Sunday, August 10, 2003
SURVIVING A DAY AT VERSAILLES
No matter how you cut it Versailles is a full day excursion. We started out from the 6th near my apartment to take the metro and then RER. Fortunately we had confirmed the how-to's of getting there at the metro station and learned that we would have to re-route through Javel instead of St. Michel to the RER. The journey took about an hour by the time we reached the gates of Chateau Versailles including a short 10 min walk from the RER station.
I've visited many places so enormous that the magnitude of its' conception, execution, and completion renders them incomprehensible. Chateau Versailles is such a place. The Russian friend accompanying me said if she didn't know any better she would have thought she was at the Hermitage in St. Petersberg. But the difference being the Hermitage is Versailles and the Louvre rolled into one, something which I would find "incroyable." In the handful of visits I've made to the Louvre over the years, I still remain overwhelmed navigating my way around. Last Sunday a friend took me on a pre-dinner stroll through the Egyptian antiquities wing but that was barely a dent in the Louvre. It's safe to assume I'm still nowhere close to having covered the entire museum even after a handful of visits over the years.
But getting back to Versailles...The visit wouldn't have felt so daunting if the place had been better organized. Although line-ups are expected on a Saturday, there is no reason why there has to be so much confusion as to which line and for what. Naturally, we lined up in the longest one which snaked a good block or two only to discover it was not the one we wanted! It's a little like entering a full restaurant on the assumption that everyone already seated knows that the food is good.
Versailles took three kings to complete with each one outdoing the work of the prior. It became the official residence of the Court of France in 1682 supplanting the Louvre and Chateau St. Germain-en-Laye. Versailles is basically the Chateau, the Trianon & Petit Trianon, and massive gardens. There is even a proper order for viewing the gardens which was almost decreed by the King, but I don’t think it really matters how you decide to tackle it. It’s still a sight to behold at every turn. After a seven hour day at Versailles, I can't say it warrants subsequent visits (unlike the Louvre) but a picnic lunch on the grounds would be nice or a stroll about on a lazy afternoon. But my one beef, why don't they just raise the ticket prices by 40 centiemes and eliminate the cost of using the toilet? With separate entrance fees for every part of Versailles, it nearly adds up to the price of dinner in a nice brasserie. Another few cents to cover the toilets wouldn't make any difference.
By the way, St. Germain-en-Laye, a "hoity-toity" suburb about 30 minutes west of Paris is a nice day or half-day trip. It offers lovely shops for browsing and offers some decent dining options. On Sunday there is a farmer’s market which even operates in the deader than dead month of August when nearly everything else in Paris is closed. And of course, if you’re into chateaux, there is the one at St. Germain-en-Laye, Versailles’ predecessor, which offers a lovely vista of Paris at the same time.
No matter how you cut it Versailles is a full day excursion. We started out from the 6th near my apartment to take the metro and then RER. Fortunately we had confirmed the how-to's of getting there at the metro station and learned that we would have to re-route through Javel instead of St. Michel to the RER. The journey took about an hour by the time we reached the gates of Chateau Versailles including a short 10 min walk from the RER station.
I've visited many places so enormous that the magnitude of its' conception, execution, and completion renders them incomprehensible. Chateau Versailles is such a place. The Russian friend accompanying me said if she didn't know any better she would have thought she was at the Hermitage in St. Petersberg. But the difference being the Hermitage is Versailles and the Louvre rolled into one, something which I would find "incroyable." In the handful of visits I've made to the Louvre over the years, I still remain overwhelmed navigating my way around. Last Sunday a friend took me on a pre-dinner stroll through the Egyptian antiquities wing but that was barely a dent in the Louvre. It's safe to assume I'm still nowhere close to having covered the entire museum even after a handful of visits over the years.
But getting back to Versailles...The visit wouldn't have felt so daunting if the place had been better organized. Although line-ups are expected on a Saturday, there is no reason why there has to be so much confusion as to which line and for what. Naturally, we lined up in the longest one which snaked a good block or two only to discover it was not the one we wanted! It's a little like entering a full restaurant on the assumption that everyone already seated knows that the food is good.
Versailles took three kings to complete with each one outdoing the work of the prior. It became the official residence of the Court of France in 1682 supplanting the Louvre and Chateau St. Germain-en-Laye. Versailles is basically the Chateau, the Trianon & Petit Trianon, and massive gardens. There is even a proper order for viewing the gardens which was almost decreed by the King, but I don’t think it really matters how you decide to tackle it. It’s still a sight to behold at every turn. After a seven hour day at Versailles, I can't say it warrants subsequent visits (unlike the Louvre) but a picnic lunch on the grounds would be nice or a stroll about on a lazy afternoon. But my one beef, why don't they just raise the ticket prices by 40 centiemes and eliminate the cost of using the toilet? With separate entrance fees for every part of Versailles, it nearly adds up to the price of dinner in a nice brasserie. Another few cents to cover the toilets wouldn't make any difference.
By the way, St. Germain-en-Laye, a "hoity-toity" suburb about 30 minutes west of Paris is a nice day or half-day trip. It offers lovely shops for browsing and offers some decent dining options. On Sunday there is a farmer’s market which even operates in the deader than dead month of August when nearly everything else in Paris is closed. And of course, if you’re into chateaux, there is the one at St. Germain-en-Laye, Versailles’ predecessor, which offers a lovely vista of Paris at the same time.
