Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
La Défense
Just a few minutes west from central Paris and lying on the
RER Line A, La Défense is a 750-hectare major business
complex in France, headquarters to the country's most
important corporations. Completed in the 1970s, more than
100,000 people work in some 100 modern skyscrapers and
more than 30,000 people live in residential high-rise buildings
that are linked by landscaped gardens and walkways dotted
with sculptures and a large pool with musical water displays.
There's a small train that gives a tour of the area. Don't miss
the Quatre-Temps shopping mall, one of the largest in France.
Take the glass elevator to the 35th floor of La Grande Arche
for a spectacular view of Paris.
Château de Versailles
Approximately 20 km southwest of Paris, about half an hour
away by RER Line C, the Chateau de Versailles is the most
spectacular and famous palace in France, if not the world. It
was built by Louis XVI who had engaged the same architects
and landscapers used by the unfortunate Fouqet for his
Château Vaux-le-Vicomte (see below). With some 700 ornately
decorated and furnished rooms that hold 6,000 paintings
and 2,000 sculptures, plus some 800 hectares of gardens,
fountains, and woods, it's best to put aside an entire day for
Versailles. (Check its website below for the schedule of fountain
displays during summer.) Adjacent is the Petit Trianon, a
palace designed for Mme de Pompadour in 1768 and later
given to Marie Antoinette by Louis XVI. Not far is the Potager
du Roi, the 'kitchen garden' of Louis XIV, now run by the
National Horticultural School. The Grande Écurie (Big Stable)
houses a museum of coaches (http://www.chateauversailles.
fr). For detailed information on all attractions in the town of
Versailles, contact the Office de Tourisme de Versailles at 2bis
avenue de Paris, Versailles (tel: 01.39.24.88.88; http://www.
versailles-tourisme.com).
Château de Chantilly
Less than a half an hour from Paris by train from the Gare du
Nord or 45 minutes by RER Line D, lies the entire domain
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