The Sun King on a Sunday

Prior to our trip there today, I imagined that Versailles was akin to Hampton Court, but on a grander, more elaborate scale. It does, after all, house the fabled hall of mirrors, and, as they told us at Hampton Court, the French royal palaces set the bar for later Hampton Court renovations by William III. Still, it was so pleasant and relaxed at Hampton Court—a blending of historical significance, royal associations, and grand estates and gardens—that I anticipated our trip out to Versailles would be similar. If Hampton Court was popular for London, though, Versailles is the must-see for all of France...

I suppose I didn't anticipate large crowds because it didn't seem like there were many at Hampton Court and for some reason, I very much equated the two in my mind, despite their scale and time period differences. I don't think, however, that I've ever seen that many tourists in one place, aside from actual theme parks, which are a completely different category and experience altogether. Versailles, with its Louis XIV-XVI and Marie Antoinette connections, has quite the appeal, though, and tourists from all over definitely turn up to see it. Logically, of course, Hampton Court wouldn't have the same audience draw as even Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace in England, so I don't know why I thought it would be similar at Versailles, but nonetheless, we made it to Versailles and after a little wait in a very polite queue, got to tour the estate.

I have limited experience touring large estates, whether here or in the U.S., but it still seemed odd and a little hectic to have so many people crammed into these elaborate rooms trying to take everything in while simultaneously ignoring the "no flash photography" directive; I've definitely never seen that many people packed into little rooms before, although the presence of the audioguides cut down on most conversation too. The audioguides provided were great, but I think at one point they caused a traffic jam because people were waiting for the tape to stop speaking but it was tiny corner room and there just wasn't space for people to loiter. Still, even the occasional crowd couldn't detract from the beauty of the rooms and all of their gorgeous artwork. I'm not sure if it was something we were supposed to notice or if it is just part of the interior design, but while touring the "History of France Galleries," there was this one view down a long hallway that connected at least six or seven rooms together that allowed pedestrians to see the doorframes and a small portion of that room's decor. Looking down that corridor from one end to the other, you could literally see a rainbow of room colors and textures in the wallpapers and tapestries. It was a really interesting and colorful effect, although difficult to photograph since people generally wanted you to move into the next room so they could stay with the audioguide.

Some of the sections of the palace seemed to prohibit photography in general, although again, not too many people seemed to mind the signs warning against cameras, and the guides/guards didn't respond either. Thankfully, though, the famous hall of mirrors, though crowded, was not one of these photo-free zones, and even Peep got a photo-op in among the chandeliers lining the hall. All of the state apartments had great views of the gardens, and even though there wasn't a maze to wander around in (a la Hampton Court), the weather cleared up nicely and it was sunny again at Versailles, which seemed fitting for the sun king.

Since I couldn't take pictures downstairs (there were signs everywhere that appear to prohibit cameras) and we didn't get to tour the gardens themselves, we left Versailles after lunch and headed back towards the center of Paris. Our walking tours for the past two days covered a lot of ground and basically included most of the landmarks to see that we won't be visiting as a class, but we did find another, perhaps lesser-known item of interest to visit: la statue de la liberté. Smaller than the American one and apparently hanging out in the middle of the river on a sandbar-esque island, this replica Statue of Liberty doesn't seem to draw the crowds, at least on a Sunday afternoon, but it was pretty neat to see, especially since I've never been to the Statue of Liberty in NY. It's dinnertime here now, although I'm strangely not hungry after our French Tex-Mex lunch (also an adventure of it's own...). :)

An Eiffel Tower view en route to la statue de la liberté

La Statue de la Liberté