Versailles -- the Private Apartments

Wednesday we went with Jeanne and Anne to Versailles.  We started, of course, with a lovely lunch at Rue St. Julien.  Our first stop at Versailles was a tour of the Private Apartments. 

Versailles is so large that I could not get a good photo of the entrance.  Sadly, the forecourt was devote to parking, which rather spoils the magnificence of the palace itself.  It was hard to imagine what Versailles would have looked like in the day, the biggest and most imposing palace off in the distance.  

Our tour started in a building off to the side, which was one of the two buildings added onto the original palace for the offices and meeting rooms of government ministers. 

There was a very interesting light fixture in our waiting room, and a surprising installation of modern sculpture in the public rooms.  We'll put that in another post after the tour and public rooms. 

After the guard room and the dog room -- an anteroom before entering the actual private apartments -- we entered the private sitting room of the king, used for meeting with ministers and private guests.  

 The king.  And our guide. 

 The king was a science buff, with an interest in clocks and scientific instruments. 

A larger, more formal salon. 

The king's private bedroom.  Courtiers not of the blood (not related to the king by blood) had to sit on these little stools, while nobles of the blood had chairs. 

 A hostess gift for the king -- a painted ostrich egg. 

 The queen's private bedroom.

 

A magnificent clock containing a clock, a calendar, the lunar calendar, and in the uppermost section, a moving model of the solar system.  There is also a place for a barometer, but it is missing.  

By the way, the 300 or so clocks in the king's collection are all still working, including this one.  

The desk of Louis XV, a new design -- a secretary desk that closed and locked.  It took something like 10 years to complete. 

 

A thermometer in the king's private study.  The books on the shelves next to the thermometer, above, are actually file covers that contained the king's paper work.  

 

The private dining room, with displays of the royal porcelain.  The manufacturers brought samples to the king, and took orders from him and the courtiers, something like a tupperware party.  

 These dark blue pieces are sorbet cups and a cooler for the sorbet.  They took 3 years to make. 

 

The king's private game room.  This room once held 40 game tables and people playing. 

 

 

The king's private "English accommodation", English because it flushed.

 The large table used for maps.