Friday we took the train to Versailles. We joined the passengers getting out at the final stop to take the short walk up a tree-lined street that led to the parking lot outside the palace.
Gold-tipped gates were the first clue that we were approaching the Sun King’s domain.
Inside the gates, the palatial spread of Louis XIV’s monument to royal authority and the power of a burgeoning centralized state was laid out like a chateau on steroids, a formidable Baroque housing complex where the rooftops gleamed with a golden frost in the sunlight.
If I needed further evidence that this was the 17th century and I was witness to the glory of an empire, the large ankle-twisting cobblestones did the trick. I was hobbled before the Sun King’s majesty. I was also more than two hours late. Our tickets had a 9:30 AM entry time and it was after eleven. Back in the day, Louis would have found a way to humiliate me. Empty royal bed pans for a month? Become the Queen’s footstool?
Fortunately I was in a line where only the bar codes mattered. But once inside the royal spread, I felt this need to separate from the grateful multitude.
I wanted to pals up with my buddy Saint-Simon, possibly get an apartment in the palace and live the life of a 17th century courtier. So many rooms for secret activity, so many richly furnished salons for coded dialogue and conspiratorial exchange!
Now these ornately paneled boudoirs and formal areas of official business are empty portrait galleries of overly dressed men with flamboyant hair.
But if I could put on high-heeled shoes with big silver buckles along with tights to show off my calves and a puffy brocaded frock coat to show off my wealthy lounging disdain, I might join Saint-Simon in my rambles throughout the palace. We could parade our finery in Louis’ Hall of Mirrors!
Presently the long wall paneled in ceiling-high mirrors reflecting the light of low-hanging chandeliers isn’t as dazzling an experience as one might expect. Maybe it was because there was a lot of light coming in from the windows opposite the mirrored wall, but images in the mirrors seemed muted like reflections in a glass darkly.
But back in the day Saint-Simon and I had the mirrors sparkle with our presence. There we were jockeying for recognition. Maybe, if I was the most favored of the fortunate, Louis might look my direction. He might smile!
However, if we really wanted to gain favor it would be during the hunt. Louis loves to hunt. And from the hunting grounds surrounding the palace he created his gardens laid out in long linear fashion, a Baroque masterpiece of design where every lawn, flower, shrub, or forest has its stately place.
If you’re into an Enlightenment sense of beauty where nature can be structured with harmony and balance, Louis’ Jarden is a pleasure to behold. It was for Saint-Simon, and it was for me yesterday.
