Chateaux, Gateaux, Cadeaux

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I know Marie Antoinette is falsely rumoured to have said "Let them eat cake", but it has become a joke, our pattern of visiting French national monuments and museums. A bit of culture, a choux pastry concoction and a visit to the gift shop is all it takes to make us happy! We were doubled up with laughter today when we realised our modus operandi rhymed - Chateaux, Gateaux, Cadeaux! I think our excess energy stemmed from the fact that for the first time in literally weeks, the weather was blessedly cool. In fact, it got positively cold, but I'm jumping ahead.

We realised why the lady at the Chateau of Versailles information desk had been so insistent about "8.15am, no later!" at about 8.20am, when the very modest queue of 50 or so bleary-eyed people drinking take-away coffees ballooned to at least 250 people, snaking all the way down to the gate. The doors opened at 8.30, and thanks to our queue position we were able to walk straight across the courtyard and straight to the Hall of Mirrors, which was almost deserted. It was my second visit in just a few weeks, but it's not somewhere you get tired of. We wandered around, noticing something special everywhere we turned, especially in the paintings on the ceiling and the mouldings around windows and doors. Of course, the chandeliers are amazing. I think we have photographs of them from almost every angle, and Sarah has some great shots taken from directly underneath that she is thinking of framing. I adore the sunflowers for the sun king you see everywhere, on urns, sculptures, the iron work and the building itself.

It came as a bit of a shock when we started to make our way back through the corridors and had to work our way through the crowds. We browsed at the obligatory gift stand, stocking up on absolutely essential pink Marie Antoinette paraphernalia. My personal favourite was the Marie Antoinette cleaning cloth but I'm not sure she would have approved. As we made our way outside, we walked through a beautiful hallway full of sculpture and paved with black and white tiles. There are so many great spots to explore.

We walked home via the Couer des Senteurs again, which is basically a beautiful square and garden that you enter next to the Maison des Parfums, an 18th-century building on one of the streets leading to the palace. A fountain diffuses the scent of orange blossom – Louis XIV’s favourite – and as you walk through, an illustrated timeline 'elaborates on the secret history of Versailles'. Apparently the Sun King had a passion for perfume, and regularly doused himself with a different scent for each body part, probably necessary because washing was though to be dangerous. Louis XV's court was called "The Perfumed Court" because the King demanded a new perfume every day. I also learned that Marie Antoinette adored Jasmine, but that so much of it was planted at Versailles that it used to make her servants feel sick on warm days!

It is not so easily identified as a place which welcomes tourists, but once you are actually inside, the Guerlain store is well worth a look. I loved seeing the 'Bouquet de Prince', a fragrance created in 1830! Just across the way there is also the wonderful Le Notre (of the cooking school fame) which is a great place to stop for something to eat. I highly recommend their beautiful fig confit, and there are various delicious sit-down meals on offer. A little further along in the coeur, a wooden display lining the walkway links various flowers with all the modern perfumes which use them as a base. You then make your way down various steps and ramps which are surrounded by plantings of flowers and fruit trees until you reach the exit gate on the next street - handy for us just one block from home.

After picking up the bikes at our apartment, we wandered along our street to the King's Potager Garden, which didn't appear open, but I hear there are wonderful foodie tours which help you discover its secrets.

We may have erred not picking up a rental bike for Isabel at the railway station when we first arrived in Versailles, because we had to walk and push the two bikes which came with the apartment until we could rent a third bike. Isabel encouraged us to ride and she trotted along at times, but it was still slow going until we all had wheels. There was no question about what to have for lunch - the salmon yesterday was so good we went back for more, and this morning we went slightly earlier so we could stop at the market to buy bread, ham and more fig confit to eat with our chevre - a taste sensation! Choosing cake was as difficult as usual, but we managed. There were some beautiful shops in another street near the market, and Sarah bought a spectacular basket in a style we hadn't seen before - washed in a light blue paint and with big soft rope handles. Unfortunately this detour to the shops got us a little lost again, so by the time we walked to the Grand Canal it was like Groundhog Day - grumpy people desperate for food and refusing to go any further, even though the wind on the canal had sprung up and was freezing! What a contrast to the heat of yesterday. There wasn't a soul in the boats on the canal, and the lawn was deserted. We sought some relative shelter near tall trees and a car park (Yes, we have a gift for finding beautiful picnic spots!) and tucked right in to lunch. Delicious.

After lunch it was a simple exercise to organise a bike for Isabel near the Little Venice gift shop, and we set off down the lanes to explore the whole of the Grand Canal area and make our way to the Grand Trianon. I loved the yellow drawing room and the little hidey hole high up in the wall above the billiard table where the string quartet used to sit to play! Talk about the common people needing to be heard but not seen!

It was at the Grand Trianon that we had our drama for the day. As Isabel was locking her hire bike and pulling the key out of the lock, the key flew out of her hand, bounced twice, and then sailed through the cracks into a stormwater grate cemented firmly into the ground. I watched it happen but still couldn't quite believe it. Most people could not have made that happen if they had been TRYING to do it. There was no retrieving the key which glinted at us from below the heavy metal grate, so we asked the advice of the staff at the Grand Trianon, who spluttered and exclaimed in a babble of French which ended in the words 'extremely unlucky'. There was nothing for it but to send Isabel and Sarah on to Marie Antoinette's toy farm and the Petit Trianon while I rode back to the hire place and, for the second time this trip, apologised profusely in terrible French for the loss of an essential item. Luckily our problem only cost us 5 euros and the inconvenience of Isabel walking back to the palace, although she got out of jail free because as we were all meeting up again at the Grand Trianon, the bike hire guys arrived, (looking comical on a tandem bike) and cut the lock off the bike. After a bit of prodding, Isabel sheepishly explained that the bike was hers and was able to ride back to the Grand Canal with them, saving her legs. (I did try to make her ride on the tandem, but she declined.)

By the time we got home, we were ready for a rest before our big event later in the evening - the "Roi de Feu" - outdoors in the L'Orangerie at Versailles. Of course our big outdoor evening event was on about the only cold night we've had in France! I turned around after putting the kettle on to see both Isabel and Sarah fast asleep on their beds. We had been 'pushing the envelope' as my friend Clare says, so it wasn't really surprising. I took the opportunity to go and look for dinner provisions, and discovered some amazing pre-prepared dishes down the street at Picard. Don't get me wrong, this store doesn't invite you to wander in and linger like you would in a little French deli - it's all white fridges and freezers - but it's not rubbish or Lean Cuisine. Picard sells quality New Zealand lamb in addition to its frozen lines and it was perfect for the woman (me) who wanted something relatively healthy but was too tired to cook. Later, we ate green beans wrapped in prosciutto, little frenched duck wingettes and potatoes au gratin - all quite delicious and purchased in separate frozen packets to be re-heated in the oven. For 3 people, I paid the princely sum of 18 euros and didn't actually have to cook a thing.

We loaded up with blankets and our warm gear just before 22:00 and joined the steady stream of people making their way to the L'Orangerie for the 'Roi du Feu'. The man next to us though we were mad as we posed for a couple of selfies in the vain hope of trying to get one decent photograph of the 3 of us before this trip is over. They were so bad we nearly cried laughing! Our seats were in a great spot in the stands and for the next few hours we were treated to a musical and pyrotechnic extravaganza - although at one point we were all convinced that a performer wearing a violently spinning headpiece which spewed sparks in all directions was about to be decapitated! Louis the Sun King held court in bright electric blue as performers wearing all sorts of lights took to the stage and huge fireworks lit up the sky above the gardens. It was a bit of fun but not quite the opera, if you know what I mean. Luckily, we were quite cultured out and ready for the soft option tonight. Tomorrow we leave Versailles and begin our last two days in Paris before heading home. The gift shop at Musee D'Orsay had better be ready.

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Photos

Belle-soeur, fille, Belle-soeur
In our seats at "Roi de Feu", Versailles

Which cake today?
Just another magnificent specimen!

What are the odds?
Isabel's bike was the one FURTHEST from the grate!

Roi de Feu, Versailles
A pyrotechnic extravaganza!

Doorway after doorway
So much detail to take in