Travel Tales: Biking Through Versailles

A Beautiful Spring Day in Versailles

A visit to Versailles is de rigueur for any trip to France.

The beautiful palace of Louis XIV is filled with fabulously decorated rooms.

Admiring the painted ceilings will make your neck ache.

After touring the palace we had our picnic lunch

al fresco overlooking the fountains.

To work off the baguette & cheeses, we hopped on bikes

to tour the palace gardens.

View from the back of the palace, I love the look of early Spring

in this photo, the grass is green but the trees still look like Winter.

We rode all the way to the end of the Grand Canal.

View from the end of the Grand Canal back to the palace.

Le Hameau (hamlet), this is where Marie Antoinette would

go to act like a peasant, or at least, MA's version of peasant life.

I want this to be my studio.



Travel Tales: La Granja, Spain

The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso

After touring Segovia we hopped on a local bus filled with grandmas and

school children and headed into the hills to visit La Granja.

We arrived at the Palace with a large group of Spanish senior citizens and requested a tour in English.  We were the only English speakers so we had a private tour of the palace.  It is a restrained baroque style building with a large collection of beautiful tapestries.

The palace is surrounded by extensive French style gardens.

Our guide told us not to miss the gardens but be sure to exit the grounds before the gates were locked because...



...there are wolves.

We kept an eye on our watches.