Royal Palace : Archives - BLAH BLOB LOG: laundry waits; life does not

Inside the Royal Palace of Belgium

I never realized Belgium had a Royal Family. We’re so obsessed with the British and OMG, what did Kate wear? It’s easy to forget we live in the land of kings and queens and dukes and duchesses.

Belgium is a constitutional monarchy, as is the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein…and Canada. What? Canada? Sometimes it surprises me how little we know about our neighbors to the north. Or any form of government other than democracy. Thanks, Texas public education system.

We visited the Royal Palace of Belgium in Brussels after the flower carpet. It’s only open to the public for about six weeks during the summer. And it’s FREE! I highly recommend it. It’s not Versailles, but in terms of geography and opulence, it’s close. I’d kill for just one of those chandeliers.

This year there is African art on display beneath the sea of chandeliers in the Throne Room and Grand Hall. And a nice reward the kiddos at the end—interactive physics displays in the Mirror Room.

Check out that green ceiling and chandelier in the Mirror Room. (Click to the end of the pics below.) Looks like Murano glass, right? Nope. It’s bugs. More specifically, the wing cases of 1.4 million Thai jewel beetles.

If you go: The Royal Palace is open until September 2 this year. It closes at 5 p.m.; last admission is at 4:30 p.m. I’d allow at least 45 minutes tho. The palace is just south of the park—about a 15 minute walk from Grand Place or easily accessible from Troon metro station. There’s a guide to the artwork, etc available at the entrance for a euro or two. You are permitted to take pictures, but only without flash, so go on a sunny day.

More about the palace and the royals here. More about the Mirror Room’s bug ceiling here.

M O R E P H O T O S
From Royal Palace of Belgium. Shot August 14, 2012 in Brussels, Belgium

Viewing images 1-16 of 50

France: Versailles

Oh, to be Marie Antoinette (minus the beheading part). Or to be Kirsten Dunst who starred in Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette which was filmed at Versailles. (Rent it. May not be the most historically accurate, but worth it for the eye candy.)

The opulence of it all. Imagine living here. And to think every thing in the palace—every tapestry, every curtain, every piece of furniture—made by hand. You really have to appreciate the level of skill and craftsmanship.

It was a “fountain day” when we there, meaning the fountains in the gardens were on. To conserve water, they are only turned on a few days a month. It costs extra to enter the gardens on these days. Is it worth it? To hear music piped in via loudspeaker and see the fountains on? No. When they do it at night, I’d say yes.

(All of Versailles is included with the Paris museum pass, which is by far the best value. We might have been supposed to pay a supplement to enter the gardens on fountain day, but we didn’t.)

We took the long walk across the gardens to the The Grand Trianon and The Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s less appointed estate where it was much less crowded. And then walked back. They do have trolleys—you can buy a ticket on to get over and back. I recommend this, at least for the walk back. It’s far.

Official web site here. They have photo galleries of the buildings, unlike my pics, no people’s heads in the way.

M O R E P H O T O S
From Palace of Versailles. Shot May 25, 2010. Paris, France

Viewing images 1-16 of 43