Versailles - Rambouillet, France

Thursday 3rd June 1999

Today we spent the whole day at Versailles, the monumental palace built by Louis XIV and much imitated throughout Europe. We started with the audio-guide tour of the state apartments which was a crush of humanity. It made Anita and I appreciate all the more the quiet Europe that we'd experienced all through winter. We then took a guided tour of the private apartments which was much more interesting, finishing with a look at the opera house built for the marriage of the King's daughter and only used a handful of times. The whole palace was unusual in that it has always been open. Even when the King was in residence all you needed to enter the grounds and most of the palace was a hat and a sword, and if you didn't have one you could rent one at the entrance!

We finished the day with a stroll through the grounds and down to the two outer palace buildings, also open but not in the league of the main palace.

Our next destination was Chartres cathedral but that will be tomorrow. We stopped on the way and spent the night just outside Chateaux Rambouillet, the home for the failed Kosovo peace talks.