What if...

Guess who... time's up. It's me, BBB, coming to you from gay Pariee (ok, I"m getting carried away with myself... I'm in Paris, ok?) So, bon jour or soir (depending on what time of day you are reading this blog).

What if you were the king of a country and you THOUGHT you had all of the money in the world and you wanted a little place (or palace, for that matter) to call your own? Would you Google for the best price on a three-man tent? Would you buy a little cottage by a lake? Would you build a skyscraper in Manhattan? NO! You would build yourself a the most palatial, ostentatious, ego-boosting, eye-popping, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination home (from where you could rule) kind of place you always dreamed of!! Wouldn't you? Well, it was just that place we that we explored yesterday. Amelia, Julieanne, Linda, Susan and I visited Chateau Versailles.




If you have ever been here you will know what I am about to describe; those of you who have not been here will just have to take this humble scribe at her word...the place was FRICKIN' AWESOME!!!

First of all, who has that much money? Secondly, who HAS that much money? Thirdly, what kind of twisted, egocentric, god-disdaining person could ever pull this off? Well... King Louis XIV did; and he did it with panache (I hope that means "with arrogance"). This guy was a jewel; he basically took in tax money from about 18 million citizens of France and surrounded himself with the best of the best the world could offer at the time. He ruled over the country from 1643 to 1715 and he was beloved by his people. There may have been some grumblings from the nobility about how many stairs to climb while wearing those crazy get-ups, big wigs and makeup, but they were his loyal subjects none-the-less. It is printed that Louis XIV was a "polite and approachable king who was a good listener who could put anyone at ease when speaking to them". All this reporter can say is: Really...who in their right mind would ever say anything contrary about a king so powerful that every other king in Europe envied and emulated?



It is no wonder, after seeing what we saw today, that this king liked his surroundings big, gold, and very ornate. He ruled for so long that, by the time he died, head outlived a son and a grandson leaving the monarchy to his great-grandson, Louis XV. It was during the reign Louis XVI, his great-great-grandson, and his wife Marie-Antoinette that the "people" had enough of the excesses and created a revolution. The king and queen were beheaded in 1793 thus ending over a thousand years of monarchy rule.

But enough about the history and more about the chateau. In the past I have tried to describe to you the many beautiful places we have seen while in Europe. Many times we have discussed amongst ourselves that we feel like we are in the set of a movie or, more descriptively, at an outing in Disneyland. What we saw today was more like ... the French Quarter on steroids times a thousand! I know the pictures we have attached here are no match to what we have witnessed and I apologize for that. However, unless you see it for yourself, no one could ever come close to describing the magnificence of this palace.


There are more statues and hallways and chambers and rooms and paintings and marble than you can shake a stick at. So much to see and so little time to appreciate. Everything here is a true testament of the skill and creativity of man. The intricacate designs in the frescoes, the ceilings, the paintings and the furniture in each of the rooms we visited was, to say the least, inspiring.


Hungry and tired, we sought repast at a nearby Spanish Restaurant. We drank vin blanc and biers and, uh huh, all was right with the world.

Next, Frontierland?

Kiss left, Kiss right... BBB