While in Paris, plan a day to see the Chateau de Versailles. Home to kings and queens, such as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, this palace is an extravagant must-see.
After making your way through the Louvre, over to the Eiffel Tower, around Notre Dame and every other over-the-top sight in Paris, you've got one more must-see: The Chateau de Versailles. Don't make the mistake of skipping this slightly out-of-the-way day trip. It's worth the time and effort.
Much like Rome, Versailles was not built in a day. This palace to beat all palaces, not to mention the gardens surrounding it, was built over the course of decades in the 17th Century and through the reigns of Louis XIII through Louis XVI. If you want to learn more about the fascinating life of Marie-Antoinette, this is the place.
In total, the palace covers 18,000 square meters and houses an amazing collection of masterpieces from the middle ages through the 19th Century. It features an abundance of massive rooms such as the Hall of Mirrors (in French it's the Galerie des Glaces), which is 73 meters long and contains more than 350 mirrors. Currently, the Hall of Mirrors is being restored. At 120 meters long, the Battle Gallery is the largest hall in Versailles. The walls are decorated with scenes from famous French battles.
The palace is surrounded by acres of carefully planned and manicured gardens, complete with statues and fountains. The gardens are open to the public to stroll through, or, if you prefer, you may take a mini-train or a carriage ride through them. Because of the amount of water needed to run the fountains, they are generally only shown at their full glory on summer weekends.
The palace is open all days except Mondays and some French holidays from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and even longer at the summer months. The cost of admission is about €8 ($10) and you may choose to pay an extra of €5 ($6.25) to get a guided tour, available in numerous languages. Tickets are available on site, through the Internet at www.chateauversailles.fr and at FNAC stores in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
To get there from Paris, take the Metro to the Invalides station and then take a train to "Versailles Rive Gauche." Or, from Pont de Sèvres, you can hop a bus to Versailles. The trip takes between a half an hour and 45 minutes. From there, follow the crowd (and trust me when I say there will be a crowd) to the Chateau de Versailles.
For an intriguing feature on Versailles of a different nature, please visit Versailles Time Slip.
