A year ago last August my partner Chadwick and were lucky enough to visit the palace of Versailles in the countryside outside of Paris. During my first visit to Versailles I stood in total amazement. The wealth and power that came together to build this mind blowing edifice is legendary. A Sun King, a proud but suppressed people, and a decadent upper class living off the efforts and bounty of their subjects.

That first visit was later in October when the multitudes of tourists had retreated to their mundane lives of contemporary work ethic and the palace shone bright and almost pristine in the afternoon light, in the hall of mirrors. We were almost alone in this monument to decadence but you could feel the electricity of another era, an era of unparalleled elegance and cruelty.

My second visit to Versailles was crowded and buzzing with a modern middle class pushing and shoving to see the sites. The mood was much different this time. There was an almost anxious feeling that the crowds had come again to raid and pillage the palace. This time the hall of mirrors reflected not the greedy aristocracy parading in their quaffed and coutured finery, but instead by a much different variety of aristocracy, this time curious and less cultured.

What happens when ultimate art and unparalleled wealth comes together to creat such an icon of the times? Perhaps this could be compared to our society today.