Giversaillerny

After a pretty average new year's eve we have decided to give Paris another shot. But before we tell you all about that, there are two places just outside of Paris that we made sure to visit when the weather was good, the Palace of Versailles and Monet's Gardens at Giverny.

The palace from the front. 

From the back

The palace was enlarged by King Louis XIV who you may remember as Leonardo Di Caprio in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998), Michael Palin in "Monthy Python's Flying Circus" (1974) or even as  René d'Auchy in the French classic "Molière" (1909). 

We of course will remember him from this statue.

Inside the palace there are 2,300 rooms with the most famous being the Hall of Mirrors.

Of course, the other 2,299 rooms are much less impressive like this rather plain bedroom that was probably only used for unwanted guests or the family dog.

This room is where the king and queen would eat breakfast before an audience of ten curious aristocrats.

Legend has it that if you go through this door you can be transported to 1901 to see the Moberly-Jourdain incident. Unfortunately it was closed.

The gardens were huge, beautiful and full of Springish colours. 

Within the gardens is the grand canal which has a perimeter of 5.5km, or 3.4 miles for those of you living in the Imperial Age.

Within the complex are two smaller palaces, the Grand and Petit Trianon.

That's not to mention the private 1,200 seat Opera house within the gardens.

The most pleasant and surprising part of the day was seeing the tiny hamlet on the edge of the grounds.

It was so delightful and pretty that Josh decided to pose for a photo.

On the next sunny day we took a stroll through Claude Monet's house and gardens in Giverny.

We can't say much about the place as the photos speak for themselves. However, it's obvious to see that the tranquil and charming garden, with it's proximity to Paris, is the ideal place for an artist of Monet's temperament.

While we were about two weeks early to see the famous wisteria over the bridge, it was still lovely.

Finally, this is Josh's best effort to do a photo that looks like a painting.