Marie Antoinette hated life at Versailles.
Who could blame her? The royal family was on display like animals in the zoo.
Members of the public came to watch them while they went about their daily business.
Even when they ate. Yuk.
To escape she built a fairy tale village on the estate - the Hameau de la Reine.
It consists of a variety of extraordinarily picturesque structures built around a lake, which functioned as her idyllic rustic retreat.
There was a mill, a dairy and a boudoir - for just her and her closet friends.
The largest building is the Queen's House and Billiard Room.
The hamlet was inspired by a wave of naturalism and built from 1783-1786. Their style is a combination of Norman, Flemish and French.
It is quite lovely as it was intended to be. We visited it on both our trips to Paris. :-)
Here are some other blogs from Paris...
https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2013/06/paris.html
https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2017/10/paris-2.html
Cheers!
PJ
(c) 2021 PJ Lehrer
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