Versailles

Our Friday excursion this week took us to Versailles. We had to wake up early (ish) and take the train to the Center, just to turn around, get back on the same train (back towards home) and go to Versailles. The train ride is about 30 minutes, and it goes through suburban Paris before getting to Versailles. I thought it was going to stop in the middle of nowhere and there would be the palace. No. Versailles is actually a large town (100,000 people) and it dropped us off on a busy road across from a McDonald's. We walked a few blocks, and turned the corner, and there was the palace. It looked strange and out of place. The walk up was on a large cobbled road, and there was traffic. I imagined a glorious garden or something. No, just stones.

We did a tour with a guide on the inside of the palace. The guide was this somewhat strange and batty French woman, who just talked a lot about non-sense. The palace was also incredibly crowded. You litterally had to push your way from room to room. As a result I didn't follow much of what the guide said, relying almost entirely on the signs and the small pamphlet I got. To add to everything, there was this really strange modern art display throughout the tour. In the middle of rooms there would be strange sculptures of things like Michael Jackson and bears. It did not fit at all. A lot of people really liked it, but I think it took away from the rooms. The rooms themselves were impressive, though they were all similarly furnished. It was hard to appreciate them for what they were. And the fact that it was so crowded took away from it a lot. We were spoiled at Chambord when we were the only people there. I did like the Hall of Mirrors. It had a great view out onto the grounds and the gardens, and the room itself was very beautiful (and bigger so it felt less crowded). In all I liked Versailles, but I feel like a lot of the excitment was missing because of the circumstances. I'll probably end up back there with my next program, so maybe it will be better. If not, maybe I'll make a weekend trip out of it in a few months.

After the tour we were given a return train ticket home (on the RER so time wasn't an issue) and the freedom to wander. We stopped and had lunch, just sandwiches, at the cafe. We sat in this gorgeous room, and I'd love to know what it was for. Afterwards we headed out into the gardens.

The first impression I had of the gardens was that they were amazing. They are huge. Which means that the crowds break up considerably, so you are free to relax. And if you turn and look at the palace, what you will see is way cooler than what you'd see from the other side. There is a large reflecting pool, and then the palace is just there. We wandered onto a path and just started walking and enjoying the fall day. At certain points along the path there were great things, like beautiful statues or fountains. At one point we took a break to relax our feet and I looked at a map. I really wanted to find Marie Antoinette's cottage, but it wasn't marked. So, I made up something so that I could get my friends to continue walking. We turned north up a path, which was tree lined, and since its fall now, all of the trees were yellow. It was really nice. Up ahead we saw something, which turned out to be a field of sheep. We for some reason got really excited and ran to go look at it, which was stupid, because if we had looked to our left just like ten feet, we would have seen the sign for "Marie Antoinette's Domain." After many pictures of sheep grazing, and an attempt to get one to walk towards us (failed) we headed through the gates to see what this "Domain" was.

Turns out it was Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's "cottage." We managed to get in with our Art Student Cards (for free!) and we wandered around. Its beautiful, and huge. Bigger than my house by far, and it was just a cottage. It was also lavishly decorated. From a window we saw a cool statue thing, so we headed out into the gardens to check it out. As we were heading there we saw something else we wanted to see in the distance, a cool old mill looking thing. We stopped at the statue first, the Temple of Love. It had a sculpture of Hercules in the middle, and it was sort of romantic. All white marble.

After we started to head out to the mill thing. It was Marie Antoinette's "Hamlet." She had a small hamlet built for her use so that she could escape court life. I had always thought it was just a cottage, but this place had at least ten buildings. They were all gorgeous too. And whoever the current groundskeeper is did a wonderful job, because all of the gardens were well kept, and well stocked. We wandered around the hamlet in awe for awhile, and ended up at the farm, with live animals. We laughed at the rabbits and chickens for awhile, before turning in and heading back towards home (like a 30 minute walk because we were so far out). I'm so glad we decided to keep searching, because the highlight of my day was that little hamlet. I could take or leave Versailles, but seeing the hamlet was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. It felt like Disney, but it wasn't. It was real. Hundreds of years ago a queen used to play there with her children. It's unimaginable.

Versailles:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009975&l=e7b34&id=1599570086

Gardens and Marie Antoinette's Hamlet:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009976&l=bab74&id=1599570086