It has been recommended that if you want to do Versailles and dodge the crowd, then get there by 9 - ha ha, we were way too weary to be up and at the station by 8!! We made the station by 9, and arrived at Versailles around 10. It is only a short walk from the station - out the front and turn right, take the first road left and it is staring at you from the end of the road. Museum passes mean you don't have to queue for tickets, but you do have to queue for security - about 15 minutes
A map in hand and a Rick Steves recording on the phone, off we went. Oh, and we didn't miss the crowd - it was like sardines at times! The first room was the chapel, very ornate and the type of thing I had expected. Next we passed through a series of rooms with models in the middle, or paintings hung on the walls - very disappointing, we passed through these quite quickly.
Around the end, and upstairs, and we found the real starting point of the tour. First a view from the upstairs gallery of the chapel, then many rooms to follow that were very opulent - photos can say so much more than my words. The Hall of Mirrors was amazing.
Once through the tour inside, we ventured out to the HUGE gardens (and the cold, windy weather). I am sure that any of the Louis' who lived here would have gone horse riding, or taken a coach to get around it! We ignored the bike and buggy hire, and walked - that way you get to see everything, and detour whenever you want, mind you, those buggies were looking really good about an hour later!
Louis XIV is responsible for most of the building here, and he wanted everything:
He liked the canals in Venice, so he had one built in his garden - 1 mile from end to end. For a while, he actually brought gondoliers and their gondolas from Venice to row guests up and down his Grand Canal, while an orchestra on a barge played music.
There were no ancient ruins like in Greece or Rome - that's okay, he built some of his own - the Colonnade!
Originally there were 1500 fountains in the grounds, 300 of them are still there.
He wanted to prove that you could grow oranges when most people said it was too far north. So he brought in 1000 trees in pots. In winter, they were grown in greenhouses (the orangerie) and when it was sunny, they were wheeled out and distributed around the gardens in their silver planters!!
We walked down the Royal Drive and found a small cafe selling panini and sandwiches for our lunch, then went on to 'Marie-Antionette's Estate' - she really did like to get away from it all, it must have been a half hour walk! There are 2 small 'castles' - the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon (they were really a bit small to be called a castle, but we're certainly more than an ordinary house). Originally, Versailles was a hunting lodge, built to get away from the city. But, Louis XIV loved it so much that he built on, extended, added all his gardens ..... eventually he lived here, and court ran from Versailles rather than Paris. So he needed another getaway place, hence the two Trianon.
The Petit Trianon also had a cafe, and we finally tried a macaron - it was yummmmmm, but probably not dairy free, so I only had a taste!
From the Trianon, we walked back on another pathway through the gardens, out the front and back to the station. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the train to leave, and were back in Paris earlier than we had expected.
We had a short rest, then headed out to check a restaurant one street over for dinner - looked good. With 'tick it off the list' in mind, we ventured into the boulangerie around the corner and Errol had a creme brûlée, which he said was delicious. I wanted to look at the St Germain Market that we had seen, but not found to time to explore - not really interesting, there were a few retail outlets (including some we have at home) and a food market that may have been worth a visit earlier in our stay, but not now.
Keeping in mind that once we reach England, our euros are no use, we had just a little left to 'use'. We decided to sit at a cafe and do the French thing - people watching, while sipping a wine - loved it!! Our waiter was dressed in blue overalls, and just had that 'Parisienne' style - he was great to watch. When we were ready to relinquish our table, we crossed the road to Paul's boulangerie and bought a couple of pastries that didn't look to be toooo buttery - breakfast? Back to the apartment - dinner doesn't start till 7!! Hmmmm ...... but will those pastries last till breakfast.????
Dinner was at the restaurant we checked out earlier - Chez Fernand, in Rue Christine. OMG - it was all WONDERFUL. We started by sharing a pork terrine - soooo much better than the pate I had on our first night - then we both decided to have Beef Bourguignon for main course - the flavours ......... yummmmmmmm. I convinced Errol to have dessert - chocolate cake with salted caramel ice cream, which apparently was beautiful, but very rich. You have to make the most of everything on your last night in Paris!!
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