Friday 16 March 2012

Crowds, gardens(?!) and a fine

 Day: 12

With the lovely Clodie winging her way back home, today I was on my own.

With the sun shining and most of my Paris list ticked off I decided to head south to Chateau Versailles, former home of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette.

It is on the train down there that I get my first fine for not having the correct ticket. Ah damn it!! Even my pleas of ignorance had no effect and I hand over 20€.

The chateau itself is very impressive with wrought iron and gold gates and a huge cobblestone expanse in front so you can truly appreciate its size and grandeur.




Before reaching the chateau/exhibit itself there was an exhibition of paintings by  Louis François Lejeune who was also an officer during the Napolianic Wars. The paintings were very impressive, large and incredibly detailed but after a while the subject of death, destruction and 19th century wars was depressing so I skipped the last half and went on.

To imagine the kind of wealth it took to build (and maintain) such a place is mind boggling. The detail and extravagance that adorned every room was breathtaking. From the massive paintings on the ceilings to the gilt edged cornicing and door frames to the marble everywhere, the whole place was one big 'look at how much money we have, we almost can't spend it fast enough'. No wonder the peasants revolted, kicked the gates in and stormed the place (exact historical citation needed).

Certainly the most impressive room was the 'Hall of Mirrors'. A 239.5 foot (73m) long room with 17 enormous mirroredarches echoing floor to ceiling windows opposite and the whole thing set off with countless numbers of lights/candles. It was truly spectacular and no photo can do it justice.






Some of the other rooms that can be viewed are Marie Antoinettes bedroom and the Kings Grand Apartment.

The chateau and the rooms were spectacular but the whole experience was ruined by the fact that there were quite a few people trying to cram their way through those narrow halls and of course everyone wants to stop and take pictures so there were several times where we were crushed together like cattle, which is neither pleasant nor fun.

I managed to snap a few photos while fighting the crush.







Finally breaking free of the crush I wandered the infamous Versailles gardens. Now these gardens are immense and there is no way you can see them all on foot (you can hire golf buggies to drive around!) so I knew I was never going to see it all. But I did expect to be completely awed by the small part I would see....

Unfortunately not the case. Bitterly disappointed. The initial gardens right by the chateau I would describe less as gardens and more as gravel surrounding dried shrub looking things. In pretty patterns though.

Most of the statues we're covered up (I assume to protect them from the weather, seems they did ok the previous century or so) and the fountains were not on. There was a sign saying they were only turned in in the summer season. Excuse me? Did I not just pay the same entrance fee as you would in the summer season yet I don't get the same experience? Not happy at all.



I continued walking to see if there was more to the gardens that might deserve my appreciation. Well, not quite. More covered over statues, more gravel and very few places to sit down. I finally found a place that was nice (and I could sit down) although I would consider it less 'gardens' and more just 'nature allowed to grow'.

As with Paris, I had high expectations and minimal results. Yes I'm glad I went and there were some wonderful things to see but the overall experience left much to be desired.

Finally I had had enough and got back on the train (making sure I had the correct ticket) and headed for Paris.

I still had some time left in the afternoon so I went the Musee d'Orsay, which is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive former railway station built between 1898 and 1900. Musee d'Orsay shows many beautiful paintings, statues etc including many by Van Gogh,  Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, and Gauguin, of the Impressionist Movement. They were very interesting and it was well worth the 4€ for an audio tour as this just made it that much more interesting.

I tried to stick around to see the Eiffel Tower at sunset and then all lit up but it had been a long and tiring day. Luckily I will be returning to Paris so I can still experience both those things another day.

1 comment:

AJ said...

Bummer about the gardens or lack-there-of...maybe visit in summer nex time?? Aden still wants to go on a plane!?!?

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