Versailles

We made a last minute decision to go to Versailles in the morning when we realized that our time in Paris was quickly running out and that Versailles was on our “must do” list, since we had not been there in over 30 years.  I grabbed my trusty Rick Steves, we bought metro tickets, and we were off.  It was an easy trip – about 45 minutes on the RER.  Hoping to save time, we bought our Versailles tickets at the tourist office outside of the train station, where there was short line.   Except for a couple of large Japanese tour groups, Versailles was remarkably uncrowded, one of the advantages of January travel.

The Hall of Mirrors has been renovated since we were last here and it is absolutely breathtaking --worth the price of admission on its own.  I could have hung out there all day.  The rest of the palace is room after room of mind-boggling opulence, to the point where I became somewhat numb to it after awhile.

To make sure we had enough time to see everything, we cut our time inside the palace a little short and headed out through the gardens to see the Grand and Petite Trianons and Marie Antoinette’s hamlet.  The garden and fountains were beautiful, even in January.  The Trianons are on a scale that is easier to comprehend than the main palace.  The hamlet, Marie Antoinette’s personal peasant village and farm, is very pretty, and still comes complete with farm animals.

We managed to hustle all the way back to the palace before it closed and conveniently arrived back in Paris in time for wine and cheese,  We finished off our Chinese food for dinner, and packed for our trip the next day to Rennes and Mont St. Michel.

Main gate to Versailles

Hall of mirrors

More Hall of Mirrors

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Grand Trianon

Marie Antoinette's bedroom