France
Arrondissement de Versailles

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    • Day 13

      Day trip

      September 18, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

      We took a day trip out to the Chateau de Versailles. It was about a 90 min train ride out to the country. The palaces may have been some of the largest I’ve ever seen, and so ornate.

      What was even more exceptional were the gardens! Acres and acres of gardens, forests and fountains. Absolutely beautiful.

      We rented a golf cart to take us to the furthest parts, which turned out to be really fun. Then we walked the garden sections. Beautiful crisp fall weather - couldn’t have asked for a nicer time out there.

      We had a bit more time left so we headed to the Paris Aquarium. Somewhat small, but nicely done. Adam really likes Aquariums - the things you learn about your adult children when you travel together.

      9.66 miles
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    • Day 4

      Der König lebte nicht schlecht

      September 6, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

      Das Schloss von Versailles gehört natürlich zu den Highlights jedes Paris-Besuchs. … wenn nur die Anreise nicht wäre. Das System der Pariser Vorortzüge ist wohl Teil der Aufnahmeprüfung für Zugezogene. Der arme Tourist ist da überfordert.
      Wenn man dann da ist darf man dafür staunen, was der Sonnenkönig da an den Stadtrand gestellt hat. Es gibt auch einen Haufen Anregungen für alle, die ein bisschen Farbe in ihre triste Bude bringen wollen 😉
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    • Day 7

      Versailles

      February 24 in France ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

      Took the train to Versailles for the day. Hélène our host accompanied us to the gates. The palace was as grand and opulent as they said it would be. We learned about the many king Louis. It’s amazing how the nobility lived on a totally different planet than the rest of France. No wonder there was a revolution.
      Afterwards we had a fantastic French meal with our hosts.
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    • Day 34

      Palace of Versailles

      June 21, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

      Versailles was definitely one of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen, and the most absolutely ludicrous display of wealth imaginable. I said the Louvre made the Spanish palacio real look like a dollhouse, but Versailles does the same thing to the Louvre. The palace is amazing in itself, and Lexi and I spent a good few hours exploring it. The highlight in there was the hall of mirrors, which was not only beautiful and ornate room but also one of incredible historical significance, as many important treaties were signed there: the treaty of Paris ending the American revolution, the 1871 treaty of Versailles ending the Franco-Prussian war (and marking the beginning of the German empire), and the 1919 treaty of Versailles ending WW1 were all signed in that room. The palace was the home of the Kings Louis 14-16 (and their families and servants with an estimated 10,000 living on the grounds at once) until the family was driven out by the French Revolution, and later was also used by Napoleon Bonaparte. The really incredible part, though, was the palacial gardens. They are just unimaginably expansive, yet covered with ornate statues, fountains, and hedges that are still perfectly - and I mean PERFECTLY - manicured. Seriously, I would estimate that several thousand gardeners must still work there today to keep the grounds looking the way they are. The grounds we also home to some additional homes that the royal family would spend time relaxing in, as well as a series of cottages that Marie Antoinette had built because she liked to pretend she was a peasant (and she clearly had no clue what that word meant). Lexi and I were literally at this palace for over 8 hours, and even taking a bike rental and using their shuttle, we only were able to see a fraction of the grounds of the palace. It is really unbelievable to think that a family used to actually live there.Read more

    • Day 8

      Chateau De Versailles

      September 7, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

      Toured the hunting lodge and gardens today. Great guide, and easy on the eyes. Celebrating 400 years in 2023. The photos don't capture the scale of the palace or the gardens. Three kings lived here for over 107 years, built during Louie the 14th, the 15th partied in it, and the 16th got his head lopped off (1793), followed by the cake eater 9 months later. Nepolian declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804. We thank Shorty for that sweatheart deal he gave us in 1803 to buy the Louisiana purchase (828,000 sq miles) for $15M, doubling our size. France had their last revolution in 1848.

      Fun fact, they had no kitchen in the palace because they didn't want the smell, YET had no toilets for 100 years and would just pee and shit in the open, behind a door, over railings...wherever .. with over 2,300 rooms, cleaning could not keep up and every August everyone would move out due to the smell and for cleaning.

      The queens bed saw 19 births and 2 queens deaths (see photo). Fun fact #2, the queens births were semi-public events to prove legacy (no swapping out girls for future heirs)...seems fun.
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    • Day 4

      Palace of Versailles

      May 16, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌙 5 °C

      In contrast to the previous day, yesterday was a nice sunny day. It was the perfect day to visit the Palace of Versailles. It turned out to be a popular day because the place was buzzing.

      The place was amazing. So opulent and over the top. You could spent two days and not cover everything to see. I'm glad we chose this day. The original plan was to do this on our last day, but we might not get back in time for a train to London.

      Desire the sun, it was cold outside due to the wind. Not unbearably so, but enough to wish I'd bought another layer.

      The statues and paintings alone were worth the visit, but the Palace and the grounds were a sight, especially walking up to the entrance with the sun shining off the gold trim of the building.
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    • Day 6

      The Palace & Garden of Versailles

      May 30, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

      I took SO many pictures.... The Palace was gorgeous (crowded, but gorgeous). The painted ceilings were captivating and mesmerizing. I can't say enough how pretty they were. Those statues.... I could care less about though. 😅 The garden was okay! Our feet hurt too much to get very far beyond the main entrance. 😭Read more

    • Day 3

      Versailles

      March 2 in France ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

      We headed to the Metro near our place, and a very nice young woman at the ticket office figured out a route for us-- easier than the one I'd conjured. We went from Nation to Alma -Marcrau on the #9 Meto, then transferred to the train which took us to Versailles. We stopped at a little shop for croissants and bevs, and I found an umbrella for €7. Of course I had one in my luggage- and a rain jacket as well- but did I bring them with me?

      We stood in a line and spoke with a nice couple from Belfast- and then found out we were in the wrong line.

      That put us closer to the beginning of the line we were supposed to be in, and we waited in that one instead. When our turn came, we toured through the Chateau. So many portraits! I wonder how many gallons of paint and linseed oil, and how many miles of canvas.

      After the Chateau, we took a stroll through the gardens- the drizzly day provided a view of what the Impressionists would truly have related to .

      We returned to the area near the train station and picked up gloves, and Wayne got a cap. (Did I mention it was chilly?). Then back to the Madeleine Cafe where we had some sandwiches for lunch before boarding the train back to our place.

      We found a Lidl down the block and around a corner and picked up some snacks. Then back to the room where we tried in vain to get the TV to work🤷‍♀️.

      (Also- we figured out that our "apartment" had been a pest removal service.)
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    • Day 4

      Schloss Versailles

      April 24, 2022 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

      Heute Vormittag besuchen wir das Schloss Versailles im Westen von Paris. 🏰

      Nur zu empfehlen, wenn man hier einen ganzen Tag Zeit für hat, und wichtig: Tickets für das Schloss vorab buchen.

      Wir konnten leider keine Tour im Inneren machen, da wir nachmittags schon den nächsten "Termin" hatten... 😉⚽️Read more

    • Day 36

      Château de Versailles: Let me eat cake!

      September 1, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      Up early, we headed to Gare d’Austerlitz again to take the RER C train line out to Versailles. The ride was easy, and I was really excited because I’d been looking forward to seeing the Versailles palace gardens for a long time. It was cloudy morning, and rain clouds were a little ominous, so I was worried the day would be a washout, but we ended up quite lucky with only a few light showers and a sunny afternoon.

      Upon arrival, during one of the rain showers, I thanked the TikTok girlies for sharing a hack whereby you can reserve a table at the restaurant at opening time, enjoy a coffee/petit-déjeuner while people are lining up, then buy your tickets with a shortcut and skip any lines (or standing in rain). This day the lines weren’t great too, so it really felt VIP and clever to have done the research. And not everyone can say they ‘dined’ at Château de Versailles, right! Not to mention the restaurant has a menu by Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse, so the coffee was delicious and the basket of mini viennoiserie was really nice quality, and good value - it was not all that expensive in Paris terms! I also really liked what they named the rest of the breakfast menus; one translated to “The Queen’s Rising”. So we enjoyed our coffee, and I ate most of the pastries before sneaking past the line into the palace.

      Regardless of skipping lines, the palace is always busiest in the morning, so it was pretty solidly packed in many of the rooms and passages. Despite needing to shuffle past people, the grandness of the palace was overwhelming. We had an audio tour, but there was so much to look through. Listening to it all would’ve taken hours. Another day, I might’ve taken the time to listen to all of it, but the gardens were the priority while we didn’t know what the weather was going to do, plus Vikum’s patience for all the palaces was starting to wane. We walked through with a little more pace, and I focused on small highlights in each room. I loved the embroidery and wall coverings, as well as The Gallery of Great Battles - so interesting to see all the different styles of painters do very similar paintings. Little things like how they used perspective, varying levels of detail in the emotion of faces. Not to mention they’re impressively large! I also really liked to see the difference between the public dining rooms and the King’s personal dining rooms.

      After this, we headed out of the palace, and Vikum decided he’d had enough of the pomp and knowing I would spend hours roaming the gardens - he was going to head back to the Paris apartment to do some fitness, chill, and prep dinner. We first headed out of the palace to get lunch in the nearby Versailles town center and check out the local Notre-Dame markets. A really cool place with fresh produce and artisan foods.

      I headed back into Versailles to buy my ticket into the gardens and realized quickly we had picked a day for the “Musical Gardens” whereby baroque music played through hidden surround-sound speakers from around the ‘jardin et bosquets’ that led down to the Grand Canal. Now alone, immersed in exploring the nooks of the maze-like ‘bosquets’ and the ambient soundtrack playing around me…I started to feel a little naked without several petticoats and a bonnet. The hedges of the gardens were so tall and maze-like I might’ve gotten lost without a map, and there were plenty of times I found myself alone even though hundreds of other tourists were at Versailles this day.

      From here, I walked towards Apollo’s Fountain and watched the little garden train pick up groups of tourists from the “Little Venice” area and avoided the packed train to hire a bike, with a little basket. So cute. For a few hours, I zipped around the gardens, heading down to the Queen’s Hamlet, Marie Antoinette’s hidden retreat from the Royal Court; despite living in ridiculous riches, Marie Antoinette wanted to cosplay living a quiet farm life and used to take her closest friends for leisurely walks through the hamlet. What was interesting was just how small a percentage of the crowds bothered to go to the Queen’s Hamlet area. It was so quiet, and I found myself alone many times here. For a major tourist attraction, it was crazy how little the crowds toured out past the gardens in front of the palace. After riding around the Grand Canal, I dropped the bike back and walked to the train home. On the train home, I headed to the second floor of the carriage to find an ornately designed roof, in the theme of Versailles stickered onto the carriage ceiling - so fun!

      When arriving home, Vikum looked very relaxed. We ate a chill dinner, then packed up our bags ready for our 8:30 a.m. train the next morning out of Paris.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Arrondissement de Versailles

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