Europe

Today we celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary, in Versailles.

We were roused according to the way Marie-Antoinette liked to welcome the morning. This involved being woken to the sound of classical French music and served Marie-Antoinette’s favourite morning beverage (a citrus-flavoured almond milk with sugar) by one of our butlers.

After a very civilised start to the day, we got downstairs at around 9 am and enjoyed a beautiful breakfast.

After breakfast we were chauffeured to the Grand Trianon for a private tour. The Grand Trianon is a separate château on the Versailles estate, built at the request of King Louis XIV as a retreat where he could relax away from the formality of the royal court. The Grand Trianon is set within its own park, which includes the Petit Trianon (a smaller château built in the 1760s, during the reign of King Louis XV). The Grand Trianon is a beautiful building and, while still large and opulent, feels far more like a home you could live in.

After a wonderful visit to the Grand Trianon, we were driven back to the hotel. We didn’t stay long at the hotel because we decided to do more exploring in the amazing gardens. We hopped into one of the hotel’s golf carts and headed off into the gardens. We ended up driving back to the Grand Trianon and parking the golf cart there so we could take a walk around the Grand Canal, the largest of the man-made lakes in the gardens. We hadn’t realised that it is a 6km trip around the lake so it took a lot longer than expected!

After completing the lap of the Grand Canal, we headed back through the gardens to the hotel. We had a short rest in the room before heading to afternoon tea.

We left the hotel at 6:15pm for the short walk to the main palace to see the Queen’s Apartment. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour, made even more special by having access to areas of the palace not accessible to the public. Our guide was wonderful and she described in great detail what life would have been like in the palace.

After the tour we wandered around and took a few more photos. Given that the palace has around 10 million visitors per year, having it all to ourselves for some more photos was an opportunity far too good to be wasted.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was nearly time for dinner. We quickly showered and dressed for dinner before heading to the hotel restaurant. We were especially looking forward to dinner tonight, since we were having the Royal Feast to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The meal was, as expected, really fantastic. Alain Ducasse drew inspiration from the golden times of the French kings to put the menu together.

After dinner we stopped in the hotel lobby for a few more photos.

It’s been a big day and we’re now back in the room, shortly to head to bed. Tomorrow we have a bit more exploring to do here in the morning and in the afternoon we’re heading back to Paris.