The word spread among our tour mates assembling for the optional half-day excursion to Versailles: ”The Houstons aren`t going.”
That should have come as no surprise, as we long since had been labeled
”independents.” We had lugged around a 10-pound shoulder bag full of guidebooks and brochures and had filled our free time during the 14-day tour of England and France checking out what was not on the itinerary.
But not go to Versailles? Of course we would. But on our final, free day in Paris, we would avoid the organized tour in favor of doing it ourselves. The two hours we figured the group actually would spend at the palace had not seemed adequate. We were right.
Besides, we welcomed the chance to ride the public transportation system, which is an adventure in itself in any city. It offers cheap, front-row-center seats to real life.
A 15-mile, 20-minute ride on the rapid transit through the Paris `burbs took us to the town of Versailles and about six blocks from the entrance to the palace. At the place where the avenues and streets of Versailles converge, the largest palace ever built loomed in front of us.
Its iron-gated, cobblestoned plaza sprawled in the foreground, dominated by the equestrian statue of Louis XIV. To the right were the stables that once kept 2,500 horses and 2,000 carriages. The sheer immensity of the place commanded attention. In the days of the kings only those of official rank could enter where we then passed. We had come a long way in 15 minutes.
An eager throng
The queue of eager tourists already had formed at 9 a.m. It is possible to wander the grounds with no admission fee. Much of the palace itself may be visited by self-guided tour. Certain sections may only be visited with a guide. We joined the English-conducted group.
The original structure on the site was a simple hunting lodge of Louis XIII. But to escape the noise and stench of 17th-Century Paris, Louis XIV built onto the structure and declared it the royal residence, which, to that point, had been the Louvre.
The ambitious plans expanded to include accommodating the entire court and administration under one roof. The palace became an enclosed city of 10,000 occupants. To accommodate the overflow among the 20,000 noblemen and ministers, development spread out onto the arteries. And so emerged the new capital of Versailles.
The palace interior is a symphony of opulence. Gilded details and gold-threaded tapestries harmonize with stucco and wood carvings. Frescoed ceilings and carpeted floors round out the melody. Marble, crystal and bronze accent and add variations to the theme. Portraits, paintings and sculpture of all sizes bring movement and life to the splendor.
Emblem of the `Sun King`
The sun motif repeated throughout symbolizes the ”Sun King,”Louis XIV. Even without furniture, the rooms flaunt the extravagant Baroque style of the French Court.
The most celebrated of the 149 rooms is the Hall of Mirrors. Its 17 arched floor-to-ceiling windows frame magnificent views of the gardens, reflected in the 17 beveled mirrors opposite the windows. The 80-yard hall, with single rooms on either end, spans the entire western front of the center section of the palace. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in here 1919, ending World War I.
The Hall of Mirrors was first used for elaborate game evenings ”at home” three times a week. Adjoining rooms were filled with music, dancing and buffets.
Theater was another pleasure of the palace. The oval-shaped Opera occupies bth floors of the easternmost corner of that wing and seats 700. Its inaugural event was the wedding of Marie Antoinette in 1770.
Seating in the Opera, as throughout the palace, was according to rank. Armchairs were reserved for upper royalties, armless ones for lower royalties. Seats without backs, benches and lower footstools accommodated others with permission to sit in the presence of the great.
The king`s bedroom has been meticulously restored. Lavish decorations include heavy brocade tapestries. Other rooms of the king`s apartments contain furnishings of various historical significance.
The queen`s rooms and other royal apartments consist of bedrooms, dining rooms, reading rooms and game rooms-all that was needed for court life.
Endless protocol
Protocol dictated the finest details, from the lacing of corsets to the visiting of children. Days began at 9 a.m., and the ritual of royal washing and ceremonious dressing took until almost noon. Afternoons often were spent hunting. Then there were banquets, parties and entertainments. For lack of anything more constructive to do, it was usual for the royal family to gamble until 2 or 3 a.m.
Boredom was inevitable in all the self-indulgence. With it came drunkenness, debauchery and jealousy.
Rather than providing a deliciously luxurious domestic haven, Versailles became more like a prison to its occupants. To escape the restrictive etiquette and to find some privacy, Louis XIV and Louis XV had smaller residences built on the far reaches of the property.
Before seeing the rest of the complex, we took a lunch break in a quaint lower-level cafeteria. Refreshed but still caught in the spell of sumptuous Versailles, we set out again, fully aware that the group on the half-day organized excursion had by this time returned to Paris.
Masterpiece of geometry
The terraced gardens and fountains to the west introduce the grounds. Having the same designer as the Vatican gardens, the 250-acre layout is a masterpiece of geometry and aquatic engineering. Proportionate to the size of the palace, there are flower beds, lawns, pools and hundreds of statues and vases. Walks cut patterns through sculpted shrubbery and thousands of trees, including a grove of 1,200 orange trees.
The trunk of the cross-shaped canal, once used for boating parties, stretches just ahead, the length of two football fields.
We walked a pleasant wooded mile to the Grand Trianon. Set in colorful gardens of its own, the pink marble miniature palace complements the main palace. Light from the tall windows along both sides of the single-story structure floods the rooms and halls.
The little gem was refurbished and elegantly furnished by Napoleon. The restored furniture remains, and the Grand Trianon is now used to accommodate visiting dignitaries.
Trianon, incidentally, was the village that had occupied the area before Louis XIV bought it.
Close by is the two-story Petit Trianon, another royal retreat, in a quiet, countrylike setting. Plain by comparison but favored by Marie Antoinette, it was here that she learned of the revolutionary storming of Versailles.
Ten minutes further down the path at the northern edges of the grounds is the Hamlet, built for Marie Antoinette. She was, after all, a child when she was brought to this place completely foreign to her to become the bride of Louis XVI at age 15.
To ease the misery of her homesickness and that stifling formality of the court, the little village of 12 structures was constructed in the thatched roof and half-timber style of her native Austria. Here Marie and her ladies could romp and picnic just like ”back home.” The storybook setting of winding lagoons and meadows is in vivid contrast to the straight,
sophisticated lines of the gardens and pompous grandeur of the palace, a mile to the southeast.
Satisfied that we had covered a good deal of the territory of Versailles and picked up the pulse of life here in its heyday, we headed out. The pristine Statue of Love set within a colonnade on a grassy island bid us a silent adieu.
Much, but not `all`
We had not ”done it all.” There were galleries and gardens we had not touched. Any less time would have left us frustrated. Instead, contented, we crossed the cobblestoned court as the clock approached the 5 p.m. closing time.
The Versailles-on-our-own trip, including train fare, the conducted tour and admission to the Trianons, cost about $10 each rather than the $31 each for the organized tour.
At dinner that evening the as-usual animated group reviewed the day and, in particular, the excursion to Versailles.
”What did you see?” we questioned.
”Everything.”
Really. Should we tell them? There was no need to ask if they had seen the Trianons or the Hamlet. It would have been impossible in the time allotted the excursion. But we were genuinely curious to know how much they had seen.
A universal truth is that most people are more interested in talking than in listening. Travelers love to tell about their adventures. It was the perfect situation. Our friends wanted to tell; we wanted to hear. We did not want to tell all we had done. Why spoil it for them? We never had to.
Unfortunately for the group, they had ”missed the king`s bedroom”
because ”only special guides” were allowed there. What they did not know was that they had also missed all the rooms of the king`s apartments and that the ”special guides” were the regular palace guides such as the one we had, rather than special-excursion escorts.
They had not seen the Opera, nor did they know it existed. The group had had ”a few minutes” to step outside the terrace for a look at the fountains and gardens but no time to walk out to them, let alone . . .
In a nutshell, the group had gotten a skeleton tour. They had had a wonderful time. Their ”terrific” guide was skillful enough to convince them that they had seen everything.
