Day Trips from Paris - Paris - page 589

Hall of Mirrors in Château de Versailles
PETE SEAWARD / GETTY IMAGES ©
King's & Queen's State Apartments
Luxurious, ostentatious appointments - frescoes, marble, gilt and woodcarvings, with
themes and symbols drawn from Greek and Roman mythology - adorn every moulding,
cornice, ceiling and door in the palace's Grands Appartements du Roi et de la Reine (King's
and Queen's State Apartments).
Gardens
Don't miss a stroll through the château's magnificent gardens ( GOOGLE MAP ; except during
musical events admission free; gardens 9am-8.30pm Apr-Oct, 8am-6pm Nov-Mar, park 7am-8.30pm
Apr-Oct, 8am-6pm Nov-Mar) . The best view over the rectangular pools is from the Hall of Mir-
rors. Pathways include the Royal Walk's verdant 'green carpet', with smaller paths leading
to leafy groves.
The gardens' largest fountains are the 17th-century Bassin de Neptune ( GOOGLE MAP )
(Neptune's Fountain), a dazzling mirage of 99 spouting fountains 300m north of the palace,
and the Bassin d'Apollon ( GOOGLE MAP ) (Apollo's Fountain), built in 1668 at the eastern
end of the Grand Canal.
Canals
The Grand Canal , 1.6km long and 62m wide, is oriented to reflect the setting sun. It's tra-
versed by the 1km-long Petit Canal , forming a cross-shaped body of water with a perimeter
of more than 5.5km.
Marie Antoinette's Estate
Northwest of the main palace is the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette (Marie-Antoinette's Estate;
GOOGLE MAP ; adult/child €10/free, with passport ticket free; noon-6.30pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, to
5.30pm Tue-Sat Nov-Mar) . Tickets include the Grand and Petit Trianon palaces, and the
Hameau de la Reine (Queen's Hamlet; GOOGLE MAP ) , a mock village of thatched cottages
completed in 1784, where Marie Antoinette played milkmaid.
Trianon Palaces
The pink-colonnaded Grand Trianon was built in 1687 for Louis XIV and his family as a
place of escape from the rigid etiquette of the court, and renovated under Napoléon I in the