Exploring the Palace of Versailles and Mountmartes

The Palace of Versailles (21 Euro value) is about an hour away from Paris by train which runs every 20-30 minutes. Here is the one trip in which I made mistakes so I was very glad that I left early. It is regional train C, which I accessed through line B. It was not clear to me that I needed to access the necessary platform by going down the line B. I stood on line B long enough to miss my first train when I realized my error. Fortunately, the next train would get me there within a minute or two of meet time.

Palace of Versailles

The Palace requires a reservation time ticket even if you have a museum pass. Mine was for 9:00 am and there was already a long line of people waiting. I was also part of a skip-the-line group (paid extra) so I didn’t need to wait.

The entire place looks very large but for residential portions, there are not that many rooms to see. If you went on through without the talk it would take about 30 minutes. With the informational part, it took me 90 minutes to go through and see the King’s receiving rooms, display bedroom, hall of mirrors, and the queen’s rooms.

It should come as no surprise that the entire building is a narcissist’s dream. Loius XIV built it to get away from the old palace (Louvre) because it was hard to make changes there. Instead, he took an original older hunting lodge and used that as the base of his new grand palace. It is situated so that the front of the palace sees the sunrise and the rear the sunset.

Loius, the Sun King, has a portrait of himself in every room and his majesty can be seen in the paintings and silks throughout the palace. Of his wife, Marie Theresa of Spain, there are no images.

Young Loius took the throne at age of 5.

Other queens are shown, particularly Marie Antionette, who was the last Queen of the line. She was considered very fashionable and her redecorated Queen’s bedroom is amazing.

Queen’s bedroom shows colorful floral silks.

Poor Marie Antoinette was so out of touch with the average Parisian’s life. Her two sons died as children, one before the revolution and the other in prison during the revelotion. Her daughter was the only survivor and returned to Austria after the revolution.

The King’s bedroom in comparison is just red. It is also smaller than the queen’s. These bedrooms are not their actual living quarters, which are behind the receiving rooms and these display bedrooms.

The King’s bed is so high the bed looks short. It is high because even reclined he must be taller that anyone else.

In between the King’s apartments and the Queen’s is the Hall of Mirrors. With the many windows and mirrors that reflect the setting sun and candle light, it remains a well-lit hall well into the evening.

There is also a section that is devoted to the Napoleans of France and gardens that can be enjoyed for an additional charge. It was too early in the year so the gardens were not ready yet. Many people still enjoyed them, but I decided to head back to the city.

Mountmartes & Sacre Coeur

After leaving the decadence of the Royal Palace I headed back into town and went to the neighborhood where rebellion stirs and the poorer folk reside. It was originally outside of Paris and therefore not taxed, so rent and food were much cheaper. It was where the houses of tolerance (prostitutes) and cabarets could be found. Artists flocked to this district and impressionism was founded.

Former Red light house of prostitution, now a 5 star hotel.

One of 2 remaining windmills from the district.

At one time this area was covered with vineyards and over thirty windmills for the production of flour, wine and other necessities. There are only 2 windmills left on the hill.

The name Mountmatres implies a martyr mountain. And while it is more of a big hill the martyr is probably the guy pictured below, Sainte-Denis. He and two of his buddies brought christianity to the area which upset the pagans who beheaded them. Now Denis just wouldn’t stay dead and witnesses swear that he picked up his head and walked off for a few kilometers, performing a few miracles along the way to make himself a saint.