Versailles Chateau

It was a sleep in morning after our rainy night adventure last night; it was nearly 10 am before everyone was up this morning.   We decided to change the schedule and go to the Versailles Chateau today because of the predicted rainy weather for next week. 

By 11 am we were out the door and headed by Metro to the RER for our thirty-five minute train ride to the Chateau that is located to the southwest of Paris.   By noon we’d arrived and briskly walked the ten minutes from the train station to the Chateau.  We could see long before we entered that the predicted crowds had arrived and the wait for entrance, even with a Museum Pass, was at least several hours. 

We decided to bypass the Chateau and make this a visit of the sites in the gardens.   We’ll come back next Wednesday even in the rain for the tour of the main Chateau.   We easily walked into the gardens and found the Petit Train.  For a few Euros you can ride all the way through the gardens.  Our first stop was at the Grand Trianon, a very formal building that is sometimes closed to the public because it is used regularly for State Visits from prominent officials from other countries.  Several of our Presidents have stayed here during visits to France. 

After touring the buildings and grounds we climbed back on another train and bounced over to the Petit Trianon that was built for Marie Antoinette as a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the main Chateau.

The Hameau de La Reine is on the grounds of the Petit Trianon.  One walks from there to the rustic group of home that were built in the 1700’s for the entertainment of Marie Antoinette so that she could enjoy the sense of “being one of the common folks” when she was visiting these houses that are like a miniature farming community.   You can’t enter these buildings; you only walk around them. 

They surround a large pond that has lots of hungry carps that love to catch the bread crumbs that are tossed by the tourists.  There are still gardens planted and harvested here along with farm animals in the dairy section.  Other than the fact that we were very cold; it was a delightful walk for about an hour to see all of the buildings.   We’d expected lots of sunshine today and had dressed accordingly.  Tomorrow we bring jackets no matter what the weatherman says.   Gloves would have been nice today!

Soon we were back on our Petit Train and bouncing along to the Grand Canal.  There we could have rented a boat…not our top choice today; there is a lovely restaurant there and we decided to have dinner as it was already 5 pm. 

We all decided on omelets and enjoyed our meal.

Soon we were back on the Petit Train for our final destination back at the Chateau; which by this time was already closed for the day.  We took a look at the large fountains and then because there were tiny raindrops beginning to fall we started our ten minute walk back to the train station.

Arrived home before 8 pm and have enjoyed a quiet evening here in the apartment. 

 Hope you enjoy the slideshow from today: