Blogs from Versailles, Île-de-France, France, Europe - page 2

After a long day, I headed back to the station and caught the train to Paris. · I saw some meringues (and I bought one), · A cool second-hand book shop · And then made it to the very ugly station.... read more

Marie Antoinette has been a royal I have spent a few school projects studying so a day trip to her famous palace in Versailles was a must see. It took us a while to figure out what metro and train we needed in order to reach the outskirts Paris and eventually Versailles. Thankfully though we asked a hotel for help that was able to give us a map of Paris that became very useful for the rest of our weekend stay. The train ride only took a half an hour before it stopped completely. We walked across the street and around the corner where we saw the gold of the palace around the gates and the roof. It might have been a muggy day but this made it all better. We walked up the brick road ... read more

Day three in Paris and we headed off to the Chateau de Versailles as planned. We did our homework and between the internet and the hotel concierge we worked out which train we would need to catch to get to Versailles. All good except when we got to the station at Musee d'Orsay it was closed . . . for maintenance works. Awesome. Our good fortune was an Australian passer by who must have heard our accents and seen our forlorn faces. He suggested we walk to the next station at Invalides which, although some distance away, would deliver us to Versaille without having to change trains. So, weary from the previous two days of trekking around Paris, off we went. The station was an experience all of its own. There were ticket machines everywhere and ... read more

Today we spent a day at the Palace and Gardens of Versailles. We had a bit of a challenging start to the day by not finding the correct train station, which caused us to arrive an hour later than we had planned. Once we arrived to the overwhelming crowds and grounds the two smaller palaces were closed till noon. In addition we a 1hour 49 minute wait to get into the Chateaux (the Louie XIV palace)....yes that is correct!!! Rick Steves was right, this place is a zoo. But we did it and it was totally worth it. All that practice line waiting in disney world really paid off. We attached some pictures of this opulent massive palace. The grounds and gardens were beautifully kept and picturesque. It was certainly worth it and a full day ... read more

Versailles. Back on the bus we were joined by a local guide who would take us to Versailles, a trip I was eager to make. In a lecture in his series "A History of European Art," Professor William Kloss gives a very interesting review of the history of the creation of the Palace of Versailles. Typical of much of the bizarre antics of French royalty – which eventually led to their extermination – this was a story of deceit, corruption and egomania. It appears that Louis XIV, the Sun King, had a Superintendent of Finance named Nicolas Fouquet. Using finances of questionable origin, Fouquet decided to build for himself the extravagant “Grand Chateau Vaux de Vicome,” using the finest architects, landscapers and interior decorators in France. He hosted a grand housewarming to open the Chateau and ... read more