British Isles Princess Cruise – Palace of Versailles (November 2022)
So I thought I would start to recap my trip to Europe with my family from the summer (FINALLY! I know I’ve been saying I would for a while). I went to 4 different countries during this trip so I can’t fit them all into one post. This post will be about my stop in France (still have England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland to post).
We docked in Le Harve and had the choice of exploring the Le Harve/Normandy area, a day trip to Paris, or a day trip to the Palace of Versailles. Now, we had already been to Paris (years ago but still) and my dad and I had always wanted to visit Versailles. My mom and sister decided to explore the Le Harve area and my dad and I decided to book the Versailles excursion. A couple of weeks before the cruise, we found out that they decided to cancel the Versailles excursion, so dad and I decided to join my mom and sister on the trip they were going on. A couple of days before we reached the port, we found out that they reopened the excursion to Versailles but it was already completely booked. We put are names on the wait list hoping maybe someone would cancel. We found out the day before we reached port that we got off the wait list and had tickets to go.
The day of the trip to Versailles was one of the hottest during the summer (I think it reached over 100ºF). This was weather that we were not expecting but we were still excited to go. It took about 2 hours to get there from the ship. When we got there it there, it was a busy place with many people trying to see the palace and gardens.
We started with a tour around the grounds/gardens. They are so pretty. So many places have their gardens modeled after them and I can see why. There was a place for everything. They had fruit trees, dance floors, outdoor dining rooms, amazing fountains and sculptures, and so much more. You could spend days walking around exploring just the grounds. We had lunch at the cafe in the center of garden which was very lovely.
After lunch we explored parts of the palace. There were so many rooms we didn’t get to, but we got to see some of the main ones (bedrooms, throne room, hall of mirrors, etc). There was so much detail that went into each room. The ceilings had some of the most amazing paintings and the furniture had so much character.
One thing I will say about going into the palace, is that it can get really crowded and there is no air conditioning and very few fans (so it got a little uncomfortable in there and you can’t get the most amazing photos). I tried my best to get good photos to remember everything I saw, but I think from a combination of the heat and the many people, some of my photos did not turn out as good as I thought they did.
*I think I chose to start with this post out of the trip because I have been wanting to post my picture from The Hall of Mirrors. Of course you have to take a mirror outfit photo.*
I am glad I went to Versailles. I think it holds so much beauty and history. If I had to choose between touring the grounds or touring the palace, I think the grounds would win. I just think that you are able to appreciate the beauty a lot more when you are able to spend your time looking at it.
Have you been to Versailles?
What was your favorite part there or what part do you really want to see?
