Versailles – visiting the gardens

In the established tradition (he he) this is another post and photo gallery put online with a pretty big delay. I suppose people got used to seeing my travel posts long after returning home. I hope people will not complain too much (hint: like they did regarding my previous post).

But let me get back to the subject: a beautiful visit to the Versailles palace and gardens. Versailles is the old ‘de facto’ capital of France, and now one of the top tourist destinations for people visiting Paris. For anyone staying a few days in Paris, doing a short (or long) day trip to Versailles is a very good idea.

The Chateau de Versailles is comprised of the palace per-se, the huge gardens, the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. This is a lot to see in one day!

To arrive at Versailles you can use the RER C, which costs 6 euro (both ways). There is a special train station called ‘Versailles rive gauche’ (left bank) so it is hard to miss. The important thing to note is that strangely enough the ticket vending machine for RER accepts credit cards OR coins. Not bills. I learned this the hard way when I wanted to go to Disneyland. The entrance ticket to Versailles is a bit pricey – starting at 13 euro and going up to 20 euro (which includes the entrance to the two Trianons and also audio guide, so it is not a bad value). It is a good idea to purchase the ticket in advance in order to skip the lengthy queues.

When I arrived I wanted to first visit the palace. However while I was standing in queue for the audio guide an alarm started and everyone had to be evacuated. Unfortunately I could not find out what the alarm was for. So I had to do a small change of plans and started the day with a visit to the gardens. Which are huge. I mostly followed the shortest line touching the most interesting parts of the park, which meant I wen to the pools and fountains, the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. Last I visited the Queen’s playground – a village mock-up, complete with pond, vineyard, animal farm, cottages and so on. It looks a bit…strange for a royal playground, but maybe they thought it would become an important tourist attraction a few hundred years later.

All in all it was a very nice day spent outdoors, and I managed to fill completely my memory card. The pictures will probably be split in 2 or 3 posts, as processing them can take a while. Enjoy the first part!