Versailles

So today we set out and got our morning croissant at our local bakery and then off to Versailles ! We had an appointment for a 2 hour tour of the palace. Our guide Agatha was amazing. We learned so many facts about the palace and she had a wonderful sense of humor. Many of these facts could lead to many interesting mathematical problem solving exercises. Here are a few: It took 20 years to build the palace with an army of 10,000 men. The king had 2 stables which look like castles by themselves and approximately 2,000 horses. All gold trim inside and outside the palace is real gold. Inside the castle are 700 rooms, 2,153 windows, 67 staircases, 800 hectares of gardens and parks, 200,000 trees, 50 fountains with 620 nozzles, 6,300 paintings, 2,100 statues and sculptures, 5000 objects of art and furnishings, and finally 5.3 million visitors per year. Now if those numbers don't turn into fabulous math problems with pictures to discuss mathematical vocabulary I don't know what will ! Now one would think that all of those numbers would keep a King and Queen in the same palace but apparently Maria Antoinette lived in her own quarters at the far end of the gardens. A big fancy house to call her own but nothing compared to Chateau de Versailles! I will be bringing back many fabulous pictures to discuss which could be used with students at all grade levels. For those of you who wear a Fitbit one more fact - 20,000 steps in 6 hours of walking and we still didn't see it all. Lesson of the day: What is the difference between a castle and a palace? A castle is used for the army to protect the kingdom and the palace is where the royal family lives !!