August 27th : Paris France
After a successful and enjoyable visit to Bordeaux we returned to Paris for a last stab at seeing the sites. Unfortunately for us, the weather had other ideas. We woke to find a grey and overcast day which seemed to promise rain.
So we ate a quick breakfast and hit the pavement around 8 am. We jumped onto the Metro and swapped over to the RER line for a train out to the town of Versailles which is (more or less) on the fringes of Paris.
Our destination was the famous Palace of Versailles which was home to much of France’s royalty.
The RER trains take about 45 minutes to reach Versailles (depending upon which station you board at). We joined the train at the Boicy train station which was towards the start of the route.
Once we arrived in Versailles, we walked directly to the tourist office (where there was no queue for tickets) and bought full passes.
Thus, as we approached the Palace we were able to bypass the queue and go directly to the security screening and, eventually, enter the grounds of the Palace. The first thing I noticed about the Palace was that whilst it wasn’t especially tall (roughly two or three stories) although it was very wide. The second thing I noticed was the gold facing on the gates, much like Buckingham Palace in London.
Walking up the cobblestone avenue leading to the gates made me think of how much historical significance the Palace had, and how many people over the centuries must have made the same journey.
As you may know, the peace treaty of Versailles was signed at the Palace which ended World War 1 (or The Great War). Marie Antoinette used to live in the Palace too (before the revolution), so the Palace has seen a lot of use.
Once through security, we took pictures in the courtyard before heading into the entrance. The queue for audio tours was far too long, so we bypassed that option (which was included in our ticket price).
The ground floor was packed with tourists, and in many cases made it difficult to get from room to room. People were literally everywhere, not helped by some very poor planning on behalf of the Palace’s caretakers who had major walkways roped off.
If you wanted to bypass the ground floor attractions to instead make for the first floor, it was not an option.
This made matters worse for many people I think. So we barely glanced at some of the exhibits before making our way up the marble staircase and towards the King and Queen’s apartments.
Each room was particularly opulent, from the handpainted ceilings to the finishes (engravings etc) to the richly crafted furniture, this was without a doubt a Palace for royalty.
Considering what the common French person would have lived in, you can just imagine how much of a difference Palace life would have been for them.
The elegance and detail shows without a doubt that there was a massive class divide, and gives us a small view to the kindling which helped light the fires of the French revolution.
Pushing past oblivious tourists, we managed to make our way around the top part of the Palace, taking pictures where we could. Tour groups filed in and managed to block entire doorways, so it wasn’t without much difficulty that we examined each area.
I’ve included a gallery of pictures for the Palace because I think it is far easier for you to view the rooms rather than having me try to describe them. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words..
Needless to say, my favourite room was the hall of glass which is unbelievably opulent, but also quite stunning. Once we had made our way through both levels (the Dauphin’s apartments were on the ground floor) We exited to the massive, massive Palace gardens.
The gardens of Versailles are incredible. They are simply grand, and encompass such a huge amount of land that it’s hard to believe. The pictures, unfortunately, don’t do it justice. Below is a satellite view (I’ve circled the gardens in blue) of the Palace and gardens, followed by a photo I took from the rear of the Palace.
You can only just see where the canal splits off left and right at about the middle of the photo. The gardens are mixed with simply massive hedges which make it the largest potential hedge maze I’ve ever seen. There are large statues adorning many of the hidden gardens as well as large water features.
We walked to the large Trianon, however it decided to start raining – heavily – and we did not care to get drenched. The cost of hiring a golf buggy was thirty Euros (about $60 AUD)..so, unfortunately, we had to leave the Palace prematurely and make our way back to Paris.
The weather ruined a lot of photos too, so many came out drab and grey. However, it was worth the trip to see just how large the grounds are and how ornate the Palace is.
I’ve split this day into two parts because our next stop was the Louvre, and later we went to Montmartre, so stay tuned for more!