Château de Versailles

There are lots of palaces, castles and chateaux in Europe, but the grandaddy of them all is the  Château de Versailles.  It was the residence of the king and seat of France's government for 100 years.  In 1682 Louis XIV moved out of the Louvre in Paris and into a luxurious palace he had build in the village of Versailles.  Versailles quickly became the cultural center of Europe as well as the home base for a country with a booming economy and a powerful military.  Two more Louis held the reigns at Versailles; Louis XV and Louis XVI, but the era of France's power was weakening and Louis XVI and his lovely wife, Marie-Antoinette were deaf to the rumblings of brewing rebellion.  In October of 1789, Louis and Marie were forced to leave Versailles and were sent back to Paris.  In Paris they had an on-again, off-again (mostly off) relationship with the French people and they both finally lost their heads over it in 1793.

Luckily for all of us, the National Convention of the French First Republic decreed on 5 May 1794 that the château and gardens of Versailles would be placed under the care of the Republic for the public good.  Now, 217 years later, it's even better than when the Louis lived there; it has flushing toilets!

As I'm sure you've guessed by now, that was our destination for the day.  We had a busy morning first though - Dennis and Beth got to tour our Sunday street market first, then we walked all the way down Rue de la Convention to the Seine and the Javel train station.

Beth and I were busy chatting away and didn't realize the guys had stopped for a little window shopping:

Lots of nice toys in that shop!

We arrived at Javel train station, bought our tickets to Versailles and then descended to the quay.  Javel is not a major train station so we didn't even get to sit whilst we waited for the next train (almost 20 minutes!).  

Yes, this is Javel station - but notice the blue sky!  Much nicer day already!

The Javel train station is a typical smaller, outdoor station.  In general though, it reminded us that in the city, the view from the train isn't the best one.

Looking east towards the Eiffel Tower

The view west, and the direction we're headed

Wha...???  It's a 20-minute wait and we're hungry!

The train trip to the château is a fairly short one as Versailles is only about 20 km southwest of Paris and the walk to the château from the train station is about 10 minutes.  We arrived at the main entrance at about 1:45 pm.  Arriving at the château is a little like arriving at Disneyland in Anaheim.  The Happiest Place on Earth is smack dab in the middle of a bustling city now, and the approach to the park isn't special in any way.  You literally turn a corner and there it is.  The Château de Versailles is similar; you turn a corner and there it is.  The  square in front, Place D'Armes, isn't landscaped or decorated in any way except for the gilding on the gates.  There  are big parking areas for cars and tour buses on either side of the main walk. 

The Grand Entrance (Place D'Armes) isn't so Grand - it looks like a big parking lot with some fancy schmancy buildings

Ron and I have been to Versailles quite a few times and we've toured the château several times as well.  We decided to split up so Dennis and Beth could tour the palace and we would tour the gardens.  

The château is big, but the gardens are bigger!  This is the Latona Basin and you can see the Apollo Basin just before the Grand Canal and the Petit Canals on the sides

We were a bit disappointed though; the trees were still leafless, the flowers weren't planted yet, the fountains weren't running (more on that in a future post!) and all the statues were covered with canvas!  Ah well, the gardens were free and we enjoyed walking around and seeing the garden before it blooms.  And despite the fact that the gardens aren't quite ready for the onslaught of spring and summer tourists, you still get a sense of the elaborately planned, pruned and decorated gardens of Louis XIV.

These trees have all been precision trimmed!

This will be a beautifully shaded path when the trees leaf out

Everything is planted in neat rows - no helter skelter gardening for Louis!

After biting cold under cloudy skies the day before, the bright sunshine was inviting for a family day at the park

Rowing on the canals

Because there were no planted gardens to see, we decided to have a treat at La Flotille, a lovely restaurant in the park:

La Flotille

My hot chocolate

Ron's coffee

Ron's Banana Split - but he shared with me!

When Dennis and Beth were finished touring palaces,  it was getting close to closing time so we all walked back towards the main entrance.  The clouds had started moving in again and as the sun was going down we had some spectacular light and sunsets:

The Chateau from just above Latona Basin

Looking back over the Grand Canal

Reflection in one of the Water Parterres

The gang above the Orangerie

Examining the perfectly manicured topiary

Sunset over The Orangerie

It was a beautiful day out at the chateau and it was nice to be warmed by the sun and breathe fresh air.  We will definitely go back to the gardens though; we want to see the summer water show extravaganzas in the fountains.