Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You'llfinishinthe Queen'sWing, whereyou'llvisittheQueen'sbedchamber,theguard
roomwhereLouisXVIandMarie-AntoinettesurrenderedtotheRevolution,andNapoleon's
coronation room.
Getting Around the Gardens: It's a 30- to 45-minute walk from the palace, down to
the Grand Canal, past the two Trianon palaces, to the Hamlet at the far end of Domaine
de Marie-Antoinette. Allow more time if you stop along the way. After enduring the slow
Château shuffle, stretching your legs out here feels pretty good.
There's a bike rental station by the Grand Canal. A bike won't save you that much
time (you can't take it inside the grounds of the Trianon/Domaine; park it near an entrance
while you tour inside). Instead, simply enjoy pedaling around the greatest royal park in all
of Europe (€6.50/hour or €15/half-day, kid-size bikes and tandems available).
The fast-looking, slow-moving tram (petit train) leaves from behind the Château (north
side). It stops at the Grand Canal and at the Grand and Petit Trianons (two of the entrance
points to the Trianon/Domaine). You can hop on and off as you like (€7, pay driver, free for
kids under 11, 4/hour, runs 11:00-18:00).
Another option is to rent a golf cart for a fun drive through the Gardens. You can't drive
it in the Trianon/Domaine, but you can park it outside the entrance while you sightsee inside
(€30/hour, 4-person limit per cart, rent down by the canal or at Orangerie side of palace).
The Phébus shuttle bus can save you 30 minutes of walking time, if you want to return
directly to the train station from the Trianon/Domaine (see here ) .
Palace Gardens: The Gardens offeraworldofroyal amusements. The warmth fromthe
Sun King was so great that he could even grow orange trees in chilly France. Louis XIV had
a thousand of these to amaze his visitors. In winter they were kept in the greenhouses (be-
neath your feet) that surround the courtyard. On sunny days, they were wheeled out in their
silver planters and scattered around the grounds.
With the palace behind you, it seems as if the grounds stretch out forever. Versailles was
laid out along an eight-mile axis that included the grounds, the palace, and the town of Ver-
sailles itself, one of the first instances of urban planning since Roman times and a model for
future capitals, such as Washington, D.C., and Brasilia. A promenade leads from the palace
to the Grand Canal, where France's royalty floated up and down in imported Venetian gon-
dolas.
Trianon Palaces and Domaine de Marie-Antoinette: Versailles began as an escape
from the pressures of kingship. But in a short time, the Château had become as busy as Paris
ever was. Louis XIV needed an escape from his escape and built a smaller palace out in the
boonies. Later, his successors retreated still farther from the Château and French political
life, ignoring the real world that was crumbling all around them. They expanded the Trianon
area, building a fantasy world of palaces and pleasure gardens—the enclosure called Marie-
Antoinette's Domaine.
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