Until yesterday, I had never visited Versailles. And I’m not talking about Versailles, Missouri (which exists, by the way, and is pronounced “Ver-say-leez”). I’m talking about Chateau de Versailles, built by Louis XIV in the 1600s. The fact that I’ve never been there is rather shocking considering that 1) I’ve been to Paris several times, 2) tourists who visit Paris for only 4 days manage to visit Versailles, and 3) I’m an architect and I studied the building in school. Yesterday, I went to Versailles.
Here’s how Versailles came to be:
King Louis XIV had a finance minister who built an impressive chateau called Vaux-le-Vicompte. Louis went to the housewarming party, got jealous of the nice house, threw his finance guy in prison, and then stole his designers to build an even bigger and flashier house. Fifty years later, the project was finished. And then Louis died. The end.
On the way to Versailles, we met some Americans who were vacationing in Paris and headed to Versailles as well. One couple was from Kansas City and the other from Dallas. We spent a good hour chatting with them on the journey and discovered that we had lots in common. Well, most of that “common” stuff was me. I grew up in Missouri and my brother and my childhood best friend now live in Kansas City. The two women in this group are court reporters and their husbands are lawyers; my brother and friend are both lawyers. I lived in Texas for several years, attending undergrad and grad school there. One of the couples had a daughter who went to my alma mater, Trinity University. It is a small school, and most people have never even heard of it, so it was fun to make that connection.
Once we reached the train stop for Versailles, we walked the 10 minutes to the chateau, chatting all the while. At the entrance, we said our goodbyes. Chad and I had to buy tickets, but the other couples had pre-purchased online and were able to walk right in. I’ve gotta tell you, for as big as Versailles is and for as many people were there, we bumped into those folks several times.
I took pictures of Versailles from the outside, but they are terrible – not because I’m a terrible photographer, but because it’s simply impossible to take pictures of that place because it is so big. You just can’t capture what it’s really like. As Chad says, “It’s like trying to take pictures of the Grand Canyon. What’s the point?” To give you an idea of how big this place is, when it was in its heyday, 20,000 people lived there. 20,000. 20,000! That is a lot of people in one house!
However, even though it’s impossible to convey in photos, here are some photos:
Approaching Versailles. Everything you see is the chateau and it’s all one building.
Again, this was one dude’s house. And the roof was trimmed in gold. The sun came out at this moment and illuminated the gold which was appropriate, because Louis XIV was known as The Sun King.
The ticket lets you see the main rooms of this humble abode.
This room was crazy for all of its paintings on the walls and ceilings. One of the designers that King Louis stole from his imprisoned finance minister was a painter.
This is the famous Hall of Mirrors.
Okay. I’m going to be honest here. Maybe I’m just jaded, but I wasn’t that impressed with the chateau. Not that it’s not an impressive place to visit, but I think I had built Versailles up to be something lifechanging, and it kept reminding me of other chateaux and palaces and museums and cathedrals that I have seen elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong; I realize that Chad and I have been fortunate in our travels. However, the hordes of people were stifling, and the pushing and jostling got to me.
Our one reprive from the crowds was lunch. The chateau has 3 food venues inside – a sandwich/salad/soup counter, a cafeteria, and a sit-down restaurant. We chose to eat at the restaurant because it was the most expensive option and would take the most amount of time, thereby ensuring that it would be the least crowded.
Ordering lunch while seated in the Baby Prince’s Room. I thought this was pretty cool!
When I say that the restaurant is in the chateau, I mean in the original chateau. We were seated at a table in the baby prince’s room. Lunch was a little expensive, but we’ve come to expect that in Paris. Plus, the food was pretty good. After lunch, we made a beeline for the exit to see the chateau gardens.
For me, the gardens were the best part. People make such a big deal about the chateau itself and the grandiose architecture, but the gardens are just stunning. I’m sure part of the reason I liked them so much is that I had no expectations for the gardens and that we could escape the crowds. And by “escape the crowds” I mean, “how far do you want to go?” The Versailles property is larger than Manhattan. No, I don’t mean larger than Central Park. I mean larger than Manhattan. Um, yeah.
The gardens are traditional French gardens with manicured hedges and trees, long vistas, and fountains. There’s not a lot I can convey with words about the gardens, so here are some photos:
This pathway was called Allee des Eaux – Alley of Water – and there were beautiful fountains on both sides of the path all the way down
This fountain made us laugh because it looks like the dragon is about to eat the pigeon.
We rented a boat and paddled around “Le Grand Canal,” a lake in the Versailles gardens.
Our favorite find was this little area called the Queen’s Hamlet. This was built for Marie-Antoinette in the 1760s as a getaway for her and her closest friends. It was a pretend English village where they could escape the structure of the chateau life and do as they pleased. We particularly liked the English-style gardens which are less manicured and more wild.
Typical English garden design with a “folly”. A folly is a false greek or roman “ruin” that was built into French and English gardens when people actually spent time outside before being distracted by televistion.
A little house from the Queen’s Hamlet. Note the vegetable garden in the yard.
While walking around the “jardins anglais” (English gardens), I was wondering what it was like to be royalty in the 1600s and 1700s. There would be no privacy. It sounds like Louis XIV had every minute of his day scheduled. Chad told me that if France depended on my public “waking schedule” (which Louis had), the country would be in dire straits. (FYI, I’m not a morning person.) And did the gardens provide escape for those who were always in the public eye? A way to hide just around the curve of a hedge?
Chad on one of the walkways through the Versailles gardens.
But then I thought about the gardens and how beautiful they are. The grounds are so big that you can’t even try to see everything as a tourist in one day. There is something that makes me wistful about that. What if I could tune out the siren song of the iPhone and the computer and the web and, instead, spend hours walking around the gardens of Versailles talking with my friends or just listening to the thoughts in my head? Reconnecting with people? That sounds ideal. But then there’s a little part of me that thinks that Marie-Antoinette would have giggled with glee at the idea of Facebook…