A day in the life of Loius XIV
September 10th, 2007 by Zofia
Well after what felt like the shortest sleep ever it was suddenly Sunday morning and Rachel and I prepared for another day exploring Paris. Today however we had decided to make the journey just outside of Paris to the Chateau de Versailles. Versailles has always been a place of interest for me; I studied it in my Art History classes at university and had always wanted to experience the splendour that is Versailles in person. For those who don’t know, Versailles is a royal palace in France; it was the centre of political power from the time King Louis XIV moved there in 1682 until the royal family was forced back to Paris in 1789. Louis XIV had turned what had once been the hunting lodge of King Louis VIII into one of the most impressive palaces in existence, home to not only Louis XIV but over time other notable characters of French history such as Louis XV, Madame Pompadour, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and even Napoleon.
Our journey began with a train ride to Versailles. This was a novel experience as we got to ride on a double-decker train! I had never seen one of these before, what a novelty! Working out which train to be on was also a tricky job, there were a few other people on the platform clearly going to the same place we were going and we all boarded the train bound for what we thought was Versailles. Once on the train I decided to get up and take a closer look at the train map, I am really glad I did this as I found out that the train line splits in two and we were on a train bound for a different ‘Versailles’ stop and not the ‘Versailles’ stop we wanted. So we hopped off the train at the last station before it went the wrong way and waited for the next train which turned out to take us exactly where we wanted to go!
Once in Versailles we were heading for the chateau when we came across a tour company who sold tickets for the chateau so that we wouldn’t have to wait in the queues. Our ticket allowed us entry to the entire chateau and included an Audio guide; it also allowed us access to the gardens. This was a great find because upon entering the main gates at Versailles we saw the longest queue formed outside the ticket office and every time we walked past that part of the chateau during the day the queue wasn’t any smaller! The queue we joined to get inside took 5 minutes before we were past security and on our way to collect audio guides and begin our mammoth trek around the chateau.
The first room on the itinerary was the Chapel. This room, with its beautiful frescoed ceiling and the light and lofty feel made for an excellent start point to the Versailles experience – if this was the start point, imagine how amazing the rest of the place must be!
There were history rooms which were full of various paintings and sculptures of people and places, all relating back to Versailles. Then there were the King’s Grand Apartments – the Hercules Salon with its gigantic fireplace and its Apotheosis of Hercules ceiling paintings and Veronese’s monumental painting Christ at Supper with Simon; The Abundance Salon, where refreshments were normally taken; the Venus Salon, the room leading to the State Apartments; The Diana Salon, which currently holds a wonderful sculpted bust of Louis XIV made by the famous Italian sculptor Bernini; The Mars Salon; The Mercury Salon; and the Apollo Salon.
The Salon of War with its marvellous relief sculpture joined to one end of the famous Hall of Mirrors. At the opposite end of the hall of mirrors was the Salon of Peace. The hall of mirrors was just as impressive as I imagined it to be and out of its windows it offered some of the most amazing views out to the gardens since it is located at the very centre of the chateau looking out toward the gardens. A major restoration project had recently taken place in the hall of mirrors so we were lucky enough to enjoy the splendour all freshly restored to its former glory.
The queen’s bedchamber, currently fashioned in the style that Marie Antoinette created. This room was where the queen would sleep and also where she gave birth. Apparently 19 French royals were born in that room. The King’s bedchamber was equally impressive.
The Dauphin’s Apartments and the Princesses Apartments were also breathtakingly beautiful. The libraries, the games rooms, the State and Private Cabinets, all had a wonderful individual quality from the ceiling paintings and the gilded detailing to the rich coloured fabrics on the walls and the comfortable looking furniture. What I loved about the Chateau wad that the furniture looked lived in, it didn’t look like it had never been used or had been restored to perfect condition, the seat fabrics were worn away from use, the cushioning seemed to sag from people sitting in the same place – it had life and didn’t feel like a creepy museum full of old furniture that had been arranged to show where life had once been, it almost felt like someone was going to come and sit down at any minute and continue with their day as if the place were still functional. Let’s just say that Versailles worked its magic on me – I loved it!
Once you get outside the chateau there is over 3km of garden to explore, with 1,400 fountains and the Grand Canal is itself 1.6km in length! After getting some lunch and finding a spot in the garden to eat Rachel and I embarked on a tour of the gardens. Even from the other end of the garden the chateau dominates the landscape – it is so impressive! We saw so many fountains in every place imaginable. There were statues and perfectly manicured lawns – the whole garden was a work of art. At 3.30pm all the fountains in the gardens began to work, there was also so music being pumped out into the garden through speakers hidden in bushes all over the place. The fountains, once alive, are very impressive – it is hard to describe, as with the whole place, everyone should make the trip out there!
The next stop was Marie Antoinette’s Estate. This required the purchase of another ticket but there was no queue to be found here so that was an easy task. Marie Antoinette’s Estate took in the Petit Trianon and the Grand Trianon as well as yet another impressive garden which included a Rustic Garden, an English Garden, a Farmhouse, a milking dairy, the French Pavilion, the Queen’s theatre.
It was a marvellous day, a great experience. There is just so much to see at Versailles! I would love to go back!
Rachel and I arrived back at our hotel with very tired feet at about 8pm that night! We hadn’t eaten dinner yet and were feeling rather hungry so we caught the Metro towards the Champs-Elysees and had some McDonalds. We then took some photos of the Arc de Triomphe at night and then made our way to the Eiffel Tower. Here we saw it all lit up and sparkling in the night sky, just beautiful! We went to see about going up the tower but the queues were all very long. Then we noticed that one queue was MUCH smaller so we went for that line and found ourselves walking up to the first level of the Eiffel Tower, all 360 steps! (Paris is great for stair climbing!) From here we walked around the floor and tried to find all the sights of Paris, most were difficult to make out as they were not so well lit up, but there were many that were very easy to spot. I imagine the view would be far more impressive by day but the night time experience is just as interesting.
So another day in Paris came to an end, bed time was even later than the night before and I was even more tired! I was sad that there was only one more day left in Paris before I had to go back to London…