Versailles palace...near Paris

 I visited the Versailles Chateau, about 20 miles from  Paris. It is supposed to be the 'grandest palace in the entire world', It's huge and to get a photo of the entire façade of the building, you have to go really far from the palace! The garden too is huge, filled with fountains surrounded by amazingly beautiful statues . The garden is  supposed to be over 800 hectares...more than 5-10  villages in my hometown in Karnataka! There were a couple of smaller scale palaces too in the garden. You can read the details online.
Here are a few snaps I took.
It takes about an hour plus a few minutes to go by a train from Paris to Versailles palace. You get off at the last stop which is 5 minutes walk from the palace. You buy the tickets at the palace, go through security check and see the palace and gardens. There's a restaurant at the palace. Tripods are 'not' allowed, even if you are going to use it only outdoors such as in the garden.
Once you are done with the palaces, and gardens, you can walk through Versailles and see the shops, antique shops, the market, the Notre Dame church close by, the Stables now converted to courts. Don't think that stables are small! They are huge and now supposed to be a court. People are friendly and helpful. We left Paris at 10.30am to see this palace (by train)and returned to our hotel in Paris by 7pm.

 In the humongous gardens of Versailles, the trees were trimmed and the  shrubs like the one above were beautifully sculpted.  I admired the beauty of this garden
 But I must add here that I also felt a bit guilty about enjoying this beauty! years ago, I read somewhere that plants feel pain like us when cut. For some reason, that fact has stuck in my memory and since then, cutting, trimming, uprooting plants and trees, has always made me feel guilty at least for a few moments!