As you approach, you are welcomed by enormous golden gates in front of a sprawling courtyard, which was blanketed in snow.
The palace surrounds the other three sides of the courtyard with its beautiful marble walls and balconies with intricate carvings along the edges.
Engraved on the buildings is the phrase "A Toutes Les Gloires de la France" – "To all the glories of France," signifying the might and power of the kings of France during King Louis XIV's time.
We were enthralled with each and every room, the massive marble staircases, the gorgeous hardwood and marble floors, the artwork covering every inch of the walls and ceilings, and the beautiful tapestries in the king and queens apartments. Of course our favorite room was the Hall of Mirrors, which may be one of the most famous rooms in the world.
It was built when mirrors were among the most expensive items to possess and was built with two other salons connecting the king and queen’s apartments.
It was used daily by King Louis XIV as he walked from his apartment; and Embassies, births, and marriages were fêted in this room. It was quite magnificent and made for some fantastic photo ops.
After finishing the interior tour we went out to the gardens. The gardens were covered in snow and it was an extremely foggy day so unfortunately we didn’t get to experience the grandeur of the Gardens of Versailles.
The gardens total 800 hectares (a soccer field is .8 hectares for comparison) or 2000 acres. There are over 200,000 trees and 50 working fountains, of which we saw about 3, and the grand canal is 5.57 km long.
It was too icy to walk down to see the canal, which was disappointing, and I would love to go back in the spring or summer one day to see the gardens when they are green and manicured and all of the fountains are running.
Leaving Versailles we were just struck by the overall lavish lifestyle of those days. We took the train back into Paris and headed to see Napolean’s tomb and Musee L’armee.
The musee L’armee showcased a ton of old swords, guns, and miscellaneous army and war items, which was very interesting to see. In the courtyard they showcased hundreds of old war canons.
Napoleon’s tomb is housed beneath the giant golden dome and chapel. The entire building and the tomb itself is pretty incredible. It is on the base floor of the big gold dome at Les Invalides.
It’s a huge red marble tomb, about 8 feet long which was ironic because he was so short and wanted everything around him to be grand since he was self conscious about his height.
We planned a visit out to Montmarte for our afternoon, so we took a walking route so we could see more of Paris. We crossed the bridge for a beautiful view of the eiffel tower between the right and left banks, and walked to Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore, the luxiourious designer street.
We finally stopped at the original Laduree where we purchased a box of macaroons in a bunch of different flavors and then took the metro out to Montmarte.
Having skipped breakfast, and it being around 3:00 we were starving!!! So as soon as we got to Montmarte, we strolled around the quaint windy streets in the hilly town and finally stopped for a bite at an adorable café on a cute side street.
We picnicked on the steps at the base the hill to Sacre Cour and sampled a few of our macaroons. My favorite was the vanilla bean, but the caramel and salted butter is one of their best sellers and it was pretty incredible.
We then climbed the steps to view the beautiful Sacre Cour, and experience the artists and street performers on the steps. The cathedral is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. It sits up on the highest hill overlooking Paris from the North. The inside is full of gorgeous stained glass and mosaics.
The upper dome of the Sacre Cour is allegedly one of the best views in Paris, but it was still foggy so it we didn’t get quite an as panoramic view as we hoped for, but it was still pretty wonderful as the sun was beginning to set over the city.
After the Sacre Cour tour, we headed back to the hotel to pack, and then changed for our last night. We wanted to see the champs elysees at night because they had it decorated so beautifully with white lights strung from every tree, so we went there and then walked beneath the canopy of lights down to arc de triomphe and into the trocadero area.
We finished our night walk at the Eiffel tower and got to witness the sparkling Eiffel, which was just magical, and then we were off to our final dinner in Paris.
We still had yet to try a real French crêpe, and there was this highly recommended literal whole in the wall crêperie just around the corner from our hotel, Chez Imogène.
It was teeny tiny with a bright blue façade and rustic French interior, and it had only a handful of tables so thankfully we made a reservation We saw a couple of parties turned away while we ate.
Michel is the owner and chef, and we had a cute table in the corner between the window and the open kitchen so we could overlook Michel’s crepe handiwork. We got two savory crepes – galettes as they are more appropriately named since they are made from buckwheat - one filled with scallops, apple puree (emmental) and the other with a white sausage, apple and onion and a French soft creamy cow’s milk cheese (camembert) We finished with a tiramisu crepe and a crepe with salted caramel sauce and almond ice cream. It was my French-crêpe fantasy come true and the absolute most perfect and romantic way to end our time in paris. We took one last evening stroll around our area to say au revoir and bon nuit to Paris and retreated to our bed for our 3:30 am wake up call to head to Roma.
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