After our first day in Paris, my parents and I decided to go to Versailles. It was a Sunday, which is the busiest day of the week, but the classical garden fountain show was on, so it seemed like a great idea. Honestly, going on a Sunday (when most of the other museums are closed) in nice weather to Versailles, one of the biggest tourist attractions anywhere, is maybe a poor life choice if you don't much care for crowds. I mean, we knew it would be crowded, but it was sort of beyond crowded. There were points in the palace when we were so crammed in with other people that I just had to wait for the tide of humanity to carry me into the next room, because I could not move at all. It definitely was an experience! Versailles with or without crowds is beautiful and impressive. We arrived at least an hour before opening and waited in a line that was already long, and only getting longer. We had bought our tickets in advance, at least, so we skipped one line.
Once finally through security, we toured the big Palace first. Versailles is utterly decadent and rather overwhelming.
Our next stops were the Trianon Palaces, smaller vacation palaces that were still pretty sumptuous.
Then it was time for the fountain show, which was delightful. Some of the fountains were dancing to the classical music that was playing all over the garden, and all of the fountains were beautiful.
In the end, we left just to find some women's restrooms that didn't have lines 40 women long. Versailles is definitely not designed to have thousands of visitors who need to use the restroom, which is sort of ridiculous, because it does have thousands of visitors daily and restrooms are rather important when one has visitors. There were even lines for the men's room, which is saying something!
Despite the crowds, it was really special to be able to see the fountains in action, and I am happy that we had such nice weather to see Versailles.
Once finally through security, we toured the big Palace first. Versailles is utterly decadent and rather overwhelming.
Our next stops were the Trianon Palaces, smaller vacation palaces that were still pretty sumptuous.
Then it was time for the fountain show, which was delightful. Some of the fountains were dancing to the classical music that was playing all over the garden, and all of the fountains were beautiful.
In the end, we left just to find some women's restrooms that didn't have lines 40 women long. Versailles is definitely not designed to have thousands of visitors who need to use the restroom, which is sort of ridiculous, because it does have thousands of visitors daily and restrooms are rather important when one has visitors. There were even lines for the men's room, which is saying something!
Despite the crowds, it was really special to be able to see the fountains in action, and I am happy that we had such nice weather to see Versailles.
