----------------------
Mélange des genres en ce jour de fête Outre-Atlantique.
Versailles - Royal city - Ville royale - Un blog de photos quotidiennes depuis 2009 - A daily photo blog since 2009
A door is reflected in another door for James' Weekend Reflections. This is the door of the hôtel du Cheval Rouge and the reflected door is of a wine shop. Both belong to a building that once housed the king's outfitters. The hotel I was showing you here. 
At the market, on specific Saturdays, a mobile unit of the recycling centre is to be seen. This is where you can bring dangerous trash such as detergents, solvents, batteries etc. to avoid putting them in the regular trash bin.
I'm a week late posting this. On top of the farmers market, last Saturday the Versailles Lions Club held a chocolate event at the big market. In aid of blind people. Isn't that cool?
Lovers on their way back from the Palace are reflected in a bus stop with Versailles' coat of arms (more info about it? Click on the 'heraldry' label below). To see reflections from all over the world, visit James at Newtown Area Photo.
Last weekend's farmers market event was also an educational one, with exhibits about farming in the Yvelines (département of which Versailles is county town) and bread making, from wheat to the bakery.
Last week I showed you a detail (it was here). This is the whole door. Some of you were wondering if it was a mansion or a 'rich' house. Not at all. Just your ordinary house.
Meet the producer! Here's a very nice gent I met on Saturday at the farmers market. His goat's cheese is delicious, so are his apple juice and various pâtés, notably goat's pâté, which I had never tried. Not only did I taste it, but I brought some home. As well as pâtés, Villeneuve farm near Rambouillet offers a variety of produce, including poultry, milk, butter, cream, eggs and cheese.
On Saturday, during national "Taste Week", a farmers market was held in the grounds of Madame Elisabeth's domain. Versailles is the 'chef lieu' (roughly translated as county town) of the Yvelines department of France, one of the largest départements in the country. It is mostly rural and therefore there are farmers not too far away! For more info about Louis the 16th's sister's grounds, click on the label below. This coming week I won't be able to visit your blogs as often as usual, I hope you will excuse me.
Putting petrol in your car has become somewhat of a chore due to strikes, with the prospect of a shortage looming. Long lines in front of petrol stations, some of which have no more petrol left... Yesterday I got lucky at the 5th station I tried. Just in case you are wondering, my tank was over 3/4 empty but a lot of people were paying no more than a few euros, hence the shortage...
Le Grand Trianon castle in the Palace grounds is reflected in its own windows for James' Weekend Reflections.
It's getting colder by the day, with near freezing temperatures at night (4° C last night, freezing point being 0°)... Even the scouts are back in tights (is it 'stockings' for you over the Big Pond?)
The city is more or less surrounded by forests, one of which bears the town's name. The second photo shows a path into Fausses-Reposes forest. Both were taken in August. As you can imagine, these forests were once much larger and were perfect royal hunting grounds.
These are photos taken in March at Lambinet museum, where the abbess of Maubuisson's crosier representing an Agnus Dei is kept. It was made in the 13th and 15th centuries of crystal and silver.
A sculpture showing Clément Ader (1841-1925) stands at the edge of Versailles forest in Satory neighbourhood to remind us that it was precisely in Satory that this inventor and engineer first lifted his 'plane' off the ground for 300 metres in 1897, making him... a pioneer.
Courtesy of Wikipedia
Versailles city centre's ugliest building (in my humble opinion), the Tribunal de grande instance, first degree civil law court, reflected in a window for James' Weekend Reflections.
Howdy folks, I'm back, thanks for your comments while I was away! In desperate need of new photos so there will be a few August and September pictures for you in the coming days, maybe even older ones. This is the sculpture that sits snugly right above the graffiti I was showing you on Theme Day. I have no clue who this is... I wonder if it's Marie-Antoinette...
I am still away so this post was scheduled before I left. Graffiti is hard to come by in Versailles, except maybe at the train stations, so I thought I'd show you a different kind of graffiti: people visiting Marie-Antoinette's hamlet like to leave a bit of themselves behind... Below is what I thought was quite a nice pair of guitars spotted in a passage in Saint-Louis neighbourhood. But are they guitars? See you soon!