Saturday 29 March 2014

La petite Venise

This is 'la petite Venise' (little Venice) restaurant in the palace gardens. The name goes back a long time, when king Louis XIV had the gondolas of the Grand Canal built by Venetians who had a workshop at the palace! The place looks like it could have been stables or a barn (see the troughs along the right hand side wall of the first picture) and some information on the web does indicate that the building indeed served as stables under king Louis-Philippe...Isn't the well charming?

Voici le restaurant "la petite Venise", dans le parc du château. Le nom remonte à l'époque où Louis XIV installa un atelier de construction de gondoles pour le Grand Canal par des ouvriers vénitiens. On dirait pourtant des écuries, si l'on en croit l'auge qui longe le mur à droite sur la photo du haut. Certaines informations trouvées sur Internet laissent à penser que le bâtiment servit effectivement d'écurie sous le règne de Louis-Philippe. Le puits n'est-il pas charmant ?

18 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Another lovely place! Wish I were there right now! We're back to gray and wet here in Portland!! Hope you have a great weekend, Ciel!

Jack said...

This would be a historic place to have a mere hamburger.

William Kendall said...

That statue alone is good reason to go there!

Bob Crowe said...

Maybe it's just the angle of view but the decor of the restaurant strikes me a almost weird. BTW, we will arrive in Paris on 26 August and head down to Provence on 30 August.

Randy said...

Beautiful interior but I would prefer to sit outside.

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Royalty in the rest of Europe copied Versailles, and at Versailles they copied Venice.

And in Costa RIca they copied the Paris Opera House for the National Theater, as I am showing in a little series on my site.

Dina said...

Strange juxtapositions.

Stuart said...

Interesting mix of the modern with the old. Seeing this restaurant (which I have not seen in my visits) reminds me that I need to go back and search out all things I haven't seen.

Anonymous said...

The statue in the dining room looks almost surreal, great place!

Elizabeth at Eiffel Tells said...

An interesting combination of old and new. Warm regards.

Lowell said...

I like everything about this place. The statue in the first shot is a bit odd, but maybe not so much if one sees it in person. Love the colors. I do hope the trough has been thoroughly cleansed! :)

Birdman said...

Thanks for the history lesson to go along with the fountain.

Sharon said...

It's a great looking place. I'd stop there!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Not 100% sure but I think Aimee and I had lunch here Ciel.. I have such good memories of Versailles!

VP said...

How many Venices there are around the world... I like the idea of gondolas at Versailles, and also this place!

RedPat said...

Fabulous place! I love those blue chairs. ;-)

Small City Scenes said...

Nice nice place. Looks like fun. Great history too MB

Gunn said...

A very nice posting!
Fantastic place....
One day...