Paris & Around - Discover France: Experience the Best of France - page 109

Need to Know
NIGHTMARE QUEUES Avoid by buying your tickets in advance, arriving first
thing in the morning or after 4pm and avoiding Tuesdays, when many Paris
museums are closed. See our author's review, Click here .
Versailles Don't Miss List
BY SYLVAIN POSTOLLE, OFFICIAL GUIDE, CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES
1 KING'S PRIVATE APARTMENT
This is the most fascinating part of the palace as it shows the king as a man and
reflects his daily life in the 18th century. Of the 10 or so rooms, the most famous
is his bedroom where he not only slept but also held ceremonies. Up to 150
courtiers and people invited from outside the court would watch him have supper
here each evening! By the 1780s, the king's life had become more private - he
had an official supper just once a week on Sunday.
2 KING LOUIS VXI'S LIBRARY
This is a lovely room - full of books, a place where you can really imagine the
king coming to read for hours and hours. Louis XVI loved geography and his
copy of The Travels of James Cook - in English - is still here.
3 HERCULES SALON
I love one particular perspective inside the palace: from the Hercules Salon you
can see all the rooms comprising the King's State Apartment, and to the right,
through the gallery leading to the opera house. The salon served as a passage-
way in fact for the king to go from his state apartment to the chapel to celebrate
daily mass.
4 THE ROYAL CHAPEL