It's the last day of our 4 day pass to the museums and monuments of Paris and we've planned this day on a recommendation from the website that tells us to visit on the "slow" days of Wednesday, Thursday or Friday if we want to avoid the crowds. Sounds like a plan.
So today we're catching a train and heading about 20km outside of Paris to visit the famous Circus de Versailles - ooops, did I just say circus? I meant Château.......... of course ;-)
Again, as recommended, we're on the train just after 8am, which is a bit of a honeymoon record for us, unused as we are to early starts! But everything I've read says to get there soon after opening time and to plan to spend the whole day there - the place is huge!
We get off the train just after 9am, and as we walk up the Avenue de Paris towards the Château, all we can see is gold gates and yellow signs and........... large groups of people gathering ominously in the courtyard and forming the dreaded queues. Uh-oh, what have we let ourselves in for...........
My initial impression of Versailles is of lots of buildings at the end of a wide main street, blending into the town of which they are a part, and of noisy heavy machinery and roadworks. They're doing something major at the main entrance and around the statue of Louis XIV on his horse. When we reach the front entrance, the Courtyard of Honour, there are doors; yellow doors, with A for individuals, B for groups, H for the mobility challenged (don't get me wrong, this particular one is always a good thing in my book) ............ I know it's necessary, but somehow I naively expected the château to be on a vast country estate (it is, actually) where we arrive via a long, long driveway, the château emerging like a jewel from the panorama before us.............. Ok, perhaps I've seen too many movies, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed with the way it's been "touristified". I compare my thoughts with mon amour's, and find that he has the same expectations. The jewel in the crown has already lost some of its lustre, for me anyway.
Our museum pass gets us immediately through security and straight into the grand palace to start our tour. Yay, finally a queue victory with this pass!! Complimentary audioguides as well - it's nice not to feel that extra "ripping off" in having to pay 5 or 6 euros each (on top of ticket price) for audioguides that we're not sure will really benefit us until we have them.
I can't believe Versailles could be swarming with tourists so early in the morning, but this place draws 5 million tourists each year so I guess it's not all that surprising. I take a deep breath, swallow my disappointment (does everyone feel like this when they arrive here???) and we follow the crowd. As we progress up stairs and along the corridors (past the merchandise stalls.......) it starts to remind me of those video animations of blood cells moving through capillaries...........
This palace, the former home of King Louis XIV, the almighty king of France from 1643 to 1715 (that's a long reign in anyone's language), is opulent, lush, extravagant, lavish, ostentatious, sumptuous........ I'll need a thesaurus to find other fitting words. But having seen Château de Fontainebleau on Monday, it's probably not impressing me as much as it would if it was the first royal château I'd visited this week. After all, they probably used the same decorator ;-)
As we progress through the rooms - the state apartments of the King and Queen, the King's bedchamber, the Gallery of Battles, the History Gallery, the famous Hall of Mirrors, the apartments of the Dauphin and Dauphine - I find myself heading towards the windows in each room, snapping views of the gardens from within, and yearning to be without.
The corridors go on and on, and the crowds just get bigger. It's impossible to see a mirror in the famous hall that doesn't reflect the hundreds of bodies swarming through. Eventually, though, we're taking a last look at the large portrait of Louis XIV hanging over the fireplace, as we head up the steps from the guard's room............ and then suddenly the tour is over and we're exiting into the courtyard. Phew!!
The websites recommend starting your day at Versailles with several hours in the gardens and ending it with the Palace tour, but I'm not sure I agree. Having gone straight to tour the Palace, we've begun with disappointment and a yearning to be out of there, and I feel a little scarred by the experience. But once we exit to the gardens, we start to relax and breathe and the crowds disperse throughout the almost 787 hectares. We start to have moments alone - brief moments, where there is nobody else in sight - it feels wonderful :-) I'm not sure I would have wanted to end a lovely day in the grounds of Versailles with the disappointing Palace tour "circus".
We wander through the maze of paths and gardens without a map, heading down towards the canals and beyond, and we laugh about the little royals playing hide and seek in their "backyard" - yes it's very sad, we haven't seen little Louis since 1703 when he went out to play hide and seek with his sister.......... ;-)
There are people riding bikes and segways, and paddling boats on the canals. It's cold today, and overcast, but at least it's not raining. Eventually, now enjoying the peace and fresh air, we find ourselves heading towards the Grand Trianon, the recreational residence of Louis XIV and his family. Still feeling a little of the "head spin" from our morning, we vascillate briefly about touring this one, but decide we might as well. What's the worst thing that could happen? ;-)
Built in 1688 with Carrara and Languedoc marble, this much smaller palace starts to redeem our Versailles experience as we wander through. There are no crowds here, and we can actually linger in rooms and see everything without having to peer over shoulders or lean sideways over the roped-off areas to get a photo. It's an enjoyable experience!!
A little further on is the Petit Trianon, which together with its park is linked irrevocably to the memory of Marie-Antoinette, the only queen to have imposed her personal taste on Versailles. This "tiny" palace was given to her in 1774 by her husband Louis XVI, and here she found a haven of tranquility. Again, it's a pleasure to wander through the rooms of this palace and imagine the royals living here. And yes, when I think of Marie-Antoinette, I do picture her with the face of Kirsten Dunst............
We exit this last little palace and continue to stroll the quaint country lanes, past sheep grazing, through the gardens and amongst the trees. We start to talk about "next time we come to Versailles" with the guilty pleasure of knowing that we won't need to bother with the palaces but can simply enjoy a day getting lost in the gardens, biking, walking, paddling, picnicking. It's a lovely thought. And yes, we could have done some of that today, but honestly? We're done, we just want to get out of there. It's been a long week, we've been steeped in history for days - steeped!!!! - and we are totally and utterly châteaux'd............. ;-)
With sighs of relief, we're heading out the front gates towards the train station by 2.30pm - not a bad effort I guess, that's 5 and a half hours non-stop with only a handful of nuts to sustain us :-)
So that's our Paris museum 4 day pass all finished. On the train I threaten to get off at Notre Dame to climb the dome that we still haven't managed to get to........ What? There's still time, the crowds shouldn't be too bad................. only joking ;-)
Back "home" in the Bastille, we buy deux chocolat chauds and take ourselves off to see a movie at one of our local cinemas ("Quartet" - very funny, and a star-studded cast - go see it!) :-)
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