Versailles

This morning we went to Versailles.  It was my third time there and next time (there will be one, I’m sure) I will just explore the gardens, and I will do it by bicycle.
Nevertheless, today we did everything we could fit into a four hour visit.  I saw the movie Marie Antoinette with Kristen Dunst sometime last year, so it was fun to see the same rooms and to remember some of the scenes. It’s all very sumptuous.  I think what impressed me most about the chateau is that they, the monuments department, are actually working on recovering the original furnishings that were looted when the monarchy was forced out.  I can’t begin to imagine searching for them and then negotiating to buy them back.

We often play a game in museum which consists of picking one item from each room that you would take with you, if you could.  I am a sucker for beautifully inlaid wood and lacquered furniture.  In Versaille, below is the piece I most wanted to steal.  Jack like the wall covering, which I think was damask.

Overall, the grounds are really what I appreciated the most. There are lovely trees pruned into long blocks and balls and cones and flowers of so many colors. Mostly though, the gardens are just enormous and extremely well maintained. We plan to write to Versailles suggesting that they become a wwoof host, because there’s obviously so much to do there.

We’ve also been reminded that we are are woefully uninformed about French history.  The main question is – was the revolution just a fad?  How did they so quickly (75 years?) get back to a government by someone who called himself emperor.  Basically we need to read up on what happened in France between the revolution and WWI.  Oh and there were two Napoleons…
When I don’t know enough about history to even understand whether someone is viewed as a hero or a despot, it is very unsettling.  I had the same feeling in Moscow, in 2000.  Is Lenin a tyrant or is he revered?  Can it be both?