have enjoyed it much more since the large flow of people plus the heat was very overwhelming. Nevertheless, there were some moments I felt comfortable enough to take a second to admire the space. Firstly, I got pretty geeked when noticing the wallpaper in a lot of the rooms was textured. I’m not certain if this is original to the building (I doubt it), but it was still awesome to see since I love cool wallpaper. The ceiling paintings were also so stunning. I especially loved the ones in the Apollo and Diana rooms.

Also, I get that Versaille was built to be so extra that the royal court would be less pissed about leaving Paris, but I’m still just wondering how all the hundreds upon hundreds of rooms were utilized. Lastly, I have to be quite honest, I found the mirror room to be a bit underwhelming somehow. I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I had always seen so much hype over it that, I guess, when I finally saw it in person I just wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be.

Opera Garnier

Now to discuss what Versaille wishes it could have been: the Opera Garnier. The place known for having a horrible stage, but a great view of all the hot drama. It was a shame that we couldn’t see its true exterior, but I love continuing to see how some renovations/upkeep in France have coverings that look as close to what the exterior would look like as possible. So far, aside from the Opera Garnier, I have seen this technique used at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Chateau de Vincennes.

The other sides of the building we could see were still beautiful though and the gem that was the inside was simply breathtaking. I can see how this was designed to be a jewel. From all the details covering the ceilings to the floors, it was incredible. Stepping into the Grand Foyer specifically was jaw-dropping and I could only think about how that reaction is what I expected from myself in Versaille’s mirror room but didn’t get it.

I think one major difference is that Versaille’s brilliance felt a bit forced, like you could tell Louis XIV was like “Please come here and love me royal court! I know it’s not Paris, but look at all this cool stuff!” Meanwhile, the Opera Garnier is like “Yeah, I’m absolutely stunning and I don’t even have to try.” I feel that the photos I took of the interior speak for themselves.

Other random stuff I just wanted to show

First, during the route to Versaille, I witnessed the first French hostile architecture and that bummed me out since I thought France was above this a bit. 🙁