Versailles Madness

In a way, it was a bit mad going to see the Château de Versailles in the peak of tourist season but it was something we wanted to do...so we did. All the tourist guides recommend you get there early before the crowds arrive...but as we were travelling out from Paris...we didn't. The plan was simple enough...catch a RER B train from the hotel for one stop, change to the right RER C train to Versailles - Château - Rive-Gauche and we would be there. In practice it was a little more complicated due to works on the RER C stations in Paris...we had to catch the Metro 10 to Javel - André Citroën where we could then get the RER C...which all took a bit longer.

We got off the train and took the short walk around to the Château, arriving just after 10 o'clock. It was a beautiful sunny morning and there were people and tour buses everywhere. The guide at the gate told us the queue was currently about two hours long...this is one of the places where the Museum Pass doesn't help you bypass the queue...and suggested that we visit the gardens first and return late in the afternoon. Thanking him for his suggestion, we were off.

The front gates to the Château de Versailles

The gardens, by the way, are enormous. First there are some very formal gardens around the Château, next comes groves of trees with interesting fountains and sculptures hidden away and finally huge spaces of open grass and trees down both sides of the Grand Canal which leads away from the Château. To put a scale on the grounds, it is 3.5 kilometres from the front gate to the far end of the Grand Canal. We spent the morning wandering around the gardens, slowly moving away from the Château...all part of a plan.

In the gardens around the Château

About 1.5 kilometres from the Château are two other buildings of interest...Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. The first is a small palace built for Louis XIV to escape from pomp and formality the royal court and the second built for similar reasons for Marie-Antoinette. Both of these buildings open at 12 Noon and we arrived in time to join the relatively small queue to go in at opening time. Although small in comparison to the Château, they are still quite magnificent and opulent.

Grand Trianon

The gardens around Grand Trianon

Petit Trianon

After touring through the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon, we started back for the Château...arriving at around 4 o'clock to find there wasn't any queue. Pleased that the strategy had worked, we entered. If we had thought that the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon were magnificent, the Château was something else again. The spaces within it were huge and the furnishings more magnificent than anything we had seen anywhere else. We spent the next couple of hours making our way through the Château...finishing just as they were starting to move people out to shut up for the night.

Approaching the Château from the gardens

The front courtyard of the Château

Inside the Château

Rather exhausted, we made our way back to Versailles - Château - Rive-Gauche station and retraced our steps back to our hotel.