Versailles

day 27 – vingt-sept

Versailles! Well, we wanted to leave by 9, but didn’t get out of bed until after 8… So we started off the day an hour behind schedule.

We’d planned to swing by the patisserie and grab quiches again but it was closed! 😦 It might have been a good thing though because when we got to the metro stop where we thought we were going to catch the RER C train, it turned out it was out of service so they were redirecting everyone to the N train. Quite a few confused tourists were doing the exact same thing we were. I don’t know why they didn’t have it posted until the last minute. We probably wasted a bit of time going out of our way. We finally got to the train station in Versailles around 11:30. From the train station, we had a ten min walk to the Chateau du Versailles. There was essentially a parade of tourists from the train station to the chateau so we didn’t have to do any navigating of our own.

By the time we got to Versailles, I was seriously needing the amenities. Darn coffee… There was already a long line to get in, but we were hoping that wasn’t the line for us given that we had the Paris museum pass. Our lucky day though, it was. We got in line and happened to be right behind a couple from Michigan! Chatting with them helped the time pass. I was starting to sweat a bit because our Paris museum pass was only good until about 1 pm. Otherwise we’d each have to pay the 25€ to get in. We shuffled along, checking our watches every couple minutes. The line behind us kept getting longer and longer, snaking quite orderly around the square. We finally got to the entry point around 12:50, talk about cutting it close!

For a couple hours we toured the palace, home to three of France’s kings and remodeled a number of times. It started off as just a ‘small’ hunting lodge. After all of the fancy establishments we’ve seen on this trip, the palace of Versailles really wasn’t a stand out.

After we’d seen enough grandiose rooms, we went outside and entered the famous gardens (which was what I really wanted to see).  We had to get an extra ticket to go in because on weekends during the summer-early fall, they do fountain shows (aka the fountains are on) and have music playing with them. I thought it was worth it. We followed the longer of the two suggested routes and saw most of the fountains in about two hours. While there were a few heavily manicured flower/shrub gardens right outside the palace, most of the ‘gardens’ were angular paths through wild wooded areas that connected fountains. It was nice to see a little wild and imagine the ladies and gents in their fine gowns and suits strolling about. The terrace we started on overlooks the orangerie. Tons of orange trees, pruned into lollipops, grown in boxes of soil. I was amazed that the trees looked as good as they did with so little soil and space!

From the Grand Terrace, we walked to the central staircase from which we could see all the way down the Grand Canal (created to mimic the Grand Canal in Venice). Apparently the canal is a mile long but it’s definitely a optical illusion from that vantage point because it didn’t look near that long. The first fountain was the Latona Fountain, at the bottom of the stairs. From there we headed off to the left and did a clockwise circuit around the gardens.

I was particularly looking forward to seeing the Ballroom Fountain, mostly due to the story line of the movie “A Little Chaos”. It’s a great period drama but not historically accurate. Nevertheless, standing in the middle of the Ballroom I could imagine an orchestra hidden behind the walls, dancers swirling around me, and others lounging on the green-stepped sides. I didn’t have to imagine music since it was actually playing, a little benefit to going on a fountain show day.

The whole gardens of Versailles were like a huge uncomplicated maze. On such a beautiful weekend day, it was still easy to find quiet, private spots due to the thick (highly manicured) walls of shrubs that separated groves. Some fountains are huge, some very small, but they all had their own enclosed area where they were the center of attention.

I think the Enceladus Grove was my favorite at the end of the day. And not at all because of the fountain, though it was one of the more interesting ones. The whole grove was ringed by this amazing trellis tunnel that I couldn’t stop admiring. The entryways were so ornate yet looked so delicate given the intricate woven pattern of the wood. If I had all the time in the world, I don’t think I could do something like that. That’s art!

We’d almost completed the recommended route when it was time (5:20 pm) for the ‘grand finale’ at the Neptune Fountain. After this, all of the water works were shut off in the gardens. They even announced it over the sound system to get people to head that way. I assumed there’d be crowds so we hustled over to get a good spot to watch. I was also expecting a great show, with the water movement in sync with the music, like a couple of the other fountains had, only bigger and better. Boy was I disappointed. Don’t fall for it! Sure, the Neptune Fountain has more going on visually than any of the other fountains, but the water flow didn’t change at all while the music was playing. We left after a couple minutes of hoping something extra would happen. We still had a couple more fountains to see so it was a bummer to miss them with water flowing.

Our route end back where we started, on the Grand Terrace. I’d seen enough for one day, but there was so much more to the Versailles grounds that I would’ve liked to see.

The sky was starting to look really dramatic/angry towards the end of our visit and we were lucky it just sprinkled on us a bit on our way back to the train station. It was almost 8 pm when we got back to India’s and guess what, I was hungry! We popped around the corner to our usual spot for dinner. I chose a really yummy sounding salad and mom got the fish I’d gotten earlier in the week. Since it was our last night in Paris, I insisted we get something special for dessert; crème brûlée!

Before we left, we profusely thanked the waitress for all her help and got a picture with her. Thank you Les Chartrons!

9.5 miles today. I’m feeling it. Mom wants to be leaving here around 7:30 tomorrow morning so I guess I better get to packing. We’ve acquired quite a bit so the plan is to check Mom’s bag and carry on one of our little duffels. My mask alone completely fills up my little backpack! This could be interesting…