Wow, did this day start early for us. We got up at 3:30 am, had a taxi pick us up at 4:15 am so we could be at the Waterloo train station by 4:45 am for the 5:34 train to Paris. We slept pretty much all the way to Paris, we definitely needed as much sleep as we could get. We arrived in Paris around 9:30 am and immediately had a taxi take us from Gare du Nord to Gare St. Lazarre so we could catch a train to Versailles. We got to Versailles around 10:45 am and began walking around the Palace. I knew Versailles was big but had no idea that it was this big. I had been to other Palace's but none of them compared.
One of the most amazing things, I found, was that you could take pictures inside the Palace, I was floored. I had never been to a Palace, or Museum, or anywhere else touristy like this where you could take pictures. Now, I was doubly excited. (Oh, by the way, we were able to take pictures inside the Louvre as well). We walked through the Palace, visiting the Royal Chapel, the King's and Queen's Estates, and the Dauphin's Apartment. It all was fabulous, the most amazing room inside the Palace to me was the King's Hall of Mirrors. It was a very long hallway that was lined with mirrors and glass chandeliers, everything just glittered. Not only that but the windows and doors overlooked one of the gardens.
The Hall of Mirrors
After we spent over an hour inside it was time to head outside. I had been looking forward to seeing the gardens for so long. One of my favorite movies lately is Marie Antoinette, with Kirstin Dunst. I have watched that movie several times and made sure to watch it again before we left. That way I could tell where certain parts of the movie were filmed at. I love being able to visualize the movie as I am in that spot. I also had recently done a puzzle of Versailles and wanted to be able to take a picture from the same spot.
The Palace
View from the Palace
So it was not after noon and we began walking through the gardens. It was the most amazing thing that I have ever seen, or at least one of the most. There were so many flowers and fountains, just views you wouldn't believe. The ponds, gardens, canal, fountains, all looked just like they did in the movie and in my head. I was in absolute heaven. I got a lot of pictures of the Palace and the ponds up to the palace, and the fountains with the palace, and the ponds, going to the green, going out to the canal, the pictures that I had always wanted to take, I finally could. We even took time to look down on the Orangery.
We were getting a little hungry so we stopped at one of the cafes and grabbed some sandwiches and drinks and headed to the gardens to eat. We wanted to enjoy the gardens, rather than just eating in the cafe. Once done with our lunch we continued through the gardens. You can't really explain it but there are all of these little paths between the trees that just lead to fountains other hidden gardens, it's just amazing. We went to one area that was called Bosquet de la Colonnade. It was this circular structure that was nothing but huge marble pillars around a very large and ornate fountain. Just amazing.
We then decided to head down to see Marie Antoinette's estate area rather than walking through other parts of the garden. It had gotten a little chilly so we grabbed a Chocolate Chaud for the walk. Greg knew that I was looking forward to that so we wanted to make sure we squeezed it in and didn't run out of time. Our first stop was the Petit Trianon. Basically this was a mini Palace for Marie Antoinette to go to when she wanted to get away from the actual Palace. It looked like a mini version. We didn't get to see that many rooms but it was still impressive, I could live in a house that size. This too had it's own garden area that was amazing. It even had a structure called the Temple of Love which was a marble gazebo with a statue inside. There was a little river that ran around the gardens with cute bridges and such around. Also around the Petit Trianon were a Chapel, French Garden, French Pavilion, Queen's Theatre that she herself performed in, Rock, Belvedere (music parlor), Grotto, Orangery, and English Garden. Who couldn't live here. Rock was a stone formation that was hollow in the middle and had a waterfall that fell through it. It was peaceful.
We then left the Petit Trianon area to head to Petit hameau de la Reine (little hamlet of the queen), which is a mini village that Marie Antoinette had built. This is what I had been looking to most. It was such a cute village. The first building we arrived at was the Mill. I would say I loved this building but I loved all of them so you will get tired of hearing that. There was an actual mill wheel on the front of the building and had a curved staircase that went to one of the entrance ways with flowers all the way to the top. All of the buildings had thatched roofs. Then we passed by the Boudoir and the Queen's House. The Queen's House had a wooden spiral staircase on the outside that went up to the top floor. It too was exquisite. Here, we also walked through the gardens at the Queen's House and by the Billiard Room and Warming Room. The gardens contained flowers but also tomatoes, squash, eggplant (aubergine), cabbage, and so much more. Definitely a self-contained area.
The Lighthouse from the Petit hameau de la Reine
Next we walked by the Dovecote, Guard's House, and the cutest building, the Marlborough Tower. It was a small little building with what looked like a miniature lighthouse on the side, that was bright. All of these buildings surrounded a lake, complete with lily pads, swan, and carp.
We continued our journey on to the Farm where we saw the vineyard area and lots of farm animals, and 3 dogs. There was even a very large pot bellied pig that could barely lift his head, lots of donkey, sheep, goat, chickens, roosters, rabbits, and more. I liked the farm but liked the others parts of the hameau better.
Once we finished with the Petit Trianon it was on to the Grand Trianon. This is where Louis went when he wanted to get away from Versailles. It was very nice, much like the Palace, but still not as impressive as the hameau. The Grand Trianon too had its very own garden, complete with fountains.
It was now nearly 3 pm and we started to head back to the Palace so we could enjoy more of the gardens. Earlier in the day when we had come through, all of the fountains were off. When we arrived back all of the fountains were on. We walked by the canal, where rowers were out in the water, you could rent boats to go out by the half hour. We then went by the Bassin d'Apollon, this is the famous fountain with Apollo and his horses. Still stunning. We walked through the other side of the gardens on the way back to the palace so we could see more of the gardens. We saw the Bosquet de l'Encelade, an enormous circular area with a fountain of a giant that Jupiter punished by crushing him under these rocks in the fountain as well. His one finger was larger than me, I just don't see how these things were sculpted back then, it is just amazing.
Next we went to Bosquet des Domes, a circular fountain with marble statues around as well. We walked through other garden areas and fountain areas including the Bosquet du Dauphin, Bosquet des Bains d'Apollon, Bosquet des Trois Fontaines, Bassin de Neptune and Bassin du Dragon. Out of these the Bosquet des Baines d'Apollon was the most impressive. It was set back in a hill and was more of a waterfall than a typical fountain. It was all carved marble and was so peaceful. It was set on this big open grass area so you could just sit there for hours, looking at the detail on the statues, and listening to the water. It was very peaceful.
Bosquet des Baines d'Apollon
It was nearing 5 pm and we decided it was time to head back to Paris so we left Versailles and headed to the train station.
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