Our second day in Paris was entirely dedicated to visiting the Palace of Versailles. This was the first time the boys (and of course Jasmine) have visited the palace built by King Louis XIV, the Sun King. Fun fact – King Louis XIV reigned for 72 years and 110 days making him the longest reigning European monarch to this day! The UK’s dear Queen Elizabeth ii needs another 5 years before reaching that record!
Following an epic first day, our second was much more manageable. A reasonably early morning, a quick shop for food supplies, and then onto the metro/RER for Versailles. From our apartment the trip took around one and a half hours, that is if you can keep up with the train indicator boards who seemingly like to change platforms with little notice in order to fool ‘lazy’ would-be travellers. The Tucker’s were onto their game early!
The weather was just perfect for us tourists, the traveling hordes of sub-continent groups however made visiting significant attractions such as Versailles difficult. I do not recall it being as busy the last time I visited.
We visited on a Tuesday, a day when music fills the gardens and every 15min a small selection of fountains are turned on. But first we engaged ‘elbow out’ mode to tackle the Palace and its thousands of visitors.
The water features were impressive, and encouraged us to explore more of the gardens with the kids. This was a change of pace and left the crowds behind us.
We loved our visit to Versailles. It gave the boys an appreciation of French history and some context to the French revolution. Jazzy wanted to know where the ‘bad Queen’ was who lost her head (Marie-Antionette) and repeatedly asked….. ‘is this where the bad Queen died?’
Tips for Versailles
- If visiting for the first time, pre-book – this gets you priority access which at first you don’t appreciate until you see the line for tickets and wonder ‘why didn’t any of those people thing about pre-booking?’. You must visit the palace – it is truly spectacular. There is a free audio guide that you can download onto your smartphone to learn all out the Palace.
- If you have visited before, next time explore the free public gardens like the locals who pack a picnic and enjoy the ambiance without charge. A bottle of wine, some stinky cheese and a fresh baguette will make anyone pass as a local.
- We always run out of time (and energy) to visit the lower palace residences of Le Grand Trianon and Le domaine de Marie-Antionette, we have to make sure these are visited next time – the queues appear much smaller!
Hahaha! I don’t recall the changing of train platforms….maybe tourist numbers are not the only disruption to Paris travel! That aside, looks like a wonderful day! Love the idea of a picnic next time!