France
Saint-Louis

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    • Day 2

      Chez Lazare - Rue de Satory, Versailles

      April 6, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      Fabulous little French restaurant in Versailles. Place was buzzing and they cooked the meats on the grill inside the restaurant and in front of you. I had duck skewers in a pepper sauce whilst Jane went for the beef skewers. Superb.Read more

    • Day 7

      Versailles - schon toll, König zu sein

      September 1 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      Auf einer Fläche, doppelt so gross wie der Central-Park in New York, errichten die Bourbonen ein Wochenendhaus mit Garten. Alle 100m löst eine Wasserspiel eine anderes ab, die Orangerie im Keller des Schlosses ist mit Teppichen bedeckt, damit die Pflanzen keinen Schaden nehmen können. Nicht nur für diese Prachtentfaltung hat Louis XV. schliesslich die Quittung bekommen. Schade nur, dass die wesentlich bescheidener lebende Marie-Antoinette das gleiche Schicksal ereilte…Read more

    • Day 38

      Versaille

      June 9, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      Today we went to the Palace of Versaille. It was a busy day. We left the hotel at 7:30am and returned at 6:30pm.

      We had booked a guided tour and return train journey and it was definitely the right move. Versaille gets 39 million visitors each year and you can see why.

      Our guide was brilliant and he guided us through the palace, where we saw the Hall of Mirrors and the royal apartments where the three kings, Louis XIV, Louis XV and the ill-fated Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette lived, before they both lost their heads in the revolution.

      We were also guided through the gardens and the Chateau Trianon where Marie Antoinette lived for a number of years, as well as Petite Trianon, the rural village built in the grounds of the palace purely for the amusement of Marie Antoinette.

      It was a special day and everything there was amazing. Words and pictures do not do it justice in any way. This is just a small selection of the 100s of photos we took.
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    • 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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    • Day 41

      Palace of Versailles

      December 30, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

      Considering their reputation with their Royal Family, you might think the French would not care to commemorate them. But here be Versailles.

      The palace is a place of importance, as it was where World War One ended with the treaty signing and additionally present is the coronation room of Napoleon. The architecture and garden were impressive as well.Read more

    • Day 11

      Palace of Versailles - The Gardens

      August 31 in France ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      We visited the Palace of Versailles, built by Louis 14th. First was a walk around the gardens. Absolutely massive. Included fountains, manicured gardens, maze, lake and a whole orchard of orange trees, as oranges were seen as a fruit of the privileged.

      Only time on the trip that it really rained, however we dashed to find cover along with everyone else.
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    • Day 2

      Versailles

      July 21, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Ein Besuch des Schloss Versailles war ein lang gehegter Traum von mir - gehört es doch zu einem der bedeutendsten Orte der Weltgeschichte. Hier übertraf sich der Sonnenkönig Ludwig der XIV an Pracht und Dekadenz und begleitete damit den Unmut der französischen Bevölkerung, der sich später in der französischen Revolution entlud. Hier wurden die Versailler Verträge verhandelt und unterschrieben, ein Ereignis das Europa nachhaltig prägte.

      Wie so oft, kann die Realität dem Wunschgebilde aber nicht standhalten. Wohl weil tausende andere Menschen den selben Traum teilen 😔. Versailles ist schlichtweg überfüllt. Man kann das Schloss und seine Räume vor lauter Leuten kaum sehen. Über eine vordefinierte Route werden hunderte Menschen gleichzeitig durch die Räumlichkeiten geschoben. Das Schloss selber kommt von vorn kaum zur Geltung da die Stadt so nah an es herangewachsen ist. Beeindruckend bleibt es weiterhin, nur ist es eben kein Traumschloss mehr.
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    • Day 4

      Versalles

      April 17, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

      Finalmente decidimos visitar Versalles por libre, y creo que fue un acierto porque con la audio guía no tuvimos ningún problema y al haber tanta gente nos parábamos a nuestro ritmo. Nos habían comentado que el palacio no tiene gran cosa y no es así. Nos encontramos gran cantidad de pinturas, mobiliario original en las diferentes estancias y cada una con su historia. Además de la impresionante sala de los espejos, o la sala de la coronación. Los jardines no los visitamos. Son tan inmensos que podrías estar el día entero y no te los acabas. Además como había el espectáculo de las fuentes (que no es otra cosa que las encienden) te cobran una entrada aparte. Así que preferimos volver a París y visitar lo que nos quedó pendiente del día anterior.Read more

    • Day 5

      Tour - Private Apartments in Versailles

      May 31 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      Here we got to visit the private apartments of the King (Louis 14, 15, 16) before Louis Phillipe turned the Chateau of Versailles into a museum.

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