CHATEAU DE VERSAILLES

Saturday May 8th was the ISA trip to the Chateau de Versailles. It started off a little cloudy and just a little chilly in the morning, but by the afternoon it was a gorgeous day with not a cloud in the sky. May 8th is also Armistice Day in France, celebrating the end of WWII. I didn't get to see any ceremonies since I was at Versailles, but it appears to be celebrated like the U.S. celebrate Veteran’s Day. Since the trip was sponsored by ISA it was free, all of it. To get to Versailles one has to take the RER C which runs out there every 20 minutes or so. It's twenty minute ride from the station by the Eiffel Tower. After arriving in the station at Versailles, which is also a town by the way, we had to walk ten minutes to the Chateau. Along the way we passed some soldiers guarding a memorial that had a burning torch. That's was pretty cool to see.

Versailles at first glance is stunning. I was really overwhelmed at the size of it all. Walking up to the front gate I kept trying to figure how much of what I was looking at was actually part of the palace. Soon I discovered that everything I was looking at was Versailles. At the very front of the drive that leads up to the gate is a statue of Louis XIV whose head seems to be looking towards Paris. One of our ISA staff members gave us a brief history lesson of Versailles. Then we had a group picture. After that we went through the line and security and then we were on our own for the day.


There were so many people at Versailles on Saturday! Of course I'm sure it was because it was a holiday and a weekend but that still didn't console me from being just slightly annoyed at all the shoving, pushing, and elbowing that was going on just to catch a glimpse of a room. It was like trying to run a race! We all got these little handheld tour guides that were really nice. However, I quickly discovered how cumbersome they were while trying to take pictures at the same time. It soon became a conflict of interests and I rigged it up hang off my belt with my headphones. After that I was good to go.

The first room we saw was The Royal Chapel. The Royal Chapel was designed by architect Hardouin-Mansart in 1689 and completed in 1710. However, Mansart didn't get to see his chapel finished since he died in 1708. Upon completion of the chapel the King's mass was held every day at 10:00 AM with the entire court in attendance. The King and his family would sit in the royal gallery while the ladies of the court would sit in the side galleries. The public and "officer" then would sit in the nave where the kind would only venture for special events such as communion and the order of the Holy Spirit ceremonies. The baptisms and weddings of the Children of France were held in the nave between 1710 and 1789. These would be attended by the king. The paintings on the ceiling and walls represent the belief that the king was chosen by God as God's "lieutenant" on earth to rule.

The next important room was the Hall of Mirrors. While there were other rooms between the Chapel and Hall of Mirrors they were too crowded and are not as famous or impressive as the previously mentioned. The Hall of Mirrors was built to represent Frances success as the major world power of the time. The gallery is 73 meters long, that's just about 240ft. It's supposed to represent the political, artistic, and economic success of France. Politically with the painting in the arch depicting the military and political success of Louis XIV in the first 18 years of his rule from 1661 until the peace of Nijmegen. It shows the economic wealth of France by the size and quantity of the 357 mirrors covering the 17 arches opposite the windows, which face the grounds. The mirror at the time was a luxury item and for the Palace to have 357 in one room was a testament to Frances economic success. Finally, artistically with the Rance marble pillars that have French national emblems in gilded bronze. During the 17th century the Grand Gallery, as it was called, was used each day by the courtiers and visitors for pacing through to get to the Kings quarters. It was only ever used for ceremonies on rare occasions when the King wanted to show off his wealth and success by hosting balls and games during weddings and special visits by other royalty.

The King's quarters are perhaps the most lavish. I only got to see the bed room of Louis XIV decorated in red and blue fabric with gold. This is a pattern and color combination is used all over the walls, the bed linen, and the chair upholstery. On top of each post of the four-post bed is a set of white feathers. The windows open up facing the east and the rising sun, the symbol of Louis XIV. Flanking the bedroom is his office and a reception room. Unfortunately I don't have more information on these rooms.

The Queen's bedroom is just as magnificent as the King's. The Queen spent quite a bit of her time in this chamber. She and the kind would often sleep in this chamber since the King's chamber was a bit too grand and small. It was here also that the births of children took place. Nineteen "Children of France" were born in this room. During the revolution, Marie-Antoinette manage to escape the rioters through small little door next to the bed. The palace wasn't looted but instead the furniture was sold at auction lasting a year. Since then the some of the furniture has been recovered like the jewel case. However most of the furniture had to be remade or equivalent pieces found.

The last room I visited was a hall which holds the paintings of Frances 33 successful and important military victories in history. Most of these of course belong to Napoleon Bonaparte. However some of these battles also include the Battle of Poitier (732) with Charles Martel and the Battle of Yorktown with Generals Washington and Lafayette.

The gardens and grounds were the best part of the trip for me. However the gardens aren't as impressive as I thought there would be. The French seem to be into lots of shrubbery. They like to sculpt bushes and trees and then plant them in nice, neat little rows. The English seem to be the ones who like to plant grand flower gardens. I think that our general perception is the English Victorian garden which the French don't seem to be as keen on flowers. However they do plant flowers but trees and bushes are more prevalent. So I wasn't exactly impressed with the gardens of Versailles.

Petit Trianon was built with a revised Greek style that was the fashion of the time. Every side looks a little different with the prettiest side facing the French garden. This is where Marie-Antoinette spent most of her time since the palace had been too public and busy for her. On the ground floor there is the guard's room, billiard room, and the warming room. The first floor houses the Queen's Apartments including the bedroom, living room, and the Cabinet of Movable Mirrors which was basically a boudoir with the mirrors rising up from the floor to cover the windows. The attic housed the king's chambers.

However my favorite place by far was the Queen's Hamlet of Petit Trianon. The Queen's Hamlet is a representation of a typical Norman village including 11 buildings surrounding a small lake. It was built between 1783 and 1787. Five of these were reserved for the Queen and her guests. These included the Mill and refreshments dairy, the Queen's house, the billiard house, and the boudoir. There were four houses reserved for the peasants including the Farm, the Barn, the Dovecote and the Preparation Dairy. The Farm housed all the traditional livestock and still does today. There are goats, donkeys, sheep, cattle, chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits.

Each of these houses also had a garden. In the garden grew (and still does) cabbage, cauliflower, and artichokes, and some other vegetables from what I could tell. All the gardens have hedges surrounding them with trees boarding the village. There are also vines and other climbing plants all along the walls of the houses.

When my friends and I got here we were amazed at house picturesque and perfect it was. The houses were beautiful and surprisingly many people don't come to visit. The pond had ducks and swans swimming in it with a vast amount of what looked to be cat fish. We all split up and went about taking pictures at our own pace. I think my favorite house that sits on the lake was the mill, however over all the farm was the best.

The farm is separate from the rest of the village by what looks to be a vineyard. There are also apple and cherry trees surrounding the farm. The entire village was just recently restored in 2008 which is why everything looked so perfect. All the houses had fresh coats of paint. We enjoyed this spot quite a lot. It is really hard to describe so that's why I took a lot of pictures so the pictures can speak for me.

The rest of Marie Antoinette's estate is honeycombed with pathways and flower bushes and such. There is also a theatre that holds maybe 30 people that was very charming. We just walked around and took pictures. Not too many people venture out this far away from the Palace. They all seem to walk down to the Grand Canal and then stop and stay there. Not that I'm complaining because it was quite nice not have tons of people who all want to be exactly where you are at the same time but there is a lot more to Versailles then just the Palace and the gardens outside the Palace.

We also stopped to see Grand Trianon was occupied by Louis XIV. He also kept his sister-in-law and son-in-law here. It was really the "get away" residence of the King's. There are many recreational rooms and living quarters here. There is a portico that connects the two wings of Trianon looking out over the gardens. These gardens appear to hold more flowers than shrubbery and have their fair share of fountains.

It was middle to late afternoon at this point so we stopped by the Grand Canal and ate ice cream. I suggest of renting a row boat so three of us decided to go rowing on the canal which is a very popular activity. I of course rowed being the only male present and was happy to do so since it was my idea. It was quite fun. Although the rowing got a little difficult at times since there was a lot of seaweed growing in the canal floats just on the top of the water. We had a good time for it was a beautiful early evening. There were others too who had come out just to sit on the canal and sleep in their boats. I rowed us out to the middle of the canal where we all got photo opportunities. In my opinion it is the best view of the Palace. Since we only had the boat for a half an hour we once we got out to the middle it was basically time to go back.

After we landed the boat we all decided to go home since it was closing time and the weather was beginning to get sour on us. Of course right when we got on the train to go home it began to rain. The day though was very fun and enjoyable. We all had a good time and got to see one of the paradises of Paris.

*All the information about Versailles I used came from the official website: http://www.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

It is a French website but the language can be changed to English by clicking on the button in the upper right center of the page.