Less than a 30min. train ride (or a 15min. death commute by scooter) from the center of Paris is a town famous for a single house. “House” might be an understatement. Your history books will tell you that this palace was hated just as much as the Bastille, but thankfully its beauty (and, we can only assume, massive tourism potential) saved it from the raging mob. Versailles is about as modest as the man who built it—the ultimate arrogant Frenchman, the “Sun King,” Louis XIV. He had plenty of time to pimp his 580m-long crib, too, over his 72-year rule. The city surrounding the château mainly serves as another suburb for wealthy Parisian families. Some things never change.