Then Let Them Eat Brioche

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Geo: 48.8023, 2.12982

Today we visited the Palace of Versailles, which is located some 20 kilometres southwest of Paris.

The earliest mention of the name of Versailles is in a document dated 1038, relating to the village of Versailles. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the Royal Family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution.

Germany was blamed for causing the First World War in the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace on 28 June 1919. Versailles's grounds cover a total area of 87,728,720 square feet (8,150,265 m²) or 2,014 acres, which includes 230 acres of gardens. However, the palace itself contains 721,206 square feet (67,002 m²) of floorspace.

The famous quotation, as attributed to Marie Antoinette, "then let them eat brioche" was claimed to have been uttered by her during the reign of her husband, Louis XIV, upon being alerted that the people were suffering due to widespread bread shortages. However, there is no evidence that Queen Marie-Antoinette ever uttered this phrase.

As we had visited the Palace on our last Europe holiday, we walked through the gardens for most of the day, watching the many fountains as they came on in sequence. We ate lunch in the Palace Gardens and then visited the Grand Trianon, which is where Napoleon chose to reside when staying at Versailles.

We arrived home after a long day out and bought a simple takeaway for dinner.

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Photos

Petit House in Palace Gardens
with vegetable garden at the front.