Les Excursions à Versailles et Fontainebleau (Daytrips to Versailles and Fontainebleau)

June is peak tourist season such that airfares and hotel rates have been much higher lately, so I've delayed my trips to other cities until July. On the plus side, the weather in Paris has finally warmed up. May was cool (if not chilly) on most days but June in Paris is hot (but usually also humid). To escape the city heat without flying to a cooler region, I've used the weekends to take separate excursions to the two largest palaces in the Paris area: Versailles and Fontainebleau.

Château de Versailles

The Palace of Versailles is just outside of Paris to the southwest. The palace was built in multiple phases by different French kings, so the salons, chambers and courtrooms of the interior include different styles depending on the time of construction and the monarch's personal tastes. While the palace has many beautifully decorated rooms, I found it difficult to appreciate them because of the overcrowding of tourists in most (but not all) rooms. The flow of traffic coincided with the length of recordings in the audio guides, so some rooms ended up being packed shoulder to shoulder as half the tourists stayed to listen to their audio guide while the other half (without guides) were trying to view the palace at a more constant pace.

Fortunately, the gardens of Versailles are so large that there was plenty of exterior space for everyone. I even had several groves/fountains to myself during the afternoon, although part of this may have been due to the fact that the Musical Fountain Show was on display that day so admission was charged to enter the gardens (they have free admission on days without the fountain show). I think the gardens stand out more for Versailles (compared to other palaces around Europe), as they were very large, well-trimmed and contained a wide variety of unique fountains.

The Fountain of Apollo's Chariot, with the Palace of Versailles in the distant background.

The Orangerie, with the western and southern sections of the palace in the background.

The most ornate fountain was in the Enceladus Grove. It depicts a titan getting buried under rocks, with the main fountain spouting from the giant's mouth. The grove is encircled by a trellis of flowers.

The Hall of Mirrors. This is the most famous room in the palace so it was constantly crowded. The glare from the sunlight also made it difficult to take a great photo. It was a few days after visiting Versailles that I discovered that it was in this room that Bismarck and the German princes from the Franco-Prussian War proclaimed a unified Germany.

The end wall and ceiling of the Coronation Room.

The Galerie des Batailles. The interior tour of Versailles follows a singular path, which only splits at the very end where one doorway goes to the palace exit and the other goes to this gallery. As a result, about 90% of tourists miss this room, but it's one of the most impressive in the palace. There are paintings of France's major victories (between the 5th and 19th centuries), with busts of key military generals flanked on each side of the painting.

After walking around for several hours inside the palace and outside around the gardens, I decided not to view the Grand Trianon or Marie-Antoinette's Estate. I figure I'll be back in Versailles another day to see the parts that I missed.

Château de Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is a palace southeast of Paris (although about three times further away than Versailles). The palace was also built in multiple phases, but beginning from a much earlier date (around 1137), so there is much more history to this site. What surprised me was that while Versailles was overcrowded with tourists, Fontainebleau was sparsely attended. I'm guessing that on a limited travel schedule, most tourists will visit the most famous sites and exclude the second-best sites from their itineraries. This is unfortunate because in this case, Fontainebleau offers a more educational experience (there was more signage and more artifacts on display) and a more pleasant experience (if you're weary of crowds).

The one downside to Fontainebleau is that the gardens are relatively plain. In fact, large parts of the garden looked like an abandoned public park, with grass that had never been cut. This gave the English Garden a haunted atmosphere, as the garden included a few Greco-Roman statues that were sporadically scattered amongst tall grass and weeds.

The Main Courtyard at Fontainebleau. The parts of the palace in this photo were built during the Renaissance.

The palace includes a Napoleon I Museum, which contains the hat and jacket famously worn by the general.

The Galerie Des Assiettes contains beautifully decorated porcelain plates, displayed in wood-paneled walls with paintings on the upper walls and ceilings.

The Galerie des Portraits contains artwork of the Emperor's family, with a bust of each subject opposite the painting of them.

The Throne Room. Apparently this is the only throne room in France which still has its original furniture.

The Grand Parterre in the gardens. The building on the right side of the background is the medieval château (the original part of the palace built in 1137).

So those were the highlights of Versailles and Fontainebleau. Both palaces had a lot to offer and made for a great summer daytrip from Paris. There was much more to the interiors and exteriors than I could show in just a few photos, but the above provides a good sample.

Paris Football

As an aside, I'll mention that the OECD is holding a seven-a-side football tournament during the early summer. My directorate's team didn't clear the group stage, but we improved with each game and had a good time. I bring this up because our last game was at a field near the Eiffel Tower and we had a great team photo taken after the match.

The Statistics Directorate team at the Centre Sportif Emile Anthoine.

 My next trip in July will take me further north and I'll post more details shortly.