Versailles is a short 30 minute train ride from Paris and an hour long queue in the white gravelled courtyard of the Palace to enter. We chatted to a couple from Chicago and time passed quickly as he had my sense of humour. The Palace was, of course, grand. Those French kings must have bled their subjects dry to build these places. No wonder they took their revenge. In the Palace, the Hall of Mirrors was a stand out, but the gardens were the pick for me. We had to hire bikes for a couple of hours after the feet wore down to stubbles, and they were a help to see about one percent of the place. Another formal garden goes in at home.
“The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson