Five Days in Paris: A Visit to Versailles

When we started settling on dates to come to Paris, Cousin C offered to take us to Versailles while we were in town. Not too familiar with Versailles, I had to run a Google search to figure out it was the location of a large palace (or château, as the French call it) with extensive grounds filled with gardens and auxiliary buildings.

Walking up to Château de Versailles, the first thing you see is the golden gates surrounding the palace. Usually, you have to pay to go into the château, itself, but since it was free Sunday, we were able to tour the buildings for free. We decided that we would walk through the main palace first, and then head out to the gardens and other areas of the grounds.

Gates to Versailles

Inside, the palace showcased artwork and excess. Although the majority of rooms were not furnished, the decorative ceilings, chandeliers, and paintings provided some insight into the type of luxury the château provided in its day. Even more interesting, was the fact that the château actually began as a royal hunting lodge

Hall of Mirrors

After the self-guided tour through the palace, we took the little train down to the Grand Trianon, a building created for the royal family's enjoyment and an escape from the formality of Versailles.

Grand Trianon

The Grand Trianon was completely furnished to give an idea of the various styles throughout the years.

Bedroom in the Grand Trianon

After the visit, I learned (from Wikipedia), "In 1920, the Grand Trianon hosted the negotiations and signing of the Treaty of Trianon, which left Hungary with less than one-third of its pre-World War I land size. To the Hungarians, the word "Trianon" remains to this day the symbol of one of their worst national disasters."

By the time we left the Grand Trianon, we were getting pretty hungry, so we stopped to eat at an Angelina's Cafe on the grounds. This gave us a few minutes to rest while we enjoyed quiche and salad.

After lunch, we walked down to the Hameau de la Reine, which was created by Marie Antoinette who missed the countryside and farm life of her childhood. A working farm, the area still plays host to cattle, roosters, rabbits, and other livestock.

Rooster at Hameau de la Reine

Many of Marie Antoinette's opponents felt that her creation of the farm was an eccentricity and after her death, little was done to upkeep the buildings around the farm.

At the Farm

After the visit to the farm, it was time to get back on the train and head back towards the palace. First, we stopped for a little picture session by the rocks.

Mr. Traveler and Me at Versailles

We exited the train early, so we could walk up the gardens back to the château. From the back, the palace was even more impressive, a large structure on the hill above the gardens.

Château de Versailles

After our walk back up to the palace, we were ready to head back and rest our feet. As we made plans for Monday, A cooked up some eggs, bacon, and biscuits. We all stayed up talking for a little while, but at around midnight A and I both decided to call it a night. The boys stayed up, however, to watch the Superbowl. When I woke up at around 4am, the game was just ending. Needless to say, the following day Mr. Traveler slept in a bit before we started our day at Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the Louvre. I'll be filling you with details of these stops in the next Paris entry.

If you missed Parts 1 and 2 of our trip, check out my entries from Friday and Saturday.