After centuries of royal habitation, you just know that Versailles has baggage. The history of the place is relatively well known β it started as a pretty frumpy hunting lodge. When Louis XIV, the awe-inspiring Sun King took power, he made the big changes that turned the Palace and grounds into what we can see today.
But in between all those well-known talking points are some really interesting little gems. Hot chocolate was the drink of choice If you imagine the royal court back at Versailles in the s, you probably imagine lots of fancy food feasts and wine and champagne. But actually, hot chocolate β a delicacy back then β was one of the favorite drinks of King Louis XV. And what the king did, everyone did. A king doing something as common as making a drinkβ¦ well, he had to have really wanted it right then and there.
Even Marie-Antoinette was crazy for hot chocolate. In when she married Louis XVI, she brought her own chocolate maker to the court. His official title? Place an equal number of bars of chocolate and cups of water in a coffee pot and boil on a low heat for a short while; when you are ready to serve, add one egg yolk for every four cups of liquid and stir over low heat without allowing to boil.
It is better if prepared a day in advance. Those who drink it every day should leave a small amount as flavoring for those who prepare it the next dayβ¦ Angelina famous for their hot chocolate inside the Petit Trianon. Could there be a more perfect place to get a cup of real hot chocolate? There were some rather fancy looking chamber potsβ¦. But they were chamber pots all the same.
They were a hassle to empty⦠so normally, maids would just empty them right out the window. Chamber pots overflowed and seeped into walls and through floors and ceilings. These awful conditions encouraged people to just⦠go wherever. Hallways and galleries became public restrooms, to an extent. Dust was everywhere, all the time. Versailles was honestly a construction site for about 40 years, and for nearly the entire time the Royal Court was housed there. A violent storm took down 10, trees at Versailles Overnight from December , two violent windstorms swept through Europe.
