Chateau de Versailles.

Chateau de Versailles.

The Chateaux of Versailles is a grand palace started by Louis XIV in 1668 which grew around the original hunting lodge of Louis XIII and it is now a palace on a massive scale. The Chateaux also has extensive and very well planned gardens which include formal laid out gardens with geometric paths and shrubberies and many formal areas with grand fountains as well as large expanses of forested areas.

Out in the gardens and quite a way away from the palace are two other major buildings - one is the Grand Trianon - a small palace of stone and pink marble built by Louis XIV and a smaller but very charming Petit Trianon  - a chateau  that was a favourite with Marie-Antoinette.

We have planned to spend a full day at Versailles and caught the 8.45am train from Paris to travel the 45mins to Versailles. Unfortunately it started raining just as we arrived at Versailles Station and did not let up till late in the afternoon.8

 

The Main Entrance to the Chateau de Versailles.

 



 

Through the Palace Gates and in the grounds of the Chateau.

After spending some time in line we finally gained entrance to this magnificent building. There are thousands of others doing the same thing we are, so in every room you are sharing it with a huge crowd.

The main rooms we saw were:

1.       Hall of Mirrors where great state occasions were held. This magnificent room stretches 70mts and it has windows overlooking the gardens on one side and mirrors down the full length of the other side. It also has many crystal chandeliers and elaborate gold candelabras placed either side and down the full length of the hall. This is the room in which the 1919 Treaty of Versailles was ratified, ending the First World War.

2.       Chappell Royale. The first floor of this beautiful chapel was reserved for the Royal Family. The interior is decorated in Corinthian columns and white marble, gilding and Baroque murals

3.       Queen’s Bedroom.

4.       Kings Bedroom.

There are many, many rooms in the massive chateau and we spent over 3 hours looking around.

 

 

The Chappell Royal - The Church in the Chateau.

 

 

One of the Bedrooms in the Palace.

 

Views of  the beautiful Hall of Mirrors. The mirror side.

 



 

One of the many Candelabras

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The windows overlooking the Palace Gardens. 

One of the main reasons we had come back to Versailles was that we really wanted to spend time walking the huge gardens, seeing the fountains and also the smaller palaces in the gardens so we had to venture out into the inclement weather – so we put on our spray jackets and started walking. It was very cold and wet and I don’t know if it was because of the bad weather - but none of the main fountains were operating. But what we saw was very grand and we really enjoyed the gardens.

Marie-Antoinette and two of her children.

 



 

One of the bed-rooms.

 

The Water Parterre at the start of the Gardens.

 

 

One of the statues at the Water Parterre.

 

The fountain at the start of The Grand Canal. This is about 1.5klms from the Chateau and where Louis XIV held boating parties.

 



 We stopped for a coffee to warm us up at one of the restaurants/cafes situated in the gardens and then headed for Grand Trianon which is a small palace built in 1687 by Louis XIV of stone and pink marble. A little further along was the Petit Trianon, which is more the size of a country chateau and was built in 1762 by Louis XV. Both these building were very grand and they had a very nice feeling about them and both had beautiful country gardens and magnificent views.

 

 The Petit Trianon.

 The Grand Trianon.

Part of the vast Garden at the Petit Treason.

We caught the small tourist train that skirted just outside the main Gardens back to the Chateau and then walked and caught the train back to Paris.

 

We Visit Two of The Largest Champagne Houses in the World.

We Visit Two of Largest Champagne Houses in the World.

One place I have always wanted to visit was the Champagne area about 150klms from Paris and in particular the little town of Epernay. We booked this tour to the Champagne Region and also Reims to see their large Cathedral before we left Melbourne. It is going to take all day for this tour so we are up early and in the tour bus by 8am.

For the first part of our trip we travel on the motor-way but eventually we are in the real French Country side and it is great to see. Many small farms with different crops and lovely stone French farm houses. It is delightful to be in the country.

Our first stop is Mumms Champagne House and here we have a guided tour of the underground chalky caves, have the process of turning grapes into bubbling champagne and we also get to taste some of their famous Champagne. I had no idea that it takes 8-10years for a bottle of premium champagne to be ready for market. I now know why good champagne costs so much and if it is a product of a good season appreciates in value.

 

Bottles of Mumms Champagne Cleaned and Labled and ready for sale.

We then go to Reims and have a guided tour of this magnificent Gothic Cathedral Notre-Dame. I think that nearly every cathedral that we have seen so far in France is Notre Dame (Our Lady). There are over 2,300 statues on the west façade and the statue of the smiling Angel is the most famous of all the statues and appears on promotional information on Reims.

 

The very large cathedral at Reims.

 

                                                         Allan and myself at the Cathedral.

 Bombing in the 1^st world war destroyed much of this very large cathedral and it was not completely restored till 1996. They are still in the process of cleaning the outside. There are some sections where the damage during the war has been left as a reminder of the terrible damage that wars cause.

 

 

Some of the many Statues at the entrance to the Cathedral.

 

                                           Some of the many stain-glass painted windows.

 

One of the magnificent stain-glass windows - this one tells the story of grape growing and wine making in the area.

This cathedral in renowned because since the 11^th century all the Kings of France have come to this city for their coronation.

After lunch we head for the World Famous Champagne House of Moet & Chandon which Dates back to 1743. It cellars stretch some 28klms underground and this house also produces many other famous champagnes including Dom Perignon. Out the front of the Moet & Chandon Cellars is a statue of Dom Perignon. We also enjoy a tasting at this venue and enjoy having a look through the cellars and the retail shop and another talk on the method of making Champagne.

 

                                                  Entrance into the underground caves.

                                        Enjoying the Champagne Tasting at Moet & Chardon.

                                            Dom Perignon Statue at the entrance to the cellars.

This was a great day out. It was a little disappointing to be given virtually the same talk at two different venues and to be walked through the same sort of caves but at least I now know the process of making champagne and I have seen where the best in the world comes from.

10 Beautiful Days in Paris.

 

 

Selection of Photos from some of our favourite spots we visited during out 10 days in Paris.

The Gardens inside the Petit Palais.

Pont Alexander III Bridge - the most ornate bridge in Paris.

Monet's painting in the Musee de l'Orangerie of The Waterlilies.

10 Days in Beautiful Paris.

It is Friday and our last night in the beautiful City of Paris. We have had 10 days in this very large city and seen many wonderful places – cathedrals, churches, bridges, museums, art galleries etc. We have walked miles, ridden the four routes of the Hop-On Hop-Off bus, mastered the Paris Metro and cruised the River Seine. We have also been on an organised day tour by bus to Reims about 150klms away and we have taken the RER train to the Chateaux Versailles. We have been very busy and guess what we are very tired and our legs and backs are a bit sore. We are not as young as we used to be and we are not able to keep up the same pass as we used to do.

The weather has been beautiful –mid to high 20°and sometimes a little humid. On a few occasions we have had a thunderstorm in the evening with rain about midnight. The only day that it really rained continuously unfortunately was the day we choose to go to Chateaux Versailles.

The hours of daylight have been a lot long compared to summer in Melbourne. The sun is up well before 5am and it is not dark till after 10.30pm. People really seem to take advantage of this longer twilight time - the cafés, bars and restaurants are always busy and there are people walking and sitting by the River Seine. It is hard to tell which people are the tourists and who are the Parisians just out enjoying themselves. All intermingle seamlessly.

The cruise boats that do an hours’ cruise up and then down the Seine are always full (some take a 1000 passengers). They move at a fast pace (and go under 8 bridges each way) with an on board commentary and bright happy French music. People on the boats wave and sing out to the people sitting beside the River and they wave back and join in with the excitement. Paris really is a jovial and happy city and everyone seems pleased to join in and to be here. We have really enjoyed being part of the Paris community, if only for a short time.

We have really loved going out about 5pm and staying out till after 9pm. It is such a lovely time of the day. We have been out at this time to walk to over some of the many bridges that Paris has to offer, to admire the architecture of the massive Louvre Museum buildings and to walk in the Jardin des Tuileries, we have been via the Metro to the Montmartre Area and visited the beautiful Cathedral Sacre Coeur and we have been for a ride with a 1000 other people on the River Seine and then we went on an illuminations tour, to see Paris by night with all its beautiful lights.

Our apartment is not far from the main Cathedral of Paris-Notre Dame so we have been there a couple of times and we seem to have been walking up to or past the Louvre on a fair percentage of our outings. Our visit to the Louvre Museum was great but it was also a bit daunting as it is so large and just mastering how to get around such a huge venue was difficult. We enjoyed our visit to the Middle Ages Museum - the Musee de Cluny and just marvelled at their fully restored large tapestries, religious pictures, carvings and stained glass windows. This was a real gem and not mentioned in many of the tourist books. Another little gem that we found was in the Latin Quarter not far from where we were staying it was the Church of St Etienne du Mont. The inside of this church was beautiful and very well looked after by the local community. It had some very special features including an eye catching rood screen. This church houses a shrine to St Genevieve the legendary patron saint of Paris. We enjoyed our visit here more than we did our visit to Notre Dame. It was clean, orderly and full of light. We felt that some parts of Notre Dame were very dark and some parts inside were in need of renovating. This so called Latin area was just a delight to walk around, it was less touristy and had a great feeling of community.

 Connecting to the internet has been problematic at times and I am not sure what connection we will have as we travel around France so l am going to finish our time in Paris with a selection of photos. This will give you some idea of the wonderful this that are here to be seen and enjoyed.

 

One of the  many bridges that cross the River Seine in Paris.

 

 Musee du Louvre.

 

 

Arc de Triumphed du Carrousel. This triumphal arch was built to celebrate Napoleon's military victories in 1805. If you look in the centre you can see all the way to the Arc de Triomphe.

 

 

 

Place de la Concorde. One of Europe most magnificent squares

 

 

The Fountain in the Place de la Concorde.

 

 

 

A View Down the Champs Elysees

 

 

 The Eiffel Tower taken from the Palais de Chaillot.

 

 

St Louis des Invalids - The Dome Church.

 

 

 Inside the Dome Church with its magnificent dome both inside and out.

 

 

The Tomb of Napoleon.

 

 

At Les Invalids is a wonderful Museum of Military History.

 

 

The Magnificent Interior of the Sainte-Chapelle. These stain glass windows are in the process of being restored.

 

 

 

 Close-ups of the beautiful statues and stain-glass windows in the magical Sainte-Chapelle.

 

 

 

 

The Conciergerie- this sinister looking building was the country's chief prison during the Revolution.

 

 

Notre-Dame Cathedral is Paris's major Cathedral and it is a superb example of French medieval architecture.

 

 

Major Stature in the grounds of Notre-Dame.

 

 

View from the back of Notre Dame.

 

 

Beautiful Rose Widows with in the Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

View of the high vaulted central nave of the Cathedral.

 

 

 

View taken from Pont de l'Archeveche.

 

 

Paris at night - The Eiffel Tower and  The Louvre.

 

 

 

 

The magnificently restored 16th Century Tapestries in the Musee de Cluny.  This medieval arts and crafts museum was my favourite museum that we visited.

 

 

 

 

 

A café in the Latin Quarter or The Left Bank. This was just the most beautiful area of Paris to just wander about and it was just behind where we were staying.

Can you find the real live cat in this photo? He has a birds eye of the people enjoying their meal. 

 

 

This beautiful stain-glass window is in Musee de Cluny.

 

 

Inside the lovely church of St-Etienne du Mont in the Latin Quarter. This church was just fabulous and beautifully kept by the local community. It had a special shrine to St Genevieve, the legendary patron saint of Paris.

 

 

 

 

A peaceful garden not far form our apartment.

 

 

Inside the Louvre looking up through The Glass Pyramid.

 

 

One of the rooms in one of the galleries in the Louvre.

 

 

 What everyone comes to see - The Mona Lisa painted in 1504 by Leonardo da Vinci.