Paris' Best #2: Versailles Estate (Introduction)

 The second best thing to do in Paris, in our opinion, isn't actually in Paris. It's an hour train ride southwest of Paris - the Versailles Estate. If you have one day in Paris, see the Louvre. If you have two days, see the Louvre on day one and Versailles on day two.

To get to Versailles, we took the Metro to the Invalides stop and bought a round-trip RER train ticket from Paris to Versailles-Rive Gauche. This ticket also included entrance to Versailles. It took about 15 minutes in line to get the tickets, but the time passed quickly because immediately to our left was a temporary booth set up that had a sign in French: "Shoes 3 Euros". Women getting off the metro and the trains were swarming that booth - women of all sizes, shapes, origins, and social statuses. It was quite a sight to see.

 Once we had the tickets, we boarded the C Line and spent the next hour watching the French countryside as we made our way to Versailles. It is an easy walk from the Versailles-Rive Gauche station to the palace entrance, I would say about a half-mile. There are a few cafes and at least one film/battery stop along the way (I should know, we stopped for batteries!).

The front of the chateau was completely swamped with tourists when we arrived - the photos you see here were actually taken later in the afternoon when we were exiting, getting ready to take the train back. There was a very long line of people behind the baricade in the photo to the right and just inside the gray doors is a metal detector - your first stop after the ticket-taker.

 We'll get to the interior of the chateau in the next post - for now, we will show you around the exterior. Here is a close-up of one of the statues that line the roof. As you can see, it is rather weather-worn. The exterior of the chateau is under rennovation (almost the entire front side is behind scaffolding and cloth), so I'm sure they will be restoring this fellow shortly.

 Here is a larger gathering of roof statues. You can see that even the water downspouts are artistic - notice the spout coming out of the animal's mouth. Note I said artistic, maybe not tasteful (you be the judge).

 If you stand at the center front of the chateau and look back towards the city and the train station from wence we came, this is what you would see. The large white-tarped building appears to be under rennovation also, and somewhere (to the left?) they appear to be building an entirely new visitor entrance.

 Being the nosy person that I am, I could not resist sticking my head and camera behind the scaffolding and canvas to see what was being done. As you can see, the restoration on this section looks about ready to be revealed.

 I turned my head the other direction behind the canvas and took this picture. Yep, almost complete!

 As I said, most of these pictures were taken towards the end of the day, and here is one group of school kids lined up for a much needed rest and head count. I am not sure why I took the picture, but I knew there was a good shot in there somewhere....

 ...And I was right. Look at the two boys comparing cell phone pictures - very nice! The boy in the red shirt had spotted me, even though the camera was up for just 5 seconds to snap the photo. The chaperones look ready to go home.

 There were an amazing number of tour groups going through Versailles - we saw about 50 tour buses out front. It really made seeing the chateau rather miserable, as you'll see in the next post. I think our big mistake was going on Tuesday. Versailles is closed on Monday, so I am speculating that everyone who wanted to go Monday showed up along with Tuesday's crowd, so Versailles was twice as busy. Lesson learned: don't go on Tuesday!

*** NOTE 8/20/08: I spoke with my friend Brandon who happened to be at Versailles the Sunday after we went!! There were about 100 people waiting to get into the Chateau on Tuesday when we were there, but he said that the line was several hundred people long and stretched all the way across the cobblestones to the edge of the tour buses when he went on Sunday. It was so bad that he and his wife did not go to the Chateau. Maybe Tuesday isn't so bad after all... ***

 Here are a few of the pamphlets that they handed us while we were there. The most interesting one is the first one, which shows a map of the entire grounds. This may be a useful reference for the next couple of posts.

Time Required: 6-8 hours
Stairs, Chateau: 25-50
Stairs, Trainon: less than 25
Walking Required: approximately 1 mile in gardens from Chateau to Trianon
What to bring: camera, water, walking shoes, money for lunch
Photos In This Post: Olympus Canon S5 IS

Paris' Best #2: Versailles Estate (Chateau)

 When I have always thought about Versailles, I have mentally pictured the Versailles Chateau, also known as the Palace of Versailles. That is where we started our tour of the Versailles Estate.

 Here is the floor plan of the chateau. Our tour started on the ground floor with the blue area (chapel and 17th century galleries) which then took us upstairs to the red area (King's and Queen's State Apartments) then back downstairs to the light blue (Dauphin's Apartments). We were not able to tour the yellow area (History of France) or the purple area (Mesdame's Apartments). The opening photograph is of the Royal Chapel, the first room we entered after having our ticket stamped.

 In the 17th century, Louis XIV, the Sun King, transformed the former hunting lodge of his father (King Louis XIII) into the finest estate in Europe. He then installed his court and government in the building and filled it with the finest 17th century art. During the French Revolution, Versailles was stormed and looted, leaving only the building. The furnishings in the building today attempt to re-create the original feel. The first few rooms we toured were filled with fine 17th century art, such as this one.

 After touring the art rooms, the mass of tourists moved upstairs through this hall of statues. I cannot find a name for this area in any of the literature we were given or in my web searches, but it is directly above the 17th century art rooms.

 At the far end of the hall of statues, we entered Hercules Drawing Room. This was a very impressive room, though it was so packed with visitors that it was very hard to enjoy. Notice all the heads at the bottom of the picture to the left.

One of the first things I noticed about Versailles was that it was mostly made of wood on the interior. For some reason (maybe it was all the churches and museums we had visited in Paris?) I had anticipated stone and marble, but that was not the case. Mostly, the interior is wood - including the floors. This is another shot of the Hercules Drawing Room.

 To me, this fireplace is the most impressive part of the Hercules Drawing Room. You could put a bed in there and sleep in it. That's my wife in the black jacket.

 I'm going to skip over many of the rooms because, at some point, they start looking the same. So I'm going to try and just hit the highlights. This map can be used as a reference point.

 This is the Mercury Drawing Room. This shot would not have made my 'favorites' list except for the fact that it gives you an idea of the mass confusion that the tour groups lend to the day. There were tour leads in virtually every room, and they were practically yelling their version of French history so that everyone in their group could hear. This shattered the tranquility and made it very hard to soak in the beauty of the surroundings. In this photo, you can see the tall blonde female tour lead in mid-shout.

 Here is my wife listening to the audio tour in the War Drawing Room. There was not much noteworthy about this room except that it serves as the entrance to the Hall of Mirrors.

 This view is standing in the War Drawing Room, looking into the Hall of Mirrors.

 The Hall of Mirrors is, in my opinion, the highlight of the chateau. It has the premiere view location in the floor plan and truly is spectacular. The right side of this room is covered with windows looking out over the gardens and the Grand Canal. Behind the wall to the left is the King's Bedchambers. The Hall of Mirrors recently underwent a $17 million restoration where 70% of the original 357 mirrors, dating to about 1680, were preserved, including one inscribed with the graffiti "Rene" from an 1820 restoration. The mirrors that were replaced had mirrors from the same era put in their place.

 Looking out the windows in the Hall of Mirrors, one sees this view. How would you like to be the King and stumble out of your bedroom each morning into the Hall of Mirrors and see this view of your estate? It would be hard to be in a bad mood, I would think.

 I know I have shown you this photo already in the previous post, but I liked how it came out so much that I thought I would put it here, in the proper sequence for the tour of the chateau. This is the far end of the Hall of Mirrors.

 Looking up, this is the ceiling of the Hall of Mirrors. We did go into the Kings' Chamber to the left, but the light was so low that photos really didn't do it justice, so I am leaving those out. It seems odd to me that the floor plan was set up so that the bedrooms were adjacent to the grand Hall of Mirrors. I would have put the private royal family area off to one side, so that they could have their privacy when appropriate. My wife said the audio tour stated that the King had become so immobile that he conducted much of his business from his bed. Maybe that explains it.

 Here is Queen's Bedchamber, with my wfie looking a tad worn out already. Again the location of this bedroom, adjacent to the Peace Drawing Room which is adjacent to the Hall of Mirrors, confuses me. Okay, maybe the King conducted his business from his bed, but what was the Queen's Bedchamber doing here?

Unfortunately, I did not record the name of this room, but it was on the same side of the upper floor as the Queen's rooms.

 Again, the ceilings were magnificent, if in need of repair. Note what appear to be white sticky-notes all over the ceiling...was this to temporarily hold it together, or mark where repair is needed?

 Another view of an adjacent room with a huge paiting. And a mass of tourists. Yikes. It was in this room that I saw a maintenance worker use a huge skeleton key (it must have been 9 inches long and 4 inches deep) to unlock one of the doors and enter a private room. They really did use those things!!

 We were then routed downstairs via stone steps that had been used so often that deep ruts had been worn into them along the ends, close the the handrails.

 Downstairs, we were led through a number of rooms that had been redecorated in the style of the era. Very beautiful. The carpet looks very faded from the years of sunlight.

 Obviously some sort of library...I am not sure if the books and other furnishings are original (they may have been able to retrieve them after the looting during the Revolution), but I am sure they are authentic to the time period.

 I have been talking about getting a massive globe for our living room, so I was surprised to see this gem at Versailles. This is much more elaborate than I want, as it opens up to reveal a topographic map of the earth's surface. Either that or it shows the underworld!

 Here is a close-up of it. Very massive.

 The first huge globe I saw was at Mount Vernon, in George Washington's home. I think that is where the seed was planted for wanting my own.

 To show you the wood in Versailles and its condition, I took this closeup of a downstairs wall. As you can see, time has taken its toll.

 Another shot showing the same thing. Make no mistake about it, millions of dollars are being invested to restore portions of the estate and they are making every effort to keep as much of it open to the public as possible at all times. It is going to take awhile to restore the whole thing - and then it will be time to start all over again!

And finally, one more unknown downstairs room. Well, that has been our quick tour of the chateau. I have skipped many of the rooms, and we probably saw much less than half of the palace when we went through. It is worth the hour trip from Paris, but what makes this such a fabulous place to visit is what we are going to show you tomorrow...the surrounding gardens. Stay tuned.

Photos in this post: Canon S5 IS

Paris' Best #2: Versailles Estate (Gardens)

Before the trip, when we told people we were going to Versailles, people would say that we would love the gardens. Yeah right, we thought. You must just be a garden freak. Being an architecture freak, I thought the chateau would be 'it' for me.

 Well, I was wrong. As nice as the chateau was, by the time we saw it I had been through many awesome buildings in Paris. Though the rooms were nice, they were almost a yawner at that point. And of course, the tremendous crowds didn't help (to reiterate: don't go on Tuesday!).

 As everyone had told us, the star of the show was the gardens. It is hard to explain why. Just imagine spending two to three hours shoulder-to-shoulder in a chateau with a few thousand of your closest friends. Then think of exiting and being overwhelmed with sunlight, fresh air, and acres of perfectly manicured shrubbery. Now I think you're getting it...

 When we exited the chateau, we were directed around the left side. The garden that my wife is standing in front of here is to the left of the chateau. At this point, we were still trying to figure out if we wanted to walk or use some other means of transportation to see the Versailles grounds. We eventually chose to walk which was the right decision. Unless you have health issues that prevent you from walking one to two miles, we recommend walking. It is so peaceful, you won't be sorry.

 For the rest of this post, when I say 'left' or 'right', I'm referencing the Versailles map in my first Versailles post (the huge map towards the bottom that showed the gardens).

 If you do have health issues, never fear. There are golf carts, bicycles, and segways that you can rent. If you want to see Versailles, there is a way to see it.

 Walking around to the backside of the chateau and looking back at it, this is what you see. To tell you the truth the outside of the building is a little boring. From left to right on the middle floor is the War Drawing Room, the Hall of Mirrors, and the Peace Drawing Room.

Now swinging the camera around 180 degrees, we see the Grand Canal, a cross-shape lake that is quite large. Note the fair number of people - this is the last time we will see that while at Versailles. The gardens and the outlying buildings were all pretty human-free.

We decided to walk down the right side of the Latone Fountain (number 11 on the map) and then on to 10, 27 and 26. I don't remember exactly so I could be a little off, but I think this photo was taken at 27 looking back towards the chateau. The walk through the various gardens was very peaceful and relaxing. You could easily spend the entire day just exploring them. Be warned, though, that even with the map it is extremely easy to get lost. We consulted the map every 10 minutes or so.

By the time we got to 27, however, we had started to get a little hungry so we decided to head straight north on the map towards the rows of trees (the map showed a restaurant on the other side of them). Once we reached the rows of trees, this is what we saw. It was magnificent, and reminded me so much of scenes I have seen in French films.

So of course I wanted my wife to pose for me. Smile! Directly behind her you can catch of glimpse of the Grand Canal. To the right side of the picture, you can see the roof of the cafe where we ate lunch.

 And then, at long last, I figured out how to hold our new camera and take a picture of us together. Here is our first (and second) attempt at doing this. They are probably the best photos of us together that we have ever had. Usually, one or the other of us is blinking.

 We finally got bored with taking pictures of our mugs and wandered over to the restaurant. Fortunately, the menu was in French and English. It had a very nice selection of food at very reasonable prices. Usually I don't take pictures of menus, but in this case I was trying to capture some of the cute French-to-English translations. Unfortunately, they can't be read too well in the photo. The only one I really recall was that one was called "Plate of small fishes". I'm sure that's accurate, but it is not wording you'd typically see on an American menu!

I didn't get any photos of the cafe either: it was outdoors and very lovely. We had an excellent time, the prices were reasonable, and the food delicious. If you get a chance, eat in the gardens.

We then made it over to the Grand Canal and took this photo. The very first photo in this post was also taken at the Grand Canal. From here, we picked up the red line on the map that runs from the Grand Canal to the Grand Trianon. In the next post, we'll show you the Grand and Petit Trainon. See you there!

Photos in this post: Canon S5 IS