Arriving at Versailles (17th August 2006)

After the quick drive down the autoroute from Calais, we made our way in towards Paris and Versailles so we came off the autoroute and headed over the Foret de St Germain on the N184 towards Versailles, the forest was very strange as it is right inside the Paris industrial area on the outskirts, but is totally untouched, like driving through Haldon forest but with different trees and better roads. We then took the N13 and joined the N186 straight for Versailles. ( Pictures showing the attractive streets of Versailles.)
When we arrived at the Etap Hotel, we dumped the gear and went to see the huge Versailles Palace which must be seen if you visit. Just before the two thunderstorms met overhead I tried to get some pictures of the palace, its a shame they were restoring it when we visited. (This is the view from the front of the Palace, in the picture I tried to capture the grandness of the Palace, by increasing the colour/saturation and by including more of the sky to contrast the colours.)

(The next picture shows the view down over the courtyard from the Palace,I really wanted to capture the anger of the sky and the two storms that were about to join over the Palace, but unfortunately it started to rain too soon, from behind! So this was the best i could do.)