Blythe Dolls' Bon Voyage: More Fountains at the Palace of Versailles

Lillian : It was spring when we were in France - and it is spring again at home in Australia so let's start this post with a photo of the Fountain of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, gardens and spring.

Audrey : There is a fountain for each of the four seasons - they are in the middle of the groves - at the crossroads.

Lillian : This is the Summer fountain - Ceres, the goddess of harvests.

Lillian : And for Autumn - the Bacchus Fountain

Audrey : Those babies have goats' legs!
Lillian : Hmmm, they are little satyrs.

Lillian : Then the Saturn Fountain for winter -

Audrey : They have a nice shell collection - Oh! the baby on the left has some little bellows, he has been helping to get a nice fire going perhaps?

Lillian : This is The Dauphin's Grove.

Audrey : What's a Dauphin - it's not a dolphin is it?

Lillian : No dear - the Dauphin was the heir to the throne.

Audrey : Oh, so the English have a Prince of Whales and the French had a not-quite dolphin ... all very marine. Though actually, that was the Fountain of the Thirsty Cat ...

Lillian : I guess there are quite a lot of wild kitties living in the grounds of the Chateau de Versailles.

A lot of the groves are being renovated - including this one but we managed to get a good look through the gate. It is called The Green Ring or Children's Island and was sculpted in1710.

Audrey : It'll be so lovely when these little ones can play in the water again - the sign said that their pool was "leaking considerably".

Lillian : We're going to jump about a bit in this post - from one end of the palace grounds to the other.

Audrey : Oooo very glad we didn't actually do that - those gardens are SO immense!

Lillian : 800 ha ... yes, immense! But back to the fountains and near to the palace, and that is the top of the Pyramid Fountain behind this - The Ornamental Lake of the Nymphs.

Audrey : Are you pwetending to be a nymph Lillian?

Lillian : We visited the Apollo Fountain on both days we were at the Palace - it is such a lovely thing.

Audrey : Sigh - he is quite lovely.

Lillian : Then behind the Grand Trianon - there are even more lovely fountains -

Audrey : Very pretty ladies - waiting for more water so they can get their toes wet.

Lillian : And this lovely big fountain, it is in need of some restoration but is quite gorgeous. The Buffet d'eau or Cascade built in 1703 from lots of coloured marble.

Audrey : Let's play "Find the Dolls"