The grandeur of the Château of Versailles
is hard to imagine until you are standing in front of it. Immediately, you
start to get an idea of the power (and ego) of the man who was behind it, King
Louis XIV. One of the largest castles in Europe, it is also forever associated
with another, less fortunate king, Louis XVI and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette,
who were both forced to flee when the French Revolution arrived at their
sumptuous doorstep. The palace’s extraordinary gardens, designed by the
legendary landscape architect André Le Nôtre, are almost worth the visit on
their own.
