Versailles: the winter wonderland just out of reach

Though such an outlandish legend that even google searches won't even back it up, I'd once been told that Marie Antoinette was so extravagant that she'd had tons of sugar shipped to the grounds of Versailles Palace to surround her royal escape "lodge," the Petit Trianon, in a winter wonderland. Still, when you wake up on a Saturday morning to find Paris covered in a blanket of snow, can you help but recall such an image? And so the decision was made to visit Versailles and see Marie Antoinette's old home in all its wintry glory. Versailles, a national monument, falls under the same policy as museums: free admission for EU citizens and residents until they reach the dreaded age of 26.

A snowy Versailles

Sadly, the French think otherwise with regards to a royal winter wonderland and had used the weather as an excuse to shut down the palace grounds. The snowy visit was postponed for the Petit Trianon, originally on orders from Louis XV for one of his long-term mistresses. Already at Versailles, we toured the palace and drooled just a little over the view out the windows. A special exhibit, Antiquities, was re-realizing Louis XIV's vision of Versailles as a new Rome. A collection of ancient Greek and Roman art originally displayed here during his reign have been returned for the expo. I was excited by the novelty as I'd never even seen that wing of the palace despite a handful of prior visits.

We had to leave the castle without the chance of experiencing Marie-Antoinette's winter wonderland (there were guards around the grounds... I checked) but you can't ever really complain after having been offered a free ticket to enjoy such opulence. Museum Challenge week #20: check. 

Peter and my chef-d'oeuvre at the Institut Pasteur

Addendum, Jan. 20: With some inspiration from snow creatures we spotted after returning from Versailles, and then an additional round of snowfall that night, Peter and I got a chance to play in a solid four inches of freshly fallen, untouched, snowball-perfect snow on the campus of the Institut Pasteur. And voila, our masterpiece!