FRANCE - Europe by Eurail 2015: Touring Europe by Train - page 208

Note: All prices subject to change. Reduced fares after 1530. Separate
tickets required for the King's Bedchambers and Private Apartments, Royal
Chapel, Opera (guided tours only), and the Museum of French History. Au-
dioguides available for rent. You may purchase “e-Tickets” online at
www.chateauversailles.fr , which enable you to use the express line. Just pick
up your tickets at the e-Ticket booth on the day of your visit (present a photo
ID).
The only way to understand the powerful influence that France exerted during
the centuries of monarch rule is to visit Versailles. Here, only at Versailles, can you
come to appreciate the spiritual, artistic, and political renown of France and its lin-
eage of kings.
In 1623 Louis XIII (1601-1643) ordered a hunting lodge built on a hill named
Versailles in place of a windmill that had occupied the site until then. The lodge
was erected in 1624. Liking the spot so well, he then ordered the lodge replaced
by a grand mansion, which was completed in 1634.
Paris—Versailles
Frequent service to/from Versailles: RER Line C trains depart Gare d'Austerlitz
every 15-30 minutes and terminate in Versailles Rive Gauche (Chateau) Station;
journey time about 40 minutes. Rive Gauche Station is significantly closer to the
Palace of Versailles than the alternative RER Line C service to Versailles Chanti-
ers or the SNCF station Versailles Rive Droite.
Distance: 11 miles (18 km)
His son, Louis XIV (1638-1715), the Sun King, liked the spot, too, hated the
crowds in Paris with equal vigor, and envied his finance minister's fine home at
Vaux le Vicomte to the extent that he came up with an order that put his dad's to
shame—”Build a palace at Versailles to surpass all palaces!” Orders being orders,
before long 36,000 laborers aided by 6,000 horses were at work building palace
walls, digging lakes with canals to connect them, and transplanting a forest when