Day 15: It's Good to be the King

We went to Versailles! That's the short version. This is one of those places we'd long dreamed about and finally realized. 

We were originally going to go during the week when it was less crowded, but Marsha bought us tickets online to a big, nighttime fountain show that they only do during the summer and this was the first night. So, we braved the bigger crowds to see this spectacular fountain show, which we assumed would be like the Bellagio fountains or World of Color at Disney. This is foreshadowing.

I also found an app with an audio tour, so Marsha and I both downloaded it. This time I was smart enough (lesson learned) to launch it at the hotel and download the extra content before we left. Like the Louvre, Versailles promised free wifi, but it wasn't very reliable, so that was a smart choice.

We took the RER C there, which was amazingly easy, since the station was right down the block from our hotel and the line ends at Versailles. As soon as we arrived, we popped into Starbucks for a quick bite and then headed to the Palace. 

Along the way, we saw a wonderful little picture perfect French street (rue de Satory) that looked straight out of the movies. Naturally, we had to stop and take pictures (more foreshadowing).

When we arrived at the gates, we were greeted by a long, long line of people 

At first it didn't look that bad, but after waiting for a bit and making it past the first turn, we realized that it looped around yet again and was much longer than we thought. 

Eventually we made it inside the small, temporary visitors center and the Royal Courtyard. We weren't really sure where to go first, so we headed for the center doorway in the center building, which we thought would be the main entrance to the palace.  

Actually, it was the Mesdames Apartments, belonging to the six daughters of Louis XV. We went through that fairly quickly.

The main entrance is actually the "King's Apartments" and off the side, which was a little confusing. The first section covered the history of the Palace. Like the Louvre (and, I'm sure, most palaces), it started as a much smaller chateau and was added onto over the successive centuries by the Kings that followed. 

Following the French Revolution, the furniture was moved to the other palace and much of it was sold at auction. Some of it may have also been looted. So, pretty much all of the rooms are empty. The audio tour said that some 200 years later, they're still trying to track down the missing furniture.

The rooms were hot and unbelievably crowded. Because there was no furniture, we were allowed to go deeper into each room, which made them even more crowded. People were packed in like cattle, and the doorways created big bottlenecks. Hence the warning signs regarding pickpockets.

We skipped the King's bedchamber because it was just so crowded, but did see Marie Antoinette's. There's a small door in the back through which she fled when the Palace was overrun. I can only imagine what it must have been like on that day for all involved.

Next we went to the Gardens, where we learned two things: first, they are ginormous and you can easily spend all day exploring them (Marie and Louiie should have hid out there). Second, on the weekends it's actually a separate admission ticket, so we had to pay again to see them. Dang.

The gardens are just so amazingly huge they defy description. It's all blocked off in a series of squares, with paths running between them. The closest ones are small and easy to walk around. The ones in the middle have huge hedges that can only be entered from the corners. And beyond those is the Grand Canal, which seems to be as long as everything before it. It even has boats for rent.

We worked our way down to the Grand Canal (and still only covered one side of the Gardens), which is actually outside of the ticketed area. With only 45 minutes left before we could get back into the Gardens before they closed (we needed to be on the other side), we started to walk over to the Trianon Palaces and Marie Antoinette's estate.

It was a ten-minute walk there and back, which gave us very little time to even see what was there. And we had no idea if our Museum Pass would even let us in, or if it cost extra. After walking a few minutes, Marsha pointed out that we'd be better off just going back to the Gardens, and then we wouldn't have to worry about getting back in on time.

It was the right decision. We went back and strolled around, taking our time before they kicked everyone out. We had to hang around for a bit to pick up our tickets for the night-time show, plus there was some confusion since our confirmation email was all in French and each person we talked to told us something different. At one point, he guy behind us in the ticket line was better informed than the employee in the booth. After we finally got our tickets, it was time to find someplace to eat.

All of the dining places at the Palace were closed, so we had to venture off the grounds. We were directed "off to the right" and found ourselves back at the same little street we had stopped to admire earlier.

We perused the cafes and found an Italian place called Via Veneto. We've seen a lot of Italian places in Paris (and almost went to one in Cardiff), plus we recognized most of the dishes.

The staff was great. When our waiter saw me checking my French dictionary, he gladly jumped in and answered our questions. The food was fantastic and the service excellent. The owner (we assume) was a older lady who hovered right beside our table and greeted everyone happily. She reminded me of the woman at John's of 12th Street, but without the yelling.

Luckily, we just beat the dinner time rush. By the time we left, there was s good line waiting for a table.

We had a little time, so we went back to the train station to get our tickets for the return ride home. Along the way we checked out the McDonalds. I wanted to see the "Royal with Cheese" on the menu (had to explain it to Marsha and Madison). We were also surprised to see macarons in the McCafe and self-serve kiosks for ordering, which loomed pretty cool.

We went back to the Palace for the big fountain show. Our first clue that something was amiss was that the show lasted three hours ("A glorious three-hour finale"). About the time they let us back in, we'd finally figured it out.

There was no big, night-time fountain show. Actually, they just let you back into the gardens for three hours and turn on the fountains that were all off during the day. Basically, I felt like we'd paid to see the same Gardens three times.

They did have some extra lighting, which was cool, but you don't get to see much of that because the sun doesn't go down until 10:00 pm.

Had we known what the night-time event actually was, we could have made better use of our time. We could have skipped the Gardens earlier and seen the Marie Antionette portion of the estate, then done the Gardens at night. Oh well, live and learn.

We were getting tired and it was starting to drizzle, so we skipped the fireworks in order to beat the crowds on the train ride back to Paris. That plan was only halfway successful. We were definitely some of the first people on the RER, but it wasn't leaving for another 25 minutes, well after the fireworks were over.

C'est la vie!